Neighbor & his water..?

[rox]

GEB,

Well then i do see that your lead in is that you are not able to mow. If I were in your neighbors shoes and you came over and said that my discharging water is so heavy that you were not able to mow, i think I would take action on it. So if you can show him that this affects you, you can't mow, then my guess is that he will help you. i do see why the original owners of his house ran the pipe out to the lot line, your property was all overgrown and it wasn't hurting anything to run the water in a "wild' area.

What would really impress the neighbor I think is if you mowed but then did not mow the wet areas so he could see the tall grass and see your problem. that might be a god time to call him and ask for his help. Also keep in mind that everybody reacts differently. My husband a lot of times will present a negative first reaction but after thinking about it a bit he comes around. If yu run into that, you might suggest that the neighbor think about it and check out some solutions and talk again next week. in other words you don't ahve to "win" the first time at bat. Let him think about it and try again a week later. Chances are in a week he will come around. if you have the right approach I bet he will come around, if he can see with his own eyes (tall grass not mowed) that you do have a problem as a result of his water.

good luck and keep us all posted.

 

[GEB]

Oh yeah, by all means I plan to try and talk to him again before anything happens.
I'm just trying to gather info for the outcome of our talk...
I kinda took our 1st talk as a direct insult.
GEB

 

[Dusty]

Don't forget the state Department of environmental protection has regulations also that he might be violating. If it is a rural area, it might also be the grey water from his septic tank that is being filtered through the ground and then entering the pipe. Too many possibilities not to do further investigation. If you can catch the water in a 5 gallon pail, and time how long it takes to fill the 5 gallon pail, then you will get a better idea of how many gallons of water are being dumped per 24 hour period. This figure might prompt more action by the local and state authorities. Standing water is a health hazard, no matter what its source.

 

[LBrown59]

Haven't heard anything on this since last year.

Oh yeah, by all means I plan to try and talk to him again before anything happens.
I'm just trying to gather info for the outcome of our talk...
I kinda took our 1st talk as a direct insult.
GEB

any new news?
Haven't heard ANYTHING ON THIS SINCE LAST YEAR.

 

[SunnyDaye]

Don't forget the state Department of environmental protection has regulations also that he might be violating. If it is a rural area, it might also be the grey water from his septic tank that is being filtered through the ground and then entering the pipe. Too many possibilities not to do further investigation. If you can catch the water in a 5 gallon pail, and time how long it takes to fill the 5 gallon pail, then you will get a better idea of how many gallons of water are being dumped per 24 hour period. This figure might prompt more action by the local and state authorities. Standing water is a health hazard, no matter what its source.

I agree with Dusty. See if you can calulate the amount of the discharge over a 24 hr period and the talk to a local environmnetal agency. You might take the water to your local extension office who could test it and give you an idea of who to talk to next. The creek yoiu mentioned on his property,does it cross your property at some point?

 

[WayneB]

They do sell 6" pvc caps! Now if he has no idea what the pipe is them capping it seems to be the right thing to do.

Now the war begins.

 

[WayneB]

Sorry about that thought it was a six inch pipe, so they do sell 4" caps

 

[Champy]

Another solution to consider:

> Maybe the guy is really home improvement challenged, and is incapable of fixing anything. The prospect of working on this drain problem could just scare the c..p out of him, and he is afraid of looking like an idiot if you ask for his help.......or talk to him about it.

> I'd offer to do all the rework of fixing the discharge location for him "before the authorities find out about this problem"........ maybe he'll come around if he has nothing to lose.

Could this be an overflow pipe from his man-made pond? Natural flowing water etc.... don't mess with it cause the DNR will come after you.

 

[GEB]

Sorry to get back with you all so late...as of now nothing has happened.
I did have 2 weeks off from work and was hoping to sort this out and found myself
busy from sun up until late nite...side work.

Yes the creek runs all the way across my property and a few hunderd feet
of his property.
This drain is about 500-600ft from his pond, the creek runs right beside his pond.
No reason to run a over flow 5-600ft with a creek right next to it ?
His house is about 150ft from the drain...
The pipe is actually 4 1/2 round, and has got to be dumping near 40-50 gpm?
BTW he had a well dug near his pond to keep it full...go figure?
I want to thank everyone here for your advice, I will post back when I get
some answers.
Surely I can find the time to make a simple ph call to the building inspector?
I will also ask the inspector where to get the water tested....good idea!
Thanks again & stay tuned!
GEB

 

[DCRC]

I'll be interested to know how you resolve your situation as I'm in the same boat. My neighbor has about a 3 acre pond on 10 acres of land. He decided to lower his pond level, by creating a spill way to my property straight from his pond (about 30ft). My property is already flat and low.

His pond is built up all the way around it cuasing the water level to be higher then the natural grade. He has also added about 400 loads of dirt to his property making for a nice big mond fence to fence. Having a full 3 acre pond on top off a mound he can store no additional water, and he has no drainage or ditches of any kind.


At 2 acres with my math his is putting about 54,000 gallons of water accross my property for each inch of water his removing from his pond, or for 1 inch of rain.

From what I've gathered everyone will tell you it's wrong, but know one will do anything about it. It comes down to a civil matter that must be resolved in court, unless you and the neighbor can work it out.

My like mission may be just to make his a living ****.

Maybe I could have night time mud bog racing with some flood lights right on his new houses his going to build.