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.

Believe it or not I was dealing with the same thing. I put pvc piping to redirect the water. I'm considering running a pipe from the drainage spot towards the natural spring hole. In past years the spring hole never froze but this year it has thin ice over part. I'll have to check to see if the neighbors have made (as before) blockge measures. Perhaps we can come up with a plan together so water doesn't back up into my yard. I have planted water lilly in the hole and blue flag in the "drainage ditch" I have relocated some wild water plants threatened by development. I had pitcher plants, cat tails etc. If you clear from sides of wet spots make sure there is at least one side you let nature or help nature stay overgrown. This will help nature wildlife help you. Remember to research native (not just naturalized) and use those plants. Don't INTRODUCE anything where you can't control it.

May I vent? Looking for advice whether and with what to fill in my trench. We have a very efficient sump pump- fortunately, because apparently we have an underground spring (saw it dripping through the wall!) that would otherwise give us a wet basement. (now finished!) We also live in an urban area with NO storm sewer on our block! Whenever triggered to pump, it puts out 3-4 gallons of water. If it's been lightly raining, like now in spring, it runs evey 15 minutes. Weeks after rain stops, it still runs once an hour. Do the math- that's a LOT of water. The outlet pipe is on the side of the house with the driveway, mostly shade, so, we've been sending it down the drive to the st. which is slippery and wasteful. I finally dug a trench between the house and driveway, 30'x3', 30"deep at the furthest end, and 18" at the shallow end. I was aiming for a hybrid combining a french drain and a bog garden. So, we made a pvc pipe channel to take the water down under a layer of rock, holes along the bottom of pipe. The trench has a rubber liner with many holes punched for seepage. I figured the worst that could happen is water would either overflow to the driveway or back toward the house and cycle through the system again. Problem: after a week, the water only got a few inches deep, and seemed stagnant. (perhaps too many holes) So I introduced a turtle fountain, connected to the sump pipe. This is as entertaining as Old Faithful, spewing water every 15 minutes, but the condensed size of tube is stressing the sump pipe indoors, causing a leak. I could detach the fountain and build a mtn. of rocks around the pipe opening, creating a small waterfall, which would still give some movement to the still water. But the water level is still too low for water lilies. This looks like a low creek. Should I fill in with peat and sand, and plant all my grasses and iris in it, adding other water loving plants? Should I cover the rocks and pipe with landscape fabric before filling with soil, to keep a cleaner drain area under the soil? Should I leave the water washing onto it all from above with a waterfall at the surface? or feed water from below? I know I'm breaking a bunch of rules. Just trying to creatively solve a problem. Thanks for listening. -bellflower

IF you are not equipped to chip away sidewalk concrete, and IF you need a patch that will be good for only a few years, you can sleeve the break INSIDE with a piece of PVC with a wide enough slit in it to allow it to close/compress down just enough to slip inside. Glue it to death. Keep in mind this is a ridiculous patch but it's one that will work, especially outdoors away from your house. Secondly, if I read this right and can assume that a 4" drain is huge for your pump, you could dig into the lawn just a little bit, reduce the outer lengths of the sump line to a 3" pipe, shove a 3" pipe into the broken sidewalk tube, and Bob's your uncle!