washouts and who's problem is it?

[deepNdirt]

Hi Folks, here's my problem....every other year I wind up having to re-build the swell that has been used on my property to divert water away from my shop,... When we have rainy seasons the swell gets washed out more like a deep ditch and I've come to realize that it will always be this way... Unless I take further action and recourse to correct it in another manor...................
Let me start back from the beginning 13 years ago when I decide to fill in a large natural dried up creek bed that run across my property, in some places it was 12 ft wide and 8 ft deep, so I was able to push it lots of dead tree's etc, I would layer with a couple feet of dirt then more limbs and pack it all down,... there has been no problem with this area ever opening back up,.. about 3 years after me filling in this dried up creek from property line to property line, a Person buys and build their house 30 ft back side of this creek bed and fills it all in on his property, although leaves a slight swell and pipes out under a gravel drive and all this water from his property comes onto mine and washes out the nicely cut swell that I have made to divert water away,....reason being for me to have to re-work this swell every other year,
................ I have asked some county people about this and they said being it was a natural way for rain water to travel and I change it then I'm pretty much responsible for the consequences,
I explain to them how my neighbor has piped out and directed the water toward my property and they only comented about isn't this the way it was flowing natural before... I told them yes but not so directed to my property thru a culvert pipe... and that I had redirected the dried up creek to still catch the runoff water from that property and it wasn't washing out this way before, it was only after they filled in and re-cut there own swell and then installed the culvert pipe when I started having problems, I confronted my new neighbor about this the first time it happen and he said he would try do something to help, although he only lived there a short time of 8 months before he up and sold it to my now neighbors that really thinks their not responsible at all for this problem. they said it was this way when they bought their property,
and figures its alright
Can any of you relate to this? if so! what would you do?
I mean it does give me seat time on the tractor however its getting tiring fixing this all the time, today makes about 7 times I have fixed this swell back again,

 

[Ken]

Maybe some large drain pipe to devert the water into the ditch you filled in then make the swell to control the water. neighbor is happy and your problems are over. neighbor might even help with 1/2 expences.
And I might be reading the problem different that what I'm seeing.

ken

 

[boxygen]

From what I remember from a college construction law class, diverting water from your property towards another is absolutely legal and there is very little that can be done about it. Therefore, there is nothing that your neighbor is required to do. I'm sure there is more to it then that, but that always stuck in my mind. However, I hope your neighbor tires to be a good neighbor and help you out a little.

 

[deepNdirt]

From what I remember from a college construction law class, diverting water from your property towards another is absolutely legal and there is very little that can be done about it. Therefore, there is nothing that your neighbor is required to do. I'm sure there is more to it then that, but that always stuck in my mind. However, I hope your neighbor tires to be a good neighbor and help you out a little.

Nope I don't think I'm going to get any help because he's already mention selling out and moving away at the end of year,..... when I mentioned using another recourse! what I have in mind is to have a ditch cut down the property line starting at where he has the culvert pipe, although this is going to be quit expensive, a backhoe will have to be used and will need to cut approx 600 ft of ditch,..
but all I would be gaining is about 30ft. more usable property because then I could fill in the swell on my side and simply have the new trench catch all the run off from his culvert and I think by the time the water runs the 600 ft of ditch/trench our property levels back out and actually run back onto their property again, although I think where the problem will come back to bite me , is we both have the same stream running across and through our properties on further back about more 800 ft which silt runoff could be an issue, ................. it wouldn't bother me so much if it didn't wash out all the time, I have see water pouring from this culvert like a waterfall and filling the swell like a river, when all rain has stopped then I'm left with a deep washed out rut that I cannot manage to keep grass growing in,

 

[dcyrilc]

Nope I don't think I'm going to get any help because he's already mention selling out and moving away at the end of year,..... when I mentioned using another recourse! what I have in mind is to have a ditch cut down the property line starting at where he has the culvert pipe, although this is going to be quit expensive, a backhoe will have to be used and will need to cut approx 600 ft of ditch,..
but all I would be gaining is about 30ft. more usable property because then I could fill in the swell on my side and simply have the new trench catch all the run off from his culvert and I think by the time the water runs the 600 ft of ditch/trench our property levels back out and actually run back onto their property again, although I think where the problem will come back to bite me , is we both have the same stream running across and through our properties on further back about more 800 ft which silt runoff could be an issue, ................. it wouldn't bother me so much if it didn't wash out all the time, I have see water pouring from this culvert like a waterfall and filling the swell like a river, when all rain has stopped then I'm left with a deep washed out rut that I cannot manage to keep grass growing in,

What about lining the swell with riprap (4-10" rock) where the water comes out of the culvert?

 

[schmism]

What about lining the swell with riprap (4-10" rock) where the water comes out of the culvert?

+1

you need to armor the bank to avoid washout. For a few $$ a local engineer can come out and look at the site, collect data (water flow rate, speed, slope etc) and can run the calcs to determine what size rock is required.

 

[dcyrilc]

+1

you need to armor the bank to avoid washout. For a few $$ a local engineer can come out and look at the site, collect data (water flow rate, speed, slope etc) and can run the calcs to determine what size rock is required.

I see that around here all the time where a culvert is above ditch level so that the spillage from the end of the pipe doesn't erode the ditch. Some of the ditchs I know of run full bore in a 12" pipe on a good rain.

 

[forgeblast]

With water its always best to over plan. I would have someone come out just to give you best/worse case info.

 

[2manyrocks]

My recollection is that if I alter the natural flow of water on my property causing it to flow onto and damage the neighbor below, I am responsible. If my neighbor made alterations to his property that compounded the problem, then I don't think I am responsible for the additional problems.

If it was all working fine until your former neighbor altered his property, then you may have a basis to discuss this with the new neighbor even though he didn't do it himself. But he obviously doesn't like being responsible for what his predecessor did and so you can see why he'd be reluctant to take responsibility.

 

[turbo36]

Two rules when working with water;
1. Slow it down
2. Spread it out