Just as the title reads, me and neighbors are feeling hopeless. Home builder has seemingly wiped their hands of the situation and the county can only do so much to hold them accountable appropriately. Swales run through the front yards of each property but accumulate water buildup quickly.

by shamrocksmoak

20 Comments

  1. Independent-Bobcat-1

    Gonna have to tunnel under the concrete. At least 12” corrugated pipe. Probably have to dig the swale across the properties deeper the channel under driveways

  2. Seth_Boyden

    So this was all designed this way, right? Where is it draining to? I would think you need to get all your neighbors on the same page and pay for a solution for everyone

  3. AmaranthusSky

    Looks like there’s already a trench drain under the driveway. A larger pipe underneath would hold more water and digging out a proper ditch in the grass areas. It doesn’t look like there’s anywhere for the water to go, so a dry creek type ditch or rain garden are going to the best options.

  4. Maximum-Shallot-2447

    I did not go to university and study hydrology but when you inspected the property before purchase did you not notice this feature. Anything is fixable it is just of how much do you want to spend and can you get all your neighbours to do the same.

  5. njdevil03

    Post photos of detention pond area where these driveway drains lead to. I would assume that the water level is too high at the pond therefore this water can’t flow “downhill”. Your drains would only flow when the detention pond lowers below the level of your drain pipe..

  6. The street is higher than those swales. This was by design for the development, but I can’t imagine why.

  7. elwoodowd

    1 lawyer

    2 cistern

    3 sump pump

    4 not in order

  8. The_Poster_Nutbag

    The answer depends a lot on some supporting information.

    How often does it get this deep? How many hours does the water remain before it’s gone? How many houses were built upslope of you or what is upslope? Is there a detention basin in the subdivision? Is that city ROW or is it a private road within the development?

    There is certainly hope for this issue and it wouldn’t likely be a big one to resolve, but these types of projects can quickly become large utility improvements.

  9. MarleysGhost2024

    Class action lawsuit against the developer abs their civil engineer.

  10. jmc1278999999999

    Yes but it’ll be hella expensive

  11. fireslayer03

    I’d say sell the house during the dry season

  12. nochinzilch

    It seems like that’s how the neighborhood was constructed.

  13. johnmflores

    Organize your neighbors. Show up at town and county meetings and raise some respectful hell. Make a stink on social media, shaming the builder for the shoddy work. Get the word out that they don’t stand behind their work.

  14. Sea_Soup8873

    Grass doesn’t really soak up much water so you could start to plant some water friendly plants and shrubs. won’t deal with large floods but a more “jungle like” front yard will have a lot more interesting plants that soak up excess water over time

  15. krumbs2020

    Sump pump and a pit. Send it to the gutter.

  16. ezekiel920

    You want the fish to swim in the street? They could get hit by a car.

  17. mannDog74

    How deep are the swales? Looks like they are not deep enough. And how does water travel through the swales? Do you have culverts underneath the driveways? That seems like what is needed.

    Nobody likes to have these ditches and culverts in their front yard because they want the front to be useable but this is definitely a nightmare. If you and your neighbors and maybe the HOA get together to hire a civil engineer or someone who knows how to fix these things it can get better but it won’t be cheap unfortunately.

Pin