When I purchased my last 2 homes, because they were new construction, I had the advantage of obtainings drainage topos which could not be disturbed without affecting the builders warranty. They had been approved by the regional building dept.
Have you checked with the builder or building dept. what drainage plans have been filed/recorded when your home had been build?
At times, (like my neighbor currently) drainage patterns have been ignored and a personal pattern has been shaped.
Landscape design such as swales are generally not recorded, unless they are things like a "drainage easement" which is mentioned in the legal description of the property.
Obviously you live in a "more progressive" type of community which is very concerned about storm drainage runoff. (we are joining your type of concerned utility next year)
Figuring the sq ft of impervious/concrete area your neighbor has, and arbitrary runoff, could contributing to the water problem, and might be something that needs to be looked at.

Stories like this really frustrate me (probably not as much as they frustrate qdognj).

I keep going back and forth as to whether I want to live in a development (quiet street, many kids, city water/sewer etc) or in a more secluded area (no neighbors to worry about, more space to myself etc)

One of my coworkers tells me of the joy of living in a development. I always tell him "yea, but you like your neighbors".

I live in a twin now and I like the neighbor I'm attached too (THANK GOD!) but the guy next door (his house is about 6 ft from mine) has a pool that hasn't been used in at least 30 yrs. And he has let about 30 weed trees grow around the pool. These trees drop tons of leaves on my property. I have to take out at least 20 bags of leaves/yr ... AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE 1 TREE!

the bigger joke is we live on 1 3/4 acres, and the water she is complaining about occupies all of 4 x8 at its worst...and it is HER water...But the township officials are "feeling the power" and i am bearing the brunt of this...Makes me yearn for a 10 acre estate, where i could not see ANYONE

Problem neighbors know no bounds; I know someone on 20 acres, and the problems with their neighbor is non-stop...and now in court.

That said, the same person actually had to file a lawsuit against the township, as they were not enforcing their own ordinance. You may want to investigate this route as well...somtimes just the thought of the cost of dealing with it, and needlessly spending the residents money simply because the town code official lacks the you-know-whats to enforce the regulation will be enough to motivate the town officials to require your neighbor to comply.

What am I missing? Why is it her water and not your water?

Because from what I am reading it sounds like she approached you about the water issue and you blew her off and then re-directed it onto her property.

I'd complain too. You bought the property like than and then improved your property at the expense of hers?

I realize I am probably missing something - If you are an engineer you probably understand the ins and outs of this kind of thing much better than me. But going just from what you are describing I don't understand.

here is some background, the water flooded my property all summer,killed shrubs and ornamental trees..If it was simply rainwater and runoff, it would be no problem...She had a pool installed this past spring which changed the topography significantly causing only a small area for ANY water to run to,she then connected her sump pump and roof drains to this small area also,which by code is illegal in itself..so ,her change of grade and water from sump pump and roof drains has caused the problem not the runoff form heavy rains...I also live DOWNSTREAM of her property, so i am not impacting her property, and she NEVER once came to me,she went right to the town...Welcome to the neighborhood...

solie: because I believe the OP said that the water in question was coming, not only from rainfall, but from the neighbor's sump pump and roof (an apparent code violation). I don't think I would be happy if my neighbor's sump water was exiting on to my property either.

Got it! Thanks for the patient responses. I was assuming it was just rainwater runoff.

where should a sump pump dump to? The sewer drain?

aren't roof drains the same as runoff from heavy rains?

And where would my roof runoff go? Onto the ground, right, and then proceed downhill?

Are you sure your landscaping berm can't be angled or something to create a clear run downhill for water--whatever water it is?

What else are folks on the uphill side supposed to do?

1st off, runoff from roof drains and sump pumps are supposed to be directed AWAY from adjacent properties,sure, eventually the natural runoff patterns will take the water wherever it is supposed to go, but it is not a "concentrated deluge" as a sump pump and roof drains result in..and roof drains are not allowed anywhere near 10' of property lines, and this neighbor regraded her property in such a manner that flow is not gradual as was it was intended, but once again "forced" to this small area, hence a quick flood

What if you dug a deep trench near the property line and put perforated pipes in. Cover them with filter fabric, and then backfill with course stone until the top 6". Do more filter fabric and then loam and grass. It would give the water somewhere to go. Even better if you have somewhere the pipe could empty to. If not, it will eventually perk into the ground (unless your soil is really bad). You could put a slight berm between this trench and your yard. That would slow and water and force it into the pit/trench.

Your neighbor should be doing a catchbasin or drywell. But she won't.

When I lived in NJ, my sump pump emptied into the sewer through underground pipes and my roof water did the same thing. We had something like sue36 described. It worked pretty well.

How is it against code to dump your sump pump and gutter drains onto your property somewhere? I'm curious because we just had this done on our property and nobody said anything about code. I live in PA too....

