What is the meaning of a blue land surveyors flag?

Answer

If the flag was placed by Utiility personnel responding to a "One-call" locate request, the blue flag indicates a buried water line. You see these marked when a contractor calls the "Call before you dig number" a couple of days prior to excavating. This is required by law in each state to reduce the likelihood of damaging underground utilities when excavating.

The standard color code used by almost all utility companies for painting & flags is:

White - "Here is the area I plan on excavating!"

Blue - water line

Red -electicity

Yellow -natural gas

Green -sewer

Orange -telephone and/or fiberoptic line

If the blue flagging was a fuzzy blue marker nailed to the top of a wood surveyor's stake, then it probably serves to indicate the top of the grade at which the engineer wants the earthmoving equipment to place fill dirt. These are called "blue-top" stakes.

edit: I was always taught that a "blue-top" was a stake that the surveyor did not want disturbed (as opposed to other temporary stakes that might be moved, taken out, destroyed by site activities). In fact, my surveying instructor joked that he always carried a blue-top with him when hiking. If he got lost, he'd pound it in to the ground and then wait a few minutes and follow out the heavy equipment that came in to knock down the blue-top stake.

First answer by ID1098818057. Last edit by Rdburrows. Contributor trust: 4 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 9 [recommend question]