One side of my yard is downhill from my neighbors septic leach field and it super soaks my lawn every spring, its so swamped that I cant even cut it till end of May when it starts to dry out.  A real "shi**y" situation.  I understand my neighbor isn't flooding my yard on purpose so I am not taking it up with him. 

We took dirt from an excavation project last fall in attempt to build up the area to prevent the super soak, clearly not high enough, its still lower than his leach field and water is just flowing across the top (pics attached).   One neighbor recommended digging channels and putting in some sort of drain pipe that exits near the road, my friend suggested digging channels and filling with rock to create some sort of dry well.  

Looking for some feedback from the pros here, curious to see what options are out there. 

 

 

Damn.  All I gotta say is that it is a real shitty situation...  Can't really plant anything there to help soak up the runoff?  I see you have some trees already that should be soaking up a lot...

Field drain in a swale. 3/4 stone around 4

” schedule 20 perforated pipe. Pitched to daylight. 16” below grade. 4” stone, 4” pipe( holes down) 4”stone. Landscape fabric and caution tape. 4” topsoil. Assuming you have pitch. I also feel your Nieghbor’s field is failing...

Zeke, I thought same thing, his field is shot.

29 minutes ago, Zeke said:

Field drain in a swale. 3/4 stone around 4

” schedule 20 perforated pipe. Pitched to daylight. 16” below grade. 4” stone, 4” pipe( holes down) 4”stone. Landscape fabric and caution tape. 4” topsoil. Assuming you have pitch. I also feel your Nieghbor’s field is failing...

Yes your neighbor's septic has failed.  You have a real health concern there.  The thing to do is notify your health department. Even though he's at fault you are going to loose the friendship of a neighbor.  A NJ septic is $25-30k depending.  You better do something though.

9 minutes ago, Frank Rizzo said:

Zeke, I thought same thing, his field is shot.

I’d talk with your Nieghbor, if that fails... it is under the Board of Health purview ... clogged fields can be repaired.  High probability he’s not pumping his tank out enough.

2 minutes ago, Old School said:

Yes your neighbor's septic has failed.  You have a real health concern there.  The thing to do is notify your health department. Even though he's at fault you are going to loose the friendship of a neighbor.  A NJ septic is $25-30k depending.  You better do something though.

Jinx

1 hour ago, Frank Rizzo said:

One side of my yard is downhill from my neighbors septic leach field and it super soaks my lawn every spring, its so swamped that I cant even cut it till end of May when it starts to dry out.

Any possibility that's just from the amount of rain we've been having? I have parts of my yard that never flood, has had standing water in the grass after the recent rains.

If the problem goes away after the Spring, is it just a perking problem with waterlogged soil? If the problem existed all year, it would point to a bad field. I doubt he's using less water and sending less through his septic after May.

49 minutes ago, Sniper22 said:

Any possibility that's just from the amount of rain we've been having? I have parts of my yard that never flood, has had standing water in the grass after the recent rains.

If the problem goes away after the Spring, is it just a perking problem with waterlogged soil? If the problem existed all year, it would point to a bad field. I doubt he's using less water and sending less through his septic after May.

Unfortunately jus because it has rained heavily, Effluent should still not be in your yard.

31 minutes ago, Zeke said:

Unfortunately jus because it has rained heavily, Affluent should still not be in your yard.

Well, he may need some affluent to control his effluent. 

If this were my neighbor I would definitely talk to him before calling in the board of health. This is a problem he should want to take care of. If he refuses to do anything, then I'd tell him what my next step would be. Unless this surface water is the result of spring melt and rain, and your yard is basically dry the rest of the time barring torrential rainfall, his leach field has failed. And that water on the surface is a health concern.

6 minutes ago, 45Doll said:

Well, he may need some affluent to control his effluent. 

If this were my neighbor I would definitely talk to him before calling in the board of health. This is a problem he should want to take care of. If he refuses to do anything, then I'd tell him what my next step would be. Unless this surface water is the result of spring melt and rain, and your yard is basically dry the rest of the time barring torrential rainfall, his leach field has failed. And that water on the surface is a health concern.

Lol. Gotta be me

5 minutes ago, Zeke said:

Lol. Gotta be me

As must my wife. She does this all the time. Only her version is to combine two possibly relevant words into one new one, previously unknown to man.

E.G. Groundchuck

1 minute ago, 45Doll said:

As must my wife. She does this all the time. Only her version is to combine two possibly relevant words into one new one, previously unknown to man.

