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Neighbor moved outlet from his pond into our back yard

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What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

My neighbor has a pond. He's up the hill from me. For 35+ years, the outlet from the pond was on the East side and a little stream ran merrily through the center of our back yard.

We've been away for a couple years and just visited the house today. In the time that we were gone, the pond owner moved the outlet from his pond to the West side, so the new stream starts on the far back edge of our property, but 1/2 way through it bends and finds its old stream bed. It's running across our lawn, and then it's hitting the former bank in an area where we have a group of small trees. The water has eroded under those trees an alarming amount. It won't be long and they will fall over. Not only that, but the old beginning till nearly the middle of the old stream bed is an empty, barren rut.

If he wanted to move our stream to fully go along the back edge of our property line, we would have been ok with that if he dug out a new stream and used that dirt to fill in the old stream bed. But he did neither...he simply moved his outlet and let the water run where it may.

We (my husband and I) talked with a neighbor just below us that said when it rained really heavy for several days, the new stream path flood and was beating against his house. He went down to talk to the pond owner, but the pond owner has no intention of making any changes.

I want to try to talk to the pond owner one more time with my husband and our neighbor present and try to reason with him...but honestly, I don't know what rights we have exactly. I'm pretty sure he can't just move the outlet to his pond and let it wreck havoc on everyone's property without any recourse...but how should we word it?

If we need to seek legal advice, where should we start? We live in a town, if that makes a difference.

Thanks for any help/advice you can offer. I'd really like to resolve this without making any enemies...he can have his outlet wherever, but I want my yard and trees!
 


justalayman

Senior Member
If this is a natural water flow, there could be a variety of problems in his actions. In most states (haven't checked NY specifically), agencies like the DNR and others that deal with wetlands and waterways require that alterations to natural waterways be approved.

Other than that, it is improper for a person to alter their land if it causes damage to another's land. If nothing else, this is the situation you have.

So, based on at least the second justification, I would send a certified letter demanding the land be returned to it's natural flow and either get an estimate to repair your land and send him a bill or demand he repair your land.

If you are willing to accept he leave the watercourse where it is currently or some alternate location and simply wish to have him repair whatever, you can negotiate that with him.

You should investigate the possibility of his alteration being illegal due to the alteration of a natural watercourse. If what he did is illegal, it won't take much to report this and let the government beat up on him for awhile.

If you do not want to go that route yet, since this apparently involves several properties, I would suggest pooling your funds (so no one person gets stuck with paying to benefit everybody) and sick a lawyer on him.
 
I did send a friendly, breezy email to him yesterday. I acted like I thought he wasn't aware of what was going on in our backyard and asked him to check it out and let me know what can be done about it. At the same time, I wrote to a town office to seek advice. That lady forwarded my email to the appropriate person. I figured I'd get advice from them...if he broke any rules by moving the waterway maybe they can make him do the right thing without having to consult a lawyer.

Thanks for the guidance. I really hate stuff like this and if I can avoid letting it get nasty, I surely will do whatever I can to do so---without sacrificing my yard of course. :)
 
So....

The stream is not a regulated waterway. The DEC told me that's good because I can reroute my own stream without getting any permit. That also means the people up the hill can create a pond.

I did talk to the neighbor and we're going to be meeting with him some night this week to see about what can be done. I got the impression he thinks I'm going to pay for it. I bit my tongue though, as I'm willing to hear him out.

He did say that it was the emergency overflow outlet that has flooded our yard, that the regular outlet leads directly into the stream where it always ran. He stated that with all the rain, that's why it happened. I got the impression that because we've had heavy rain, he doesn't think he's financially responsible for the mess in my back yard. It's possible I'm reading too much into things he said, but when he said, "You have major drainage issues in your back yard and it's going to cost a pretty penny" I took it to mean he expected me to pay for it.

What my new question is, if he just built the pond in the last year or two and put the emergency outlet to release into our back lawn, is he still responsible for flooding after we've had a tremendous amount of rain? Or is he protected under that "act of god" bit?

Thanks again for an insight you can offer.

Christina
 

justalayman

Senior Member
What my new question is, if he just built the pond in the last year or two and put the emergency outlet to release into our back lawn, is he still responsible for flooding after we've had a tremendous amount of rain? Or is he protected under that "act of god" bit?
yes, he is still responsible because God didn't put in the pond nor did God put the emergency outlet so it would drain into your yard.

Basically, if this is not a naturally occurring problem, the person who altered the landscape is the entity who is liable for the results.
 

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