I don't know what the laws are where you are, but where I live you are not allowed to channel water to someone else's property. It must exit your own property to the street. I agree with Yardvaark. It sounds like you need to research where the city planners designed the water to go and find out why its not going there. Its not hard to find that info. The city should be able to give you the development plan for your subdivision. Our city worked with us to help us solve the problem we had. I was told that just after the subdivision was built some neighbors further up the hill from us had similar issues to you. The city had to come in and build a storm drain through at least 2 of the lots to solve the issue for them. If you were not having these issues before your neighbor built his pool and garage then it sounds like you need to bring the issue up and demand it be solved. If it had happened to us and the city and homeowner weren't helpful in solving the problem we'd be suing both of them for not addressing the issue of drainage and recouping the cost of having to pump all that water out. In my son's old neighborhood the one house on the corner that was the lowest and kept getting flooded year after year was finally purchased by the city, torn down and a small park sits there now. But it took a long time for that to happen. I don't know for a fact, but I suspect law suits were involved. - In the link below I show how we solved our problem. But we really didn't have much issue with neighbors' lots draining into ours it was that our lot wasn't graded correctly in the first place and the water had no outlet to exit our property. Good Luck and please report back what happens. Here is a link that might be useful: Back yard drainage

Hi Guys: First, I want to thank you for answering my questions. As I suspected, I did not provide enough information in my original question which caused misunderstandings. I tried to make my original question short because I am a newcomer to this forum, and was hesitant to post a long question. Nandina, thank you for your advice. I do think you are right about the trial and error process (and maybe the book too). My husband and I write books on a completely different subject (special education law and advocacy) so that's a possiblity, if I learn enough and live long enough. : > ) First, I'd like to provide more information in response to your comments. Then, I'll post a portion of an article about the house that was just published in our weekly newspaper. The newspaper publishes a "Home and Garden" issue in the spring - one feature is "unusual houses." Our house was an "unusual house" this year. In "Earth friendly house," the reporter describes the house better than I can. In summary, we built the house to withstand winds of 130 mph (category 3 hurricane). Because of decisions made in the beginning, like building WAY above the flood plain, our insurance costs are very low. laag, I'm sorry I was not clear about our status. We live here full time. This is our only house. We lived in a small cottage (675 sq feet) for 10 years while we looked for a house or a fairly small lot (about an acre) that faced south on which to build. This is a popular sailing area for about 8 months, from April to November. However, because we write books and do training programs, we are away from home about 100 days a year. Re: costs: The house is about 3,000 square feet and cost $100/sq foot to build. This does not include appliances (purchased from Sears), the well, or the engineered septic system (Clearstream @ 13K) which we purchased separately, so the final cost was a little over $100/sq foot. Re; kurtg's comments about the septic system, the Clearstream system is located about 500 feet from the house. We decided to use an engineered system, not a traditional septic system, to ensure that nitrogen loading was not a problem. The 5 acres of land cost just over $300K because there was a bald eagle nest on the property. Anyone who wanted to build had to to negotiate with FWS for a permit. This is a difficult process that did not end until Hurricane Isabel blew the nest out of the tree. (The eagles rebuilt nearby) In the 1950s, the land was zoned into dozens of small (50 x 150 lots). We had the land resubdivided into 4 lots, one for our house and 3 additional lots. We do not plan to sell the lots, but if we have a financial emergency or become disabled, we have this option. We sited the house to take advantage of the sun to warm the house in winter and summer breezes to cool it in summer. Our electric bills are low. We just built a rainwater catchment system. We can store 2200 gallons and can add more storage tanks if needed. We have a propane generator. As a result, we can live "off the grid" for weeks. Re: comments about amenities and valuable stuff. This is a beach house. Because we were financially strapped after building the house, we used lawn furniture inside. It looked fine and no one worries about spilling stuff - everything is washable. Here is a description of the house from the article, "Earth friendly house captures the sun, the wind and the rain" by Tom Chillemi, Southside Sentinel. Pete and Pam Wright designed their home at Stingray Point in Deltaville to bring the outside inside ... Banks of windows face south and west to absorb the winter sun, warming the whole house. In summer, when the sun is at a higher angle, its rays bounce off the treated windows so heat gain is not a problem. Doors and windows on the second floor are open on warm days to let the hot air out and let in the cool Bay breezes. The Wrights have lived in Deltaville full-time for 12 years. Before that, they visited the area for decades. The Wrights built their house near the end of Route 33 on the Bay. Here, the Bay is almost 40 miles wide, so there is a lot of open water or "fetch" for wind to gain strength across the open water. So the Wrights engineered structural solutions to make the house stand up to the wind and water. First, the house is raised well above the flood zone on pilings driven 30 feet deep. But that makes the two-story house three stories high. Also because of it's "L" shape "it's like a huge sail so it catches the wind." To reinforce the house, eight steel beams were placed under the siding. The interior walls are "shear walls," which means vertical studs are braced with horizontal 2 x 4s every 4 inches. These studs are covered with plywood on both sides to prevent any twisting action of the house due to wind loading. All studs are secured with hurricane straps. The glass is rated to withstand winds of 130 mph. The glass doors latch and close in four places so water cannot be driven around the edges. The exterior is Hardy plank, a cement-fiber siding that resembles wood. The Wrights used flat roofs and gutters to create a rainwater collection system (see related story). For those folks who have read to the end, that's the story (or most of it). Take care, Pam

Based on your pictures, it looks like the neighbor blocked a natural drainage flow with his garage and pool. To me it looks like your only alternative is to take more pictures and take them before the zoning board in your community. That failing most area of the country have rules on the natural drainage systems, that a Lawyer could help you with. While a lawyer will cost, you have already spent a lot of money to correct an problem that can only be corrected on a community level. Your pump solution will be a continuing cost, not to mention the cost of the loss of the value of your home caused by the blocked drainage flow.

Sorry about your tree. I'm in Peterborough, too. For a while it was like living in a war zone, with sirens going off every once in a while, choppers flying over the house (government types, media, and an MOE study), news vehicles etc. On the main drag I saw vegetation wrapped around traffic light poles like seaweed around a wharf after the tide receeds. I was fairly lucky, in that I didn't have much stuff in the basement that was damaged by what little water got in. My foundation parging did develop some new and interesting cracks but I was able to get a structural engineer to assure me that it wasn't a major concern (old house, anyway). But now I've got a nasty musty smell down there that I just can't get rid of. But compared to those poor souls whose lives are currently sitting on their front lawn, I'm very fortunate. Heard on the radio today that the Mennonites are sending 90 people up from Waterloo (some sort of volunteer disaster group) and that a Buddist group is also sending people. I think that sort of thing just makes one want to roll up ones sleeves and pitch in, too. I got the foodbank on my list for this afternoon. I lost some stuff in the garden, but it would seem that the plants in most people's gardens stood up to this weather better than their houses! A clematis got torn down and drowned and the more delicate stuff trampled by heavy rains. Everything looks dreary and floppy, but the slugs and most of the weeds are happy. I think it's stopped raining just long enough to mow the mushroom farm - err, I mean the lawn. I would really really like to see a sunny, breezy day. Let's hope this weekend brings some relief. Without even a little bit of wind we're now also suffering from heat, extreme humidity and smog. (shortly to be followed by a mid-summer mosquito population explosion, I'm sure) C.