Shes a fellow linguistic artist!

At least the lawn should get really green.

@45Doll no catch title?

Old School...  I though about calling town when I dug a hole last year to plant a tree, water filled with a rainbow colored sheen. ? Was out yesterday working near the wet mud, smelled like sh*t, no joke. Just might have to call the town.

4 minutes ago, Frank Rizzo said:

Old School...  I though about calling town when I dug a hole last year to plant a tree, water filled with a rainbow colored sheen. ? Was out yesterday working near the wet mud, smelled like sh*t, no joke. Just might have to call the town.  I'm neither friends or enemies with him, don't care at this point if he gets pissed. 

Nj. Gov. 

Typically board of health is county. But you could condemn his home. I’d reach out first 

As others have said, the water shouldn't even be spreading outward like that. It should soak down into the ground, regardless of slope. Part of a septic inspection is testing the leech field, and it must pass. If untreated sewage is surfacing, THAT is a HUGE  health issue. 

Heavy rain can cause this, but it really shouldn't last more then the day it rained, and we are talking torrential downpour. The only other explanation is they are depositing too much water through the system per day.

I know my fathers septic would pass inspection, but it flooded sometimes with our large family and water consumption.

I would reach out first to him, like others said. Give him the ability to test the field before writing the town. 

A letter to the town will set off a lot headaches for him, a failed septic goes into the public record and can lead to some nasty home owners stuff.

 

You guys are nice. If my backyard was full of dookie water I’d be calling in an AC-130 gunship on his house.

3 hours ago, Frank Rizzo said:

Old School...  I though about calling town when I dug a hole last year to plant a tree, water filled with a rainbow colored sheen. ? Was out yesterday working near the wet mud, smelled like sh*t, no joke. Just might have to call the town.  I'm neither friends or enemies with him, don't care at this point if he gets pissed. 

Human feces is not good to have lying around, not good to walk in...just not good period.

If that was me I would have called the town a long time ago.

That needs to stop.

 

If he knows it's there and hasn't done anything about it then why bother contacting him. He obviously doesn't care. Call the health department

I would just call the County Health Department. He is allowing his problem to be your problem. 

I am not aware if he even knows, I never complained to anyone and his backyard appears to be bone dry.  

When's the last time he got that thing serviced?  Maybe it's overflowing...

15 minutes ago, Frank Rizzo said:

I am not aware if he even knows, I never complained to anyone and his backyard appears to be bone dry.  

Well then the first step is obvious. Call him over to the fence and show him.

Unless you're itching to start a dispute with your neighbor, you should at least confirm that he knows there's a problem.

By the way, there's no chance an underground water pipe has sprung a leak is there? The amount of water in your picture would seem to indicate he did 50 loads of wash at once. I had an issue like this with runoff, but the volume was nowhere near what's in your photos. You didn't say if your neighborhood is on well or city water.

19 minutes ago, Frank Rizzo said:

I am not aware if he even knows, I never complained to anyone and his backyard appears to be bone dry.  

Lol. Shit flows down hill.. true story 

3 hours ago, JackDaWack said:

As others have said, the water shouldn't even be spreading outward like that. It should soak down into the ground, regardless of slope. Part of a septic inspection is testing the leech field, and it must pass. If untreated sewage is surfacing, THAT is a HUGE  health issue. 

Heavy rain can cause this, but it really shouldn't last more then the day it rained, and we are talking torrential downpour. The only other explanation is they are depositing too much water through the system per day.

I know my fathers septic would pass inspection, but it flooded sometimes with our large family and water consumption.

I would reach out first to him, like others said. Give him the ability to test the field before writing the town. 

A letter to the town will set off a lot headaches for him, a failed septic goes into the public record and can lead to some nasty home owners stuff.

 

So does e coli virus

5 minutes ago, Old School said:

So does e coli virus

Didn't know OP had a Chipotle.

Let him know. ASAP.  If he doesn't do anything or care then you're defending a worthless neighbor not worth your protection.  If or when you sell your house you either will not be able to or the new buyer will come after you the first time it happens.  You can't hide it from the buyer as the are full disclosure laws.  Talk to your neighbor.

45..  we all have well water, no underground water pipes to my knowledge.  Strange,  his kids had a big sleepover last weekend, next day the water in my yard got worse.  Yeah, still a sh**ty situation.  

You're not protecting your neighbor, you're screwing yourself.