When the first gas, water and sewer lines were laid in a lot of areas, the companies didn't keep good records. I got a call once on a ground crew that had ruptured a six inch main. I took a look at it, called it in and Lone Star Gas came out. The foreman, a condescending, stupid bast@rd, came up to me and said, "Well, I understand you fire boys get excited about stuff like this, but there aren't any six inch mains in this area. It's probably a one inch line. People who don't know much about this stuff get excited and think the line's bigger than it is." I told him to go over and look at it. He came back and said, "That's a six inch line." I ended up talking to the foreman of the work crew that originally broke the main, cause the gas company tries to bill the repair costs to the construction crew that built the line. Anyway, the crew had called and been told there weren't any gas lines in that area, and the gas company verified there weren't any on their maps when they were "setting me straight."
The whole gas company crew was incompetent. One guy had a face that looked like a vagina. Another crew member told me he'd been hit in the head with a steel cable a couple of years ago when they were pulling some pipe. Even with competent crews, it's still dangerous work. I've made three or four calls where road crews hit gas lines that weren't on the official utility maps.
I know all too well how that is since I’m in the business of finding leaks.
Nine times out of ten I have to guess where the lines run because nothing is ever marked as it’s supposed to be, and to make things worse the guys who know where the lines run have retired years ago.