Page 22 - CCGA Best Practices Version English

Benefits: Accurate as-built drawings serve as an integral initial information
source for future projects, and minimize the risk of damage to existing
underground facilities.

1-16: Sewer/Water Main Service Connections

Practice Statement: Sewer laterals and water main service connections
should be installed and locatable from the main to 1.5m beyond the property
line in new subdivisions.
Practice Description: For the purpose of health & safety, damage
prevention and construction efficiency, sewer laterals and water service
connections installed in new subdivisions should be extended from the
main to 1.5m beyond the property line and plugged with a water tight plug.
This allows workers installing the connections from the stubs to the homes
to establish a safe stable work environment and minimizes impact to the
existing facility infrastructure.

1-17: Sewer Main and Lateral Infrastructure

Practice Statement: Project and facility owners should use all reasonable
and available means to share sewer main and lateral information including,
but no limited to, location.
Project and facility owners should assess the potential risk and create an
appropriate mitigation plan with regards to utilities installed by trenchless
methods that may have inadvertently intersected sewer infrastructure.
Practice Description: In the planning phase of a project, the designer
should request all sewer main and lateral information including Foundation
Drain Collectors (FDC’s) pertaining to the project area from the sewer
infrastructure owners . The sewer infrastructure owners should provide the
sewer main and lateral information if available.

If the project owner completes private sewer locates, the project owner
should forward all documentation to the sewer infrastructure owners. The
sewer infrastructure owners should retain this information and make it
available upon request.
Benefits: Sharing information will allow both parties to effectively
communicate sewer main, lateral and FDC locations so underground
infrastructure can be installed without damaging sewer laterals. This initiative
also provides the sewer infrastructure owners with updated information of
sewer line locations. This practice should reduce the likelihood of damaging
sewer mains or laterals when installing underground infrastructure.
It has been found that sewer mains and laterals can be damaged during
the installation process of underground infrastructure. Damage can remain
undetected until a sewer cleaning process is initiated. The cleaning process
can potentially lead to an incident if a utility had penetrated the sewer main
or lateral during installation

Canadian Common Ground Alliance
Best Practices Version 3.0 – October 2018
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