CGA DIRT Report Highlights Concerning Levels of Damages to Buried Utilities, Signals Need for Industry-Wide Changes

Common Ground Alliance recently published its 2024 Damage Information Reporting Tool Report. The latest analysis reveals that the CGA Index, which measures year-over-year damage trends, rose from 94 in 2023 to 96.7 in 2024, signaling that the industry is moving in the wrong direction in reducing damages to buried utilities.

The annual DIRT Report provides the most comprehensive accounting of damages to buried power, water, fiber, natural gas and other utility lines in the U.S. and Canada. This year’s report analyzed 196,977 unique damage reports from 2024, finding that despite organization-level success stories and sector-specific improvements, the industry is not on track to meet CGA’s “50-in-5” goal of reducing damages by 50% over five years.

“The 2024 DIRT Report makes it clear: Incremental change is not enough,” said CGA President and CEO Sarah K. Magruder Lyle. “We know what works — effective, balanced enforcement, accurate mapping and timely locates — but without coordinated investment and accountability across all stakeholders, damages will continue to rise alongside ever-increasing construction activity. The stakes for public safety, service reliability and economic productivity are simply too high to accept the status quo.”