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My neighbors septics leach bed is on my property.

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justusnak

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana.

We live in the country where septic tanks are used. Recently I figured out why my pastures are flooded, the neighbors septic is leaching into my property. This causes black goopy water to stand in my pasture. I have had to move animals because of this, but can not afford to keep moving them. This is a health hazard to my goats and because they are dairy goats, I am concerned. I have asked the property owner to rectify this and her response was " it is not my problem" I have had the local board of health out, and they said " Unless they see water bubbling out of the ground, there is nothing they can do" Yet when I put a call in when the water IS bubbling up, they are never available. What can I do??? Her septic is poisoning my ground!
 


justalayman

Senior Member
Take pictures or video if there is actually effluent bubbling out of the ground and head on down to the health department.

If that doesn't get them excited you will likely have to resort to the use of the courts. You would have two possible actions

1. Seeking a writ of mandamus to force the health department to
Do what they are supposed to do in situations like this

2. Seeking an injunction from the court ordering the neighbor to remedy the problem.

The only real problem I see in either case is proof. That is where the picture and video will help but that alone may not be enough. It may take some money to have the effluent tested to prove it is human waste. It may take a survey noting the proximity of the pooling to the property line and the neighbors house. It might help to get any records of the neighbors drain field installation so you can she proximity to that as well
 

justusnak

Junior Member
location

The septic tank is within 5 ft from the property line. My fence is another 5 ft inside MY side of the line, and the leaching is happening from 10 to 50 ft. It is a BIG area being saturated. I have a call in to the Board of Health, again. I am thinking I MIGHT have to just start digging until I get to the lines, and expose them up to the property line. Unfortunately, I am 50+ yrs old, and have a bad back, so this will be a HUGH undertaking.
Edited to add. : The property owner is well known in this area, my husband and I have only lived here 9 years. She seems to have a hold on people, they are intimidated by her. She has several rental properties, and this is one of them.
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
so, be the stand out in the crowd and don't let her intimidate you.


you need to start arming yourself with laws and facts. Research the requirements of leach fields and proximity to property lines. Research laws involving allowing the effluent to surface and pool such as it is. The more ammunition you have, the harder it is for the neighbor to dodge the bullets.
 

justusnak

Junior Member
Standing up.

Thank you. I have stood up to her before. She contested the property line... drove her car up into her rentals yard, sliding sideways towards me when I was putting up a fence. She was drunk and obnoxious. I stood my ground, she blew her top. I informed the renter this morning that I had called the health department again. A few hours later the owner told the renter to have me call her. Interesting. NOW she wants to talk? I will still follow through with the health dept. I have been searching laws all morning, getting all the info I need, IF we go to court.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Your county health dept can force the tenant to move if the septic system is declared to be in failure = loss of rent for her = she wants to talk to avoid this. SO what you may well want to do is 1 learn what your county ords or state laws are for septic system new code compliance, then you will want to use the counties information to learn what they have , like is it what is called a straight pipe system settling tank (s) that just drain off with no formal leaching bed ? You may want to learn if its a old old style cesspool tank which would not likely have a large leach area but if its very plugged with goo and etc the sand/ rocks under the tank may not be able to absorb any thing any more so now its following gravity , so anyway it would be very useful to know what the ords/ law is re failing systems and the set backs so that way if a new system has to be installed then you will know how far away from your lot line the new one would have to be. ( if the tenant hangs wash and its say alot when they do then that may be your hint , if you see one load getting hung that may be the ideal time to take pics if a second load is in progress since many clothes washers really are pigs when it comes to the amount of water they use)
 

justusnak

Junior Member
standing up.

Thank you all so much for the info. I will go into this well informed and ready. We recently had our septic replaced due to failure, and I know it will cost her just over $7,000. Plus the loss of rent. And, IF she wants this to go to court, would I be able to force her to pay someone to come in and remove the tainted soil and replace with top soil? I mean, I DO have dairy goats and we rely on the milk because I can not drink cows milk. So until this is remedied, I can not use that pasture.
 

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