Water backing up from beavers and city drainage

[sghoghunter]

First off I live in the edge of a small town and on the east side of my parents house is a drainage ditch for the water off of atleast 1/4 of towns overflow rain water. Also over forty years ago the landowner to the north dammed up a wet bottom and made a pond. I remember when I was a kid that there was constant problems with water backing up due to beavers. That pond dam also busted and went dry except for a small creek through the middle until two yrs ago when the old mans grandson and the farmer that farms his land rebuilt the dam and now it’s a pond again. The problem with the pond is the dam and the two overflow pipes are almost even and the water stays a couple inches below the dam. The problem with the town’s drainage ditch is on the north side the ditch has filled in with dirt and it now backs up in about two ac’s of my woods. Also this morning I done some walking and found out the 2 ac’s was backed up due to two big beaver dam’s. I’ve been digging them out for the past couple hours and only let it down maybe a foot. The ditch has also been getting wider and wider every year and the city people keep coming up with excuses about getting some kind of grant to put pipe in instead of a ditch. Last year I took pictures of the flooding and gave them to the city clerk and as far as I know nothing has been done. What would y’all’s next move be? Also would a call to the EPA put a fire under someone’s feet or cause more problems?

 

[fireman32]

Dealing with a city government is a pain. You may have to get a lawyer and try to prove the water is damaging your property and it’s the city’s fault. Fear of losing money is one of the few things that will make a city act.
You could also hire someone to trap the beavers for a temporary solution.

 

[sghoghunter]

Dealing with a city government is a pain. You may have to get a lawyer and try to prove the water is damaging your property and it’s the city’s fault. Fear of losing money is one of the few things that will make a city act.
You could also hire someone to trap the beavers for a temporary solution.

Proving the water damage isn’t a problem cause they’ve already admitted that there’s a problem on their side but don’t have the money to fix it that’s the reason for the grant. My main problem is the lack of them doing anything to help the problem. It would satisfy me some if they would even show the interest as to digging out about 200 foot of ditch and building up the pond dam

 

[Gadestroyer74]

Here is the only thing you can control. Trap the beavers to keep them from backing up the water. You seem in a rural area get some tannerite and blow the beaver dams up. Much faster and better than doing so with a shovel. Those things you can do. The other is a time and money dealing with the city and a lawyer.

 

[westcobbdog]

First off I live in the edge of a small town and on the east side of my parents house is a drainage ditch for the water off of atleast 1/4 of towns overflow rain water. Also over forty years ago the landowner to the north dammed up a wet bottom and made a pond. I remember when I was a kid that there was constant problems with water backing up due to beavers. That pond dam also busted and went dry except for a small creek through the middle until two yrs ago when the old mans grandson and the farmer that farms his land rebuilt the dam and now it’s a pond again. The problem with the pond is the dam and the two overflow pipes are almost even and the water stays a couple inches below the dam. The problem with the town’s drainage ditch is on the north side the ditch has filled in with dirt and it now backs up in about two ac’s of my woods. Also this morning I done some walking and found out the 2 ac’s was backed up due to two big beaver dam’s. I’ve been digging them out for the past couple hours and only let it down maybe a foot. The ditch has also been getting wider and wider every year and the city people keep coming up with excuses about getting some kind of grant to put pipe in instead of a ditch. Last year I took pictures of the flooding and gave them to the city clerk and as far as I know nothing has been done. What would y’all’s next move be? Also would a call to the EPA put a fire under someone’s feet or cause more problems?

Consider consulting with a lawyer who specializes in water, not for the beaver dams so much but if you feel like the local govt is pushing you around and they started the trouble.

 

[Toliver]

I am not sure where all the variables lie, but I've seen people get themselves in a jam when messing with waterways, to include removing beaver dams. I'm not arguing for or against, just suggesting you might want to check with the state first (asking for a friend kinda thing) or don't make what you're doing public.

 

[notnksnemor]

Is there a problem if there is no beaver dam?

 

[sghoghunter]

Is there a problem if there is no beaver dam?

Yes sir. This water backing up has been going on for years but the beaver problems just started. Today is the first beaver sign I’ve seen since I was a kid. The water backing up would always happen when a decent rain came but would would go down from in the woods in a few hours but once the beavers showed there’s no way for the water to leave

 

[Whitefeather]

If this is deemed State Waters, which it probably is, then digging out is expensive and probably not likely without obtaining a Corps Permit, if they even issue one.
Kill the beavers as they are compounding the problems and get used to living next to a creek. Erosion is a naturally occurring event. It is heightened by development, but yet unless your dwelling is being effected, then probably nothing can or will be done.

