APWA Color Coding
Red electric, yellow gas, orange telecom, blue water, green sewer. The universal color standard tells the next crew what is buried below before the shovel hits it.
Metallic Foil Core
Inductive locator equipment reads the foil through backfill. Re-locate the run years later without a hand dig.
5 Mil Direct-Burial PVC
Body holds up under backfill, soil acid, and freeze-thaw cycles. 2" and 3" widths in 1000 ft. rolls for service laterals or mains.
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SKU DETR21005
Detectable Underground Tape
Available at trusted retailers nationwide
Direct pricing coming soon. See retailer availability below.
Swanson Detectable Underground Tape lays into the trench above buried utilities so locators read the run later and excavators see the callout before the shovel hits the line. APWA standard color codes call out the utility type at a glance: red for electric, yellow for gas, orange for oil, blue for potable water, green for sewer.
Utility
2" Red Electric
DETR21005
Pick up locally or order online from Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart, Ace, Menards, or Acme Tools.
Family-owned
Same factory since 1925
Trusted retailers
Available nationwide
Pro-trusted
32,000+ verified reviews
In stock at retailers
Why pros reach for it
01
Red electric, yellow gas, orange telecom, blue water, green sewer. The universal color standard tells the next crew what is buried below before the shovel hits it.
02
Inductive locator equipment reads the foil through backfill. Re-locate the run years later without a hand dig.
03
Body holds up under backfill, soil acid, and freeze-thaw cycles. 2" and 3" widths in 1000 ft. rolls for service laterals or mains.
A closer look
Service-lateral width for buried electric drops. Red ground signals power per APWA color code; metallic-foil locator core reads through backfill.
Main-trunk width for buried electric runs. Wider band reads through deeper backfill; same red APWA ground as the 2" service-lateral tape.
Service-drop width for buried gas, oil, or steam. Yellow per APWA; bold black "Caution Buried Gas Line Below" print repeats down the full 1000 ft roll.
Main-runs width for buried gas. Wider tape gives more area to read through compacted backfill on the trunk lines.
Buried-oil-line callout. Orange ground with bold black "Caution Oil Line Buried Below" print. Reads at-a-glance from the trench wall.
Buried sewer + drain callout. APWA green ground with black print; "BS" suffix marks the sewer message variant.
Buried potable water service. Blue per APWA color code; bold black "Caution Buried Water Line Below" print runs the full 1000 ft.
