COLUMBIA (WACH) - Summer is a great time to work on projects outside, but a new digging law in South Carolina will require people to take an extra step before getting started. 

SCE&G announced Thursday that the 2012 South Carolina Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act goes into effect Thursday, June 7, and diggers must give three full working days notice for locators to get out to mark the area.

Community members are asked to contact South Carolina 811 before beginning a project that involves digging. Those who do not call first could face fines up to $1,000 along with possible repairs, personal injury, or outages.

“By calling 811, you can register your project so that SCE&G and other utilities can send a representative out to mark the location of utility lines so that you or your contractor can stay safe and easily avoid them while working on your outdoor project, said Gus Chapman, SCE&G operations manager.   “Line marking is free of charge and is good for 15 working days after it has been processed by SC811,”

Each utility company will mark its respective lines. SCE&G marks electric lines in red and gas lines in yellow; cable television and telephone companies mark in orage; water companies marke in blue; sewer companies mark in green; proposed excavation sites are marked in white; temporary survey markings are marked in pink; potable water is marked in blue; reclaimed water, irrigation, and slurry lines are marked in purple.

Once the lines are marked, people are permitted to continue their digging project as long as they stay 2 feet from either side of each line.

According to SCE&G, the South Carolina 811 local call center is part of a national network in which dig calls are directed to a central location for that state; appropriate local utility companies are then contacted to mark their underground lines.

There are a few exemptions within the law. For example, tilling or plowing of soil less than twelve inches in depth is allowed for agricultural purposes, and homeowners can dig on their own land when the excavation is less than ten inches in depth.

Click here to read the complete text of the law.