Can The Neighbours Drain out Their Water into My Backyard?

LPriUdu on 14/01/2019 - 14:23
Last edited 14/01/2019 - 14:27

Hello everyone, I live in South East suburbs in Melbourne.

Recently I have noticed that my backyard was flooded with water, and it came from my neighbour's land. It seems that they have a portable pool, used by his kids especially during the hot days in the summer and when they drain out the water it flowed into my land, and the grass patch was flooded with water.

I send him a message yesterday, with pictures, and asked him to look into this. He replied that the water is from his sprinklers, (I doubt that as he has artificial turf in the backyard) and as my land is lower than his, the water flows in to my land and he cannot do much about it.

By I am of the view that people cannot release the water on to the neighbouring land and that is not an ethical thing.

Would like to know your views, and the legal implications.

Pri

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Nugs on 14/01/2019 - 14:25
    +7

    ask your council?
    .

  • chumlee on 14/01/2019 - 14:26
    +13

    No, water cannot be discharged onto your property. Tell the neighbour to connect a hose to the pool to drain it elsewhere.

    You can raise it with your local council if you get nowhere with your neighbour

    • PriUdu on 14/01/2019 - 14:47

      thanks !

  • dcep on 14/01/2019 - 14:29
    +1

    sandbag your boundary

    • PriUdu on 14/01/2019 - 19:05

      yes, thinking of having a retaining wall. have not look at the budget though

      • onetwothreefour on 14/01/2019 - 19:42
        +1

        A retaining wall will not stop the water, you need to put drainage behind retaining walls so that water has somewhere to go.

  • capslock on 14/01/2019 - 14:30
    +22

    Can't you just treat it as free water for your grass? It's hot this week.

    • Clear on 14/01/2019 - 16:02
      +3

      That's what I did years ago! The council had a pipe that would pump water to a farm for free behind my property. It had a hole resulting in flooding and after years of complaints and no fixes we just used it to fill up our water tank.

      Made summer watering much cheaper and no more flooding :)

  • mooney on 14/01/2019 - 14:31
    +19

    Buy a 6 pack of beer and invite him over for a drink. Have a nice chat about stuff. Be friendly….

    Then if an incident like this happens again, you wont be reaching out to a bargain website asking about legal implications because your neighbour wont act like an arsehole.

    Total Cost: $20.

    • cansydint on 14/01/2019 - 14:48
      +14

      A SOCIAL INTERACTION??? WHAT YEAR IS IT!??

    • PriUdu on 14/01/2019 - 14:48

      Good suggestion !worth trying it.

    • djkelly69 on 14/01/2019 - 15:01
      +10

      a 6 pack of beer… Total Cost: $20

      I am afraid you will be required to hand in your ozbargain licence.

      • mooney on 14/01/2019 - 16:33
        +11

        No worries, I have picked up loads of OzBargain licences over the years. I brodened them when they were going cheap.

    • PriUdu on 14/01/2019 - 19:07
      +1

      Thanks, yes, I will have a chat with him over a drink. :)

  • WreckTangle on 14/01/2019 - 15:24
    +11

    I wish my neighbour would water my lawn for me

  • SnoozeAndLose on 14/01/2019 - 15:43
    +3

    if he has portable pool and without fences then you can report them to council

    • Laziofogna on 18/01/2019 - 20:54

      It’s probably a kmart mini pool, diameter 1m, I highly doubt they need a fence for that

      • SnoozeAndLose on 18/01/2019 - 21:40

        if it is the pool you mentioned , shouldn't have that much water.

        Also the regulation say the depth more than 30 cm regardless of the diameter or how much water it can hold.

        • Laziofogna on 19/01/2019 - 16:28

          I just took for good what op wrote, portable pool used for the neighbours kids.

  • [Deactivated] on 14/01/2019 - 15:45
    +1

    It's not right but in this instance, it's probably beneficial to you.

    (Unless it's a super large pool and super small backyard).

    • PriUdu on 14/01/2019 - 19:08

      :) Thanks

  • [Deactivated] on 14/01/2019 - 15:48

    You definitely are not allowed to dump water like this. If it has chlorine in it then it may damage your lawn. I guess it is not draining as your neighbors artificial lawn doesn't let it drain.

    Mooney has the best suggestion on how to deal with this.