 

[buckpasser]

I got a call from a small town this week looking for help. This isn’t in northern Colquitt county by chance is it?

 

[sghoghunter]

I got a call from a small town this week looking for help. This isn’t in northern Colquitt county by chance is it?

No sir. North cook but only 15 mins from northern Colquitt

 

[sghoghunter]

If this is deemed State Waters, which it probably is, then digging out is expensive and probably not likely without obtaining a Corps Permit, if they even issue one.
Kill the beavers as they are compounding the problems and get used to living next to a creek. Erosion is a naturally occurring event. It is heightened by development, but yet unless your dwelling is being effected, then probably nothing can or will be done.

I could get use to living next to a creek but like I said above it’s a drainage ditch for rainwater from town. To help ya see the problem the red line is the ditch and the blue is the pond I talked about in first post. The bottom part of the yellow is in the woods where the ditch use to be but has mostly filled in with dirt over the years. The top yellow is on the edge of the pond **** that use to be a ditch but over the years has been filled in with dirt. The two purple is the beaver dams.

 

[Doug B.]

Those places you made in the beavers dam will be fixed back by tomorrow morning. So basically you worked on them for two hours for nothing. The very best way to get rid of the beavers is to trap them. If they have just moved in then there are likely only two of them right now. Get them gone then you can tear out the dams.

I'm sorry, but I don't know what you should do about the drainage problem.

 

[sghoghunter]

Those places you made in the beavers dam will be fixed back by tomorrow morning. So basically you worked on them for two hours for nothing. The very best way to get rid of the beavers is to trap them. If they have just moved in then there are likely only two of them right now. Get them gone then you can tear out the dams.

I'm sorry, but I don't know what you should do about the drainage problem.

When I was back there I looked for some slide marks going from the pond to the ditch but didn’t see anything that looked like their trail. Can I set a conabear trap on the deep water side of where I dug the dam out?

 

[Whitefeather]

So the pond is down stream from you? If so, what’s happening is when the silt from running water hits an area of standing water ie the newly built pond dam, or slows down, and settles out. The only way to fix this is to remove the obstacles that are slowing it down. The only recourse I know of is to contact the person that built the pond. By law,he cannot back water up onto your property without your permission. The City will probably tell you to work it out amongst yourselves. On the bright side, if he’s backing water up onto your property, then you have permission to use the pond as long as it’s on both properties.

 

[sghoghunter]

So the pond is down stream from you? If so, what’s happening is when the silt from running water hits an area of standing water ie the newly built pond dam, or slows down, and settles out. The only way to fix this is to remove the obstacles that are slowing it down. The only recourse I know of is to contact the person that built the pond. By law,he cannot back water up onto your property without your permission. The City will probably tell you to work it out amongst yourselves. On the bright side, if he’s backing water up onto your property, then you have permission to use the pond as long as it’s on both properties.

The pond has absolutely nothing to do with the drainage ditch except for the overflow of the pond drops off in the ditch way downstream of me. They could dig out the ditch along the south side of the pond dam and build it up a couple feet with the dirt

 

[Whitefeather]

The pond has absolutely nothing to do with the drainage ditch except for the overflow of the pond drops off in the ditch way downstream of me. They could dig out the ditch along the south side of the pond dam and build it up a couple feet with the dirt

Good luck. They’re probably going to tell you it’s silted in and can’t do anything about it. Those are state waters (ephemeral or intermittent stream) and can’t be touched

 

[Doug B.]

When I was back there I looked for some slide marks going from the pond to the ditch but didn’t see anything that looked like their trail. Can I set a conabear trap on the deep water side of where I dug the **** out?

That don't really work most of the time. They will be bringing sticks, limbs, mud, etc to patch the dam and will clog up the conibear before they go through it. You could set a a foothold on a drowner ( #4 or larger) back from the dam enough that they would step in it with a back foot when they are repairing the dam.

Wished I were closer. I would help you out.

 

[huntfish]

Are the beaver dams on your property? If they are, it's going to be hard to prove that city is responsible.

 

[MudDucker]

So the pond is down stream from you? If so, what’s happening is when the silt from running water hits an area of standing water ie the newly built pond dam, or slows down, and settles out. The only way to fix this is to remove the obstacles that are slowing it down. The only recourse I know of is to contact the person that built the pond. By law,he cannot back water up onto your property without your permission. The City will probably tell you to work it out amongst yourselves. On the bright side, if he’s backing water up onto your property, then you have permission to use the pond as long as it’s on both properties.

You only have permission to use the part of the pond that actually lies above your property, not the portion that lies above their property.