Good morning all, This is my first post in the forum and unfortunately not an immediate positive one. I'm looking for a bit of advice/ direction if anyone can please assist if possible? (Also apologies if this is in the wrong forum..) Recently I have had a bit of a dispute with my neighbour behind my property about a stream of water which has appeared out of my garden slope and is unfortunately flowing into his adjoining (flat) garden. We have had a bit of bad weather for the past 2'ish months and this appears to worsen after heavy rainfall, and somewhat eases off when it's a little drizzle - however still flowing. Unfortunately we've not had consistent good day's for a while not to asses it's reaction when it's been dry... We had a similar issue about 16 months ago when again there was heavy rain fall however this only lasted for about a week before recently arising. (I've only lived in my property just shy of 3 years so may or may not have been a pre-existing condition) I moved a wooden fence in my garden at the beginning of the year and he has tried to put it down to me possibly hitting some sort of field drain which is causing the issue, but as noted above this was a pre-existing thing prior to me doing any work in my garden. Now, from what I've read online I believe this is associated with groundwater and due to the consistent wet weather we have had for the past 2 months, I presume the water table has significant risen and has somehow 'sprung a leak' out of my hill due to a pressure point of the slopes? (The land adjacent to mine is essentially a massive slope up hill and my neighbours is the first bit of 'flat' land at the bottom of the hill) The water is coming out of what appears to be a hole in the ground which can hopefully be seen from the attachments. He is persistent that I've caused the issue and that it's my problem to fix. From what I've read due to my belief of groundwater - it's not my fault nor responsibility for the leak. I've contacted the council as SEPA have noted that their apparently noted that groundwater falls on their responsibility, but have been advised it can take up to 20 day's to hear back from them... Not great when I'm getting daily video's from my neighbour of the flow... Does anyone have any experience of such a thing? Or can perhaps advise on any solutions or direction I should be taking on such a thing? :/ Any help would be greatly appreciated as I feel at a total loss.. (The two video attachments were taken at different times.) Many thanks, Mike.
Hi and Welcome to the Forum, Not able to give you any advice on the real cause of the problem, but do wonder if as a stopgap measure you can channel the water towards one of your house drains ? Failing that, eg if the land slopes away from the house, could you dig a small sump and put in a pump with a float switch and pipe it to a suitable drain. That would hopefully calm your neighbour and help keep your land drier until a proper solution can be found. Going on your neighbours idea that putting in a fence post has caused the issue, if true that would make us wonder about the stability of the whole area, not just your garden, his as well. Possibly giving him a copy of your communications with the council etc will show him that you ar doing something about it and that its not directly your problem to overcome, though no idea if it is or not, but would be interested to know of the outcome or if any other member has dealt with such a problem. Good luck.
Hi and welcome to GC I'm afraid I have zero experience of this sort of thing, so can't offer any practical advice - I am wondering if @Scrungee might be just the man for this query. What I would add is that I gather from our post mentioning SEPA that you are in Scotland? That being the case, I understand why the water is in such abundance. You've contacted your local council for advice and you have contacted SEPA for their advice, which is all you can currently do - - your neighbour can video, jump, scream or do what he likes but it is not going to make SEPA move any quicker, and that would be the line I would be taking with him. If (doubtful) that it proves to have been something you have done then of course you will need to rectify it - otherwise, it is just one of those things. @ricky101 makes a good suggestion to possibly trench/divert the water, but you have to be sure that you are not going to make things worse - - that water appears to be under some pressure to me as it is clearly pushing up from under the soil, so I'd be cautious of going at it and quite literally opening the floodgates personally. Are you absolutely sure that there are no water mains running under there?
Have a look at https://www.google.com/search?q=ryl...droid-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 Just as groundwater passing through your land may be causing your neighbour on lower lying land a problem, much or all of it may be coming from higher land in ownership of another party, so use your free legal advice (if applicable) that most people get with their house insurance. I've had a quick look at my Cavendish's Land Law (951 pages) but this issue doesn't appear to be covered. Mrs Scrungee has given away all her books on Tort. I (did?) have a book on the law of drains, but can't remember if that also got given away after I retired. You'll probably get a much better answer on a specialist legal forum such as gardenlaw than you will here, but if you take that route, please let us know how you get on, as I can occasionally spot an error in their responses. P.S. Joining the Co-op for £1 entitles you to free legal advice.
I watched your videos and it looks like a spring to me. On the farm I was brought up on had springs, they supplied our house and many of our neighbours with fresh water (there was no mains water there). Also in some of the fields the springs were used to provide water to livestock watering troughs. It's as you say the water flows underground from a higher point then gushes out the ground. I have no idea how it could be dealt with, I suppose this spring will always have been there and your neighbour is unlucky in that he is at the bottom of the hill. I would wait to hear what the council say, there looks to be too much to divert it - where to?
Id go with the spring idwa too. We have them in the garden and in the village. Sounds like your water table has risen due to all this ran lately. Probably gone by spring and hosepipe ban by summer.