Rain/storm water is not allowed to be emptied into the the sewer. Water treatment plants are not designed to treat the additional volume, which could cause a major polution problem.

i agree, but township is a adamant about NOT piping, etc...if you put in adrywell, you need an engineering study, etc...what a crock...this is not a wetlands,so they are just micromanaging everything...anyways, my neighbor will get hers...

you can drop sump pump water on your property, as long as it doesn't directly affect a neighbors property,it can eventually get there, but by then the flow is minor if at all noticible...by "dumping it" within 10' of a property line, it is like a fire hose of water

berniek: oops, I should have said storm sewer (not regular sewer). I suppose it depends on where you live whether it's legal or not.

not sure if this is going to work,

http://maps.live.com/?wip=51&FORM=MAA001

doesn't work :(

In the interest of future neighborly relations, qdognj, maybe you should take a deep breath and try to figure out a positive solution for everyone. Could you help her re-route her runoff into a new swale on your property? Of course this wouldn't be fair or right, but it might smooth things over and prevent an ongoing war. Wars between neighbors are awful.

Could you knock on her door and humbly say "Let's start over and try to work this out. I want to listen to your concerns". Or could your spouse do this, if you're too upset? Sometimes if I'm too riled about something my husband handles it, and I'm sure he rolls his eyes to get sympathy for his "PITA wife". I've done the same exact thing for him, rolling my eyes because "my husband gets really picky sometimes".

This situation really comes down to you and your neighbor working things out amicably somehow. A workable compromise exists, you just have to find it.

i have stated my intentions of doing what is right and correct to the township officials, all i want is to be treated fairly...Heck, i'd drink the water from her property if it was ONLY water runoff from rainfall,but i won't be the sucker who lets a neighbor break local laws and have the nerve to complain about me...It was comical when my ornanamental trees died, and she said "geez, YOUR water problem is serious"
did i neglect to mention that even after all this crap she started, she dumped 12" of her pool directly on my property?? i wonder how many gallons 12" x 800sf of pool surface is? My pool steel workers had to jump out of the shell they were constructing as the water quickly infiltrated the shell..Not even an apology

I would build a concrete wall - she's nuts.

I guess I'm Biased, as I live at the top of a large hill and all of my runoff eventually goes onto my neighbors property, who is at the bottom of the hill (in a flood plain). I would be really upset, if he built a Berm that caused all that water, and there is alot, to pool on my property. He did build a berm to help protect his backyard about a year ago, but it pushes the water around his house and then it continues down into a creek.

cori, if i lived in a floodplain, or if the water could travel soemhow across my property and onto the next without a problem and if it was all done legally, i'd have no problem with it...But she built the pool, regraded, and then made things worse by tieing in sumps and roof drains to such a small area, it can do nothing but flood..perhaps i should just pump it back up her ,ah never mind

and i was going to say PROPERTY :)

jerzeegrl: "When I lived in NJ, my sump pump emptied into the sewer through underground pipes and my roof water did the same thing."

This is no longer legal in NJ...it is against NJDEP regs...as it causes the sewage treatment plant to process water that does not belong, hence causing the plant to reach "false" capacity..... causing huge, uneeded expense for all those serviced by the plant...

That said, once again qdognj, write a letter to the township, noticing them that you expect enforcement...if not...you will take legal action.

Otherwise, this will never end.

No suggestions, but you might go to the building/zoning offices and ask to see the book on codes. In Los Angeles County (CA), when my DH had problems (he is retired Building official) he pulled out the code book and showed them the rules--in writing. Sounds like she is doing this on purpose, contaminating your property and you of course being a outsider are wrong. I feel for you and am glad we don't have to deal with this. Tierd property is so difficult to landscape and control the water etc. We had mountain property and were lucky to be able to deal with it and the neighbors without problems.

Hindsight is 20/20. It seems like the thing to do was to install a drywell instead of a berm.

Oh, and 800 cubic feet = 5984.41556 US gallons.

What I described is not considered a drywall here. No permit is needed for what I described (they do require a permit for a drywell). You would be gathering the natural groundwater, not water from a gutter, washing machine, etc.

Honey, time to whip out your lawyer and slap him down on the table.

logic: I meant storm sewer, not regular sewer.

logic: I meant storm sewer, not regular sewer.

This is also illegal now in NJ...as the NJDEP storm water management regs dictate that all sump pump water and/or down spouts must empty on to the property from which they emanate...and of course, the owner should make certain that they drain far enough from the foundation as to not cause problems.

logic: wow! When did that law change? Is it for new connections or does everyone have to retrofit their system? I can the new regulation causing a lot of problems!

I'm not sure when it changed...but I believe it has been this way for some time now....definitely as of 2004, when NJDEP passed even more stringent stormwater management regs...but a neighbor was nailed for funneling his downspout water through a PVC pipe out to the street and into the storm sewerÂÂhe was required to re-route it onto his property..or face a fine...and that was in 2001.

All that is really required is to use a piece of PVC pipe long enough to funnel the sump pump water and the downspout water far enough away from one's home in order to not cause foundation issues in terms of water intrusion, but still on one's own property.