Depth of Facility – Natural Gas v. Telecommunications
Table 11 shows the depth of the facility damaged. Neither industry does particularly well in answering this question. Note how damages at a depth of less than 18 inches and those at depths 18-to-36 inches are nearly reversed for the two industries, with damaged telecommunications facilities more often at a shallow depth. Federal and state pipeline safety regulations have depth of cover requirements at time of installation, while there are no equivalent rules for telecommunications.
Table 11—Depth of damaged facility for natural gas and telecom
|
|
Natural Gas
|
Telecommunications
|
|
Depth
|
Reported Damages
|
% of
Total-All
|
% of
Total-Known
|
Reported Damages
|
% of
Total-All
|
% of
Total-Known
|
|
Unknown/Blank
|
50,942
|
62.81%
|
|
55,728
|
61.85%
|
|
|
Embedded
|
116
|
0.14%
|
0.38%
|
152
|
0.17%
|
0.44%
|
|
< 18"
|
5,151
|
6.35%
|
17.08%
|
23,255
|
25.81%
|
67.64%
|
|
18" - < 36"
|
18,548
|
22.87%
|
61.49%
|
5,919
|
6.57%
|
17.22%
|
|
36 & >
|
6,349
|
7.83%
|
21.05%
|
5,054
|
5.61%
|
14.70%
|