This week we are reporting an incident in Lexington County, South Carolina, where construction of new fiber-optic infrastructure was halted after crews repeatedly struck buried water lines, causing service outages and frustration among residents. County officials confirmed that improperly marked or unmarked utility lines were a primary factor in the strikes, prompting inspectors to intervene and pause the work. 

Utility damage doesn’t just slow progress, it disrupts daily life and undermines community trust.

In a neighborhood in Lexington County, subcontractors installing fiber-optic cable for a broadband provider hit multiple underground water mains during construction. Residents experienced frequent water service interruptions and flooding in front yards as a result of the damage. The county demanded a corrective action plan from the fiber company and halted construction until better coordination with the local water utility could be assured.

Why It Happened

According to statements from the fiber provider, most of the utility strikes were caused by improperly marked or unmarked water lines, indicating gaps in underground utility data and marking practices before excavation. Without accurate location information, crews were left vulnerable to striking buried infrastructure. 

The consequences of these repeated hits extended throughout the community:

When lines aren’t correctly mapped, every dig becomes a gamble

ASCE-75-22 is increasingly being referenced as agencies and owners look for consistency in how underground utility information is documented and relied upon.

The challenge isn’t understanding the standard.
It’s meeting it without slowing construction or exploding costs.

Interior conduit and pipe mapping provides a practical bridge.

By directly measuring conduit alignment, depth, and transitions, modern interior mapping tools produce documentation that aligns with today’s accuracy and traceability expectations — without defaulting to widespread intrusive investigation or re-excavation.

When deployed intentionally, this data supports:

Surface-only methods often can’t deliver that level of confidence.

Across the country, there are extensive networks of empty conduit and pipe that could be reused, leased, or sold — but uncertainty around location and condition often blocks approval.

Interior pipe audits change that.

By mapping existing pipe from the inside, teams gain measurable documentation of where a pipe actually runs and whether its geometry supports reuse. That data supports:

At SiteTwin, our role is ensuring this data is deployable in the real world — including access planning, surface verification, coordination with active construction, and delivering documentation agencies will actually approve.

Water main break during excavation

Flooding from line damage

Confirm markings before every dig.

Nick Clawson of SiteTwin. Video by SiteTwin Media, 2026.

Regardless of project size, always verify utility marks through:

Better visibility reduces guesswork — and prevents damage.

Utility strike surveys show that nearly two-thirds of line strikes happen because the marked locations differed significantly from actual line positions, even after 811 calls are made. This highlights systemic issues with marking accuracy that contribute to damage nationwide. 

Why This Matters

Underground line damage doesn’t just cost time and money:

Accurate data and reliable marking aren’t optional — they are foundational to safe construction.