Dear all,

it's two months now that a lawned part of my back garden is soaked
with water that I suspect may be coming from my neighbour's garden
and, having lost any hope of the water disappearing before winter
kicks in, I am looking for suggestions on my next move.

I live at the bottom of a gently sloped road and both my neighbour's
garden and house sit on some 50 cm higher ground. A couple of years
ago this neighbour built a small pond (2 m x 1.5 m, approx. 50-60 cm
deep) just in the middle of his back garden, in a lower part that is
at the same level as my own garden. My understanding of this pond is
that he has laid some underground water pipe to fill it and that there
is some (short) underground waste pipe to disperse the water in the
surrounding ground if the ponds needs to be emptied.
It comes without saying that, although we live in a conservation area,
he asked no council permission to build the pond (and the surrounding
garden features); he just did that himself as a DIY work. However,
being a DIYer myself, and having seen a number of his DIY outcomes, I
don't rank him among the top 10%...

The neighbour went away for more than two months over the summer (July
to beginning of September), during which we could hear the faint noise
of running water presumably coming from the pond. He may have a pond
pump that recirculates water, so that may have accounted for the
noise. However, our water is not metered, he's a rather stingy kind of
guy and I suspect that his idea of water circulation is tap and drain
open at the same time, just to save on the electricity...

There is a layer of compact clay in most of my garden, sitting some 50
cm underground; on top of that there seems to be a natural underground
stream for water coming from the hilltop, exactly where my neighbour's
pond and my flooded areas are positioned. In winter, snow seems to
melt more rapidly in that stripe of land, grass is always greener, but
I never had any flooding. In Victorian times, there was a natural pond
nearby (now filled, tarred over and transformed in a parking area) and
water could have collected there running underground over the clay
layer.

To cut a long story short, I asked the neighbour if his pond had
anything to do with my problem, which he denied, also adding that the
slabbed area around his pond is also soaked with water, so that he is
not filling the pond any longer (!). He claims that higher than normal
rainfalls over the summer, in conjunction with the huge amount of grit
spread last winter, which are partially blocking the sewage system,
are responsible for the flooding. To me, this is plain rubbish as
(having checked MetOffice Data), 2010 rainfall levels here in the NE
are just 10% over normal and I am not aware of a sewage system to
collect underground garden water...

A survey may find out the cause of the problem; however, this is
expensive and it would take time to arrange it. In the short term,
what could I do, at least to try and find out the most likely cause(s)
of the problem?

I would be grateful for any suggestions

W.

You can buy 80mm flexible perforated land drain (about £28 delivered
off ebay for 25m).
Dig a trench to a suitable outfall area (grid), line in fabric, drop
in flexible perforated land drain, cover in pea gravel, fold over
fabric, cover in turf or fabric as necessary.

Alternatively... umm... create your own pond... with syphon to
outfall :-)

Alternatively... dig a deeper hole... leave open... place tombstone
with neighbours name on it... subtle :-)

I reckon you call in the water board and say you think there may be a water
main leak...

On 31 Oct, 18:55, "js.b1" wrote:
You can buy 80mm flexible perforated land drain (about £28 delivered
off ebay for 25m).
Dig a trench to a suitable outfall area (grid), line in fabric, drop
in flexible perforated land drain, cover in pea gravel, fold over
fabric, cover in turf or fabric as necessary.

Alternatively... umm... create your own pond... with syphon to
outfall :-)

Alternatively... dig a deeper hole... leave open... place tombstone
with neighbours name on it... subtle :-)

The above is correct, so long as you have somewhere to conduct the
water away to.
However.
In law if someone collects water into a pipe, ditch or gutter and
discharges it onto your land, this is illegal.
If it's natural runoff coming on to your land this is legal.
There are certain rules about water from the highway coming on to your
land, can't just recall them but someone here will know.

In article 7da6cdbe-cb19-4c5c-aaae-7393def4af52
@v20g2000yqb.googlegroups.com, says...

It comes without saying that, although we live in a conservation area,
he asked no council permission to build the pond (and the surrounding
garden features); he just did that himself as a DIY work.

Simple - contact the council's planning department!

Just sit back and enjoy the fun!

If he deoesn't like it - tough! You've already given him plenty of
warning of the damage he's causing and he's refused to do anything about
it.