    • PriUdu on 14/01/2019 - 19:10

      I thought as much, and let's see have the talks go. Thanks

      • HighAndDry on 15/01/2019 - 09:41
        +1

        As per Quantumcat, I wouldn't be worried about the chlorine. If the water has enough chlorine to damage your lawn, your neighbours would be getting chemical burns.

    • Quantumcat on 14/01/2019 - 20:08
      +3

      What happens if pool water gets on your grass? Not a whole lot. Your soil is resilient – especially if it’s received proper lawn irrigation. In addition, grass blades are very picky about what nutrients they allow in their systems.
      Furthermore, there isn't enough chlorine in your pool to really cause your lawn much harm. Once in the pool water, chlorine becomes so diluted that it isn't potent enough to cause serious damage. If pool water gets on your lawn, it’s just giving your turf a little bit of extra water.

      From https://sprinklersystemsottawa.ca/news_july10_12.html

      I would say, as long as it isn't too often that you start getting a swamp, I would be happy about the situation

  • mbck on 14/01/2019 - 15:53
    +1

    I'd ask him to let you take as much water as you can so you can use it to water your plants. Win win!

    • PriUdu on 14/01/2019 - 19:10

      :)

  • JimmyF on 14/01/2019 - 16:27
    +2

    the water it flowed into my land, and the grass patch was flooded with water

    So they watered your lawn for free in summer and you're complaining?

  • Strahany on 14/01/2019 - 18:39
    +1

    Urinate over the fence, and when he complains just say that it’s only falling into his yard because of gravity and there’s not much you can do about it?

    • PriUdu on 14/01/2019 - 19:11

      Oops. :)

  • onetwothreefour on 14/01/2019 - 19:41

    Make your yard slope so that it runs to your neighbour's garden, it's no longer your problem.

  • Some Human on 14/01/2019 - 23:49

    When I was a kid our neighbors used to empty their entire above ground, chlorine filled pool into our carpeted play shed every year.
    Some people have no respect.

  • JIMB0 on 15/01/2019 - 08:28
    +3

    Just throw the water back on his side of the fence.

    • capslock on 15/01/2019 - 09:35
      +4

      This won't work. The water will just flow back to OP's land because it is lower.

      • H E B on 15/01/2019 - 09:54
        +1

        This. Lol.

  • User210686 on 15/01/2019 - 09:59

    Sorry to hijack the thread but we have an annoying neighbor who complains just about everything. (Not saying that you are like her)
    We heard her yelling at tradies, delivery guys, etc etc. She frequently has very loud arguments with her wife and just seems very difficult to deal with. She has also complained about our house previously that trees in the front yard is a hazard and that asbestos is flying over to her house, etc. This is an investment property and we didnt live here until recently when we decided to do something about the house. We have someone come out to inspect the issues (asbestos, trees) and certify that everything was in accordance with the rules the last time she complained.
    Now she went to the council yet again and complained that our backyard hasn’t been maintained. Who cares about neighbors backyards….
    What’s funny is despite that, we have witnessed her throwing things (dead leaves, trash, etc) over the fence in our backyard and even found feces in the corner. We have cats but the feces definitely didn’t come from cats. They are huge! The neighbor has a dog and I’ve never seen her or anyone walking it, so it’s highly likely coming from the neighbor.
    We will be installing security cameras in the meantime and once we start building a new house, we will build a very high retaining wall so her house will be in the ditch :p

  • SlickMick on 15/01/2019 - 11:02

    It depends. If you can't find a solution negotiating with your neighbour, the council will have the answer. (You pay for their service, you'd might as well use it.)

    You can't interfere with the natural flow of storm water on your land. So if your neighbourhood was designed for your neighbours water to flow through yours, you have to deal with that. (It has to go somewhere.)

    My understanding is that if a retaining wall is required, that would be your neighbours problem. He has to ensure his land doesn't collapse into yours. But that sounds like a different topic.

  • Ozpit on 15/01/2019 - 11:40

    Reminds me of a time when I was kid and a neighbour’s septic tank overflowed and covered much of our backyard. The grass did grow greener for awhile. Health hazard? I’m still here to tell the tale. Not that I’d wish such a thing on anyone except my worst enemies.

  • plowry1977 on 15/01/2019 - 13:31

    Probably only few more weeks of school hols until stop using so much water, so probably not worth falling out with neighbour by reporting then to council

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