Neighbor & his water..?

[Jimbrown]

It always surprises me how things are different in different places of the country. we have very little standing water here in Cochise county. Grey water dumping is infact encouraged by the state and county. I grey water one shower on to several trees and almost every one in the rural areas grey water all of their washing machines on to the ground. I would be overjoyed if some one dumped several hundred gallons a day on to my land.

 

[thingy]

Well,the best thing would be to see if he would help,or help buy the pipe or something to help you tie into the end of that line and put it in a ditch and bury it and send it to creek,or onto next neighbors property!?[creek would be better],if you could,,,,,,thats after you take a sample and see whats coming out of line,if its anything but just plain ole water,he is in the wrong for sure,,,you would think if it was from septic system it would stink though,,,but my washer draines over a bank and dishwisher as well,,,its all well on my side of line and even on the other side of a road from nearest neighbor,,,but wouldn't think about just basicly letting it flow onto somebody elses property,,other people don't want my food particals in their yard,nor do they want bleach and suds,,so its probably just water,or you would know,,,
Will the ground [slope] allow you to run a line from end of it to a better place to drain?Even if the ground was flat,it would back up on his end,if it wouldn't run,,uphill would even solve YOUR problem,,,,,thingy

 

[SPIKER]

lots of good reply s I'm with most that say don't touch HIS stuff and to find out the laws first. THEN see if you can get him to let you drop in some die material to see where it is coming from. does the drain flow 24 - 7 or just a few gallons at a time then slow or gush a lot then stop? this will give you indication if it is sewer, spouting french drains or sump pump. washing machine ect... now if it only runs when he showers then probably a Grey water drain. getting him to deal with it probably won't happen unless you local area has RULES that clearly what can & can't be done. most places you can't inter fear with NATURAL flow of water. if a natural swale flows water across you're property you can dam it up but the outflow must remain at the same area, you can't back it up and then divert the water else where. I also wouldn't want to get busted diverting that flow into the creek unless you KNOW it is non-toxic! Even then you may not be able to get the flow into the creek... Planting a few WILLOW trees right no the line will probably take care of it by sucking up the water and then sending roots up the pipe otherwise you can/could also make up some tieling to get the water away faster?

hope you find answers...

markM

 

[chili]

It is possible that your neighbor did not have knowledge of the pipe if he bought the property after this pipe was laid by a previous owner. It's possible that years back the properties were together at some time and the pipe was laid without any thought of splitting the properties at some time. Nevertheless, this has become a problem for you. I would work with your neighbor from the standpoint that he had no prior knowledge of the situation. Find the source and come up with a solution that will work for both of you. You might gain a working friendship.

 

[jk96]

I'd still cap it because he already said its not his. When he asked if I capped it I'd say I don't know anything about it. Works both ways...Both can play the game....

Boy is this true. When I bought my land the seller noted the property had access to water. I didn't pursue it further, big mistake. It did have access, but the access was two houses down (about 300 feet).

NEIGHBOR A (water) -----> NEIGHBOR B ------> MY PROPERTY (no water)

When approaching neighbor B about running my line he outright refused and wouldn't even discuss the issue. I even offered to pay him $1500 to run my line across his 144 feet of property. I then went a different route - I ran my line through my fathers property which connected to mine. I had a total run of 3,200' instead of 400' I had to run it across and under a large ravine and creek just because Neighbor B would not allow me to run the line.

Now to my main point, when researching my options after neighbor B refused, I found out due to property descriptions and discussion from neighbor A where the water line ended, that Neighbor A did not give Neighbor B access to the line either because he was a real a** to him as well. So neighbor B tapped in a couple of houses up and ran his around neighbor A, and ultimatly through "MY PROPERTY". Guess you know what that means. I then knew that his water ran through my property with no easment or legal acknowledement.

End of Story - I then had water through my fathers property to mine and he had none. Should have seen his look when I told him his water ran through mine illegally and I wouldn't grant him access. He went to prison a few weeks later for dealing drugs and I bought a small piece of property with no access to water at a very good price. I did carry my glock .40 and looked over my shoulder for those couple of weeks though, this guy was a real nut.

 

[jand38]

Take a sample of the water and have it tested, knowing what the content of the water helps to see what coarse of action lots of luck

 

[dirtworksequip]

The last thing I would do is cap this line. If it is a sump drain or french drain you could back water into his basement causing thousands of dollars damage. Guess who is responsible? Is there any way you can extend this line and run it to a natural drainage? Of course you will need the neighbors permission to hook on to this line as you will have to go onto his property to hook it up.Since it was an existing line when you bought the property I don't think you can make the neighbor change it.