--

Terry

On 31/10/2010 19:39, newshound wrote:
I reckon you call in the water board and say you think there may be a
water main leak...





Good one.

Safer than UV-sensitive tracer die. You do _not_ want a fluorescent
yellow lawn! (there is of course significant UV in sunlight)

Andy

In message , Andy Champ
writes
On 31/10/2010 19:39, newshound wrote:
I reckon you call in the water board and say you think there may be a
water main leak...





Good one.

Safer than UV-sensitive tracer die. You do _not_ want a fluorescent
yellow lawn! (there is of course significant UV in sunlight)

Andy

Long story but slightly amusing and I would have liked to have been a
fly on the wall afterwards.

I used some fluorescent dye to follow some drains. It eventually went
through a tunnel under a railway line and then into 2 small ponds that a
local pub had constructed by damming a small "stream". I wonder if they
knew the "stream" was the outflow from 5 septic tanks 1/4 mile away and
a bit of land drainage.

Any way I would have liked to have heard their reaction when their ponds
turned fluorescent yellow one Sunday afternoon.

--
Bill

In message , Terry
Casey writes
In article 7da6cdbe-cb19-4c5c-aaae-7393def4af52
, says...

It comes without saying that, although we live in a conservation area,
he asked no council permission to build the pond (and the surrounding
garden features); he just did that himself as a DIY work.

Simple - contact the council's planning department!

Just sit back and enjoy the fun!

If he deoesn't like it - tough! You've already given him plenty of
warning of the damage he's causing and he's refused to do anything about
it.

The planning dept won't be interested.

Building a pond in your garden isn't relevant, even if is a
conservation area.

--
Chris French

On 31/10/10 18:40, Woland wrote:
Dear all,

it's two months now that a lawned part of my back garden is soaked
with water that I suspect may be coming from my neighbour's garden
and, having lost any hope of the water disappearing before winter
kicks in, I am looking for suggestions on my next move.

I live at the bottom of a gently sloped road and both my neighbour's
garden and house sit on some 50 cm higher ground. A couple of years
ago this neighbour built a small pond (2 m x 1.5 m, approx. 50-60 cm
deep) just in the middle of his back garden, in a lower part that is
at the same level as my own garden. My understanding of this pond is
that he has laid some underground water pipe to fill it and that there
is some (short) underground waste pipe to disperse the water in the
surrounding ground if the ponds needs to be emptied.
It comes without saying that, although we live in a conservation area,
he asked no council permission to build the pond (and the surrounding
garden features); he just did that himself as a DIY work. However,
being a DIYer myself, and having seen a number of his DIY outcomes, I
don't rank him among the top 10%...

The neighbour went away for more than two months over the summer (July
to beginning of September), during which we could hear the faint noise
of running water presumably coming from the pond. He may have a pond
pump that recirculates water, so that may have accounted for the
noise. However, our water is not metered, he's a rather stingy kind of
guy and I suspect that his idea of water circulation is tap and drain
open at the same time, just to save on the electricity...

There is a layer of compact clay in most of my garden, sitting some 50
cm underground; on top of that there seems to be a natural underground
stream for water coming from the hilltop, exactly where my neighbour's
pond and my flooded areas are positioned. In winter, snow seems to
melt more rapidly in that stripe of land, grass is always greener, but
I never had any flooding. In Victorian times, there was a natural pond
nearby (now filled, tarred over and transformed in a parking area) and
water could have collected there running underground over the clay
layer.

To cut a long story short, I asked the neighbour if his pond had
anything to do with my problem, which he denied, also adding that the
slabbed area around his pond is also soaked with water, so that he is
not filling the pond any longer (!). He claims that higher than normal
rainfalls over the summer, in conjunction with the huge amount of grit
spread last winter, which are partially blocking the sewage system,
are responsible for the flooding. To me, this is plain rubbish as
(having checked MetOffice Data), 2010 rainfall levels here in the NE
are just 10% over normal and I am not aware of a sewage system to
collect underground garden water...

A survey may find out the cause of the problem; however, this is
expensive and it would take time to arrange it. In the short term,
what could I do, at least to try and find out the most likely cause(s)
of the problem?

I would be grateful for any suggestions

W.
If there's a direction the water could drain away on your land,
dig a trench, remove a few inches of earth from the bottom of it,
replace the turf.
You would then have a gentle curving groove down your garden
which excess water on the surface will drain down.

[g]