 

[GEB]

Thanks for all the replys
The only way I would cap off the drain is to know I could get away with it.
Just my luck it would flood his house, then I'm screwed!
I have made a few ph calls with no luck yet.
My employer also provides legal asst (non criminal) so I gave the lawyer a call
only to find them on vacation until the 2nd.
And yes the drain may very well have been there when he bought the place?
His drain is about 150 ft from the creek on my property, it all else fails I'll
tap it right into the creek with or without his help, most likely without!
Before I moved here he had redirected the creek on his property..when he had
his pond dug, neighbors told me everyone flooded bad and that someone made
him fix it.
I got to catch up with the lady who use to live next door, she now lives further up the road. She is the one who contacted someone to correct his actions.
Last year I had to run a 500 ft drain from my well to the creek, not a thing wrong
with the well just very high water table!
So I'm sure his water is not gray...
I might add 250ft of my drain was through heavy pine trees.
To move his is a clean shot.
Before we all had the creek cleared the other side of it stayed wet,
the whole area was heavy brush, trees so I stayed clear of it.
I paid to have it bulldozed only to find I'm fighting a loosing battle still with his water.
I guess the bottom line is, if he's wrong he's gonna have to move it, if not
I'll tap it into the creek.
Little does he know I could very well be his best neighbor or his worst!
Time will tell?
Stay tuned...
Thanks GEB

 

[rox]

GEB,

does it freeze by you? If he is pumping massive amounts of water, is is creating a pond/ or jsut wet spots/ I had almost the exact same thing. The neighbors sump pump ran constantly, and the black corragated plastic hose they had directed onto my property. Our first winter we had literally a frozen pond, and the water kept right on a running day and night.

i finally got the wife to come over and look at it. she took one look, immediatly jumped in her car, ran to the hardware store and bought like 150ft of that flexible pipe, looks like heavy duty clothes dryer hose. the directed the water to the back of their property. Soon they had a lake back there. Finally the water company came looking for missing water. they dug up the end of our driveway to check the connection. nope we were not leaking. Anyway the water company must have dug up 7 or 8 different lateral connections looking for the leak. they finally found it at my next door neighbors house. Turns out when the driveway was installed they broke the water main into the home, or cracked it rather.

This cracked pipe was causing the water company to loose water before it it their water meter. it also caused their sump pump to run continiously. They had to cut the pipe, and use one of those diggers that is like a worm like thing, to dig laterally under the driveway.

Where I lived in Wisconsin is was the City uilding Inspector who enforced the laws about discharging water onto surrounding property. Have you called your local building inspector[City of Brookfield Buidling Inspector for example] and inquired what the code is. There is all kinds of building code that realtes to changing the land not jsut code for buildings, you have to grade your property so that in one foot you only raise the land 1 inch from the lot line etc. Where you live are there not local building codes?

Basically I approached our eighbor and said, "i really need your help on something can you please come over and take a look at this?" i think that is the best approach, when your land is really boggy give him a call and say the same thing. When he comes over, walk him over to the wet areas.

His interest or lack of iterest in helping you might be directly related to how big a deal this really is. Is it real far from your house in an area that you never use/ Int hat case the neighbor might thin, big deal it's not hurting anything. From an outsiders point of view is that wet area hurting anything really? Do you even mow there? Once you know the building code, if he is not doing anything illegal i would offer to pay for a diversion hose if, based on an impartial opinion his water is not really hurting your property. meaning you don't mow there it is on a part of your property you are never active in etc. If it was really causing you damage, can't mow, or to close to the house/garage/kids play area then I would ask him if he would put one in and I would not offer to pay.

We have 12 acres and if on an out of the way corner of my land that was not utilized and I basically never went to the neighbors ran water over there I would not mind. I would only mind if it affected me. Because of the high water table you describe and the fact that it is running all the time, you say pumped, becuase of my experience with my neigbors sump pump running all the time, i also guess it is sump pump water.

What negative affect does this water have on you, other than you just found it and you don't like it?

I would not think that the previous owneres of your house nor his house are going to be mcuh help as nobody wants to hear about any problems from the new owners of property they have sold.

 

[GEB]

Yes it does freeze here, I did talk to the lady who put him in check for water issues from the past.
She said it was the Building Inspector, I'll give them a call soon.
And yes I spent a few $1000 just to have the area bulldozed 75-100ft tall trees,
along with very heavy brush.
I also have a few hundred hours of my time cutting and burning, leveling,
along with grass seed so yes I'm keeping it cut when dry enough.
This place had kinda gone down hill before I bought it.
I get comments all the time how it now looks like a park, I'm located on a conner
so everyone is very pleased with the way I've cleaned things up.
BTW this is a very small town in a very rural area maybe 20 houses and 1 church.
So for him to watch me bust my butt tryin to make things much better for the entire towns appearance you'd think he would be just a little bit cooperative.
As of now I even have the drain pipe to tie it into the creek, along with a back-hole.
Thing is a trencher would do a much nicer-cleaner job.
One way or another I'll get it dried up.
If he wants to play stupid he may have to pay?