It's your worst nightmare. You live in a nice community, you have nice neighbors, and life is good. You are living the American dream.

Then, one day you learn that a developer has purchased a farm located near your community. The farm is turned into a new residential community.

As a result, the farm is largely paved over and the rain water, which used to be absorbed into the open ground, has no place to flow. So, when it rains hard, the rain flows downhill to your community. And you and your neighbors routinely experience terrible flooding.

Does this sound familiar? Flooding due to overdevelopment or improper planning is a real problem for many in this country.

And when homeowners encounter flooding, often help is hard to find. A community located in Mandan City, North Dakota knows too well about this nightmare.

The problems center around a neighborhood called "Terra Vallee," consisting of approximately 100 homes that were built in a low area, below an empty, commercially zoned, man?made plateau. The development was constructed in the late 1970s.

Community residents now allege that the city allowed the developer to create unacceptable drainage problems that resulted in water in their basements and deteriorating roads. In other words, the homeowners are claiming that the developer should have anticipated drainage problems before the houses were built, and that it failed to do so.

What's more, they allege the city did not make the developer address this problem, and the residents are now urging that the city pay for fixing the drainage problems.

Eleven different options are currently being considered by the local City Commission. Costs of a possible "fix" range from over one hundred thousand dollars to several million dollars. I am sure that the debate over alternatives will last for some time. And when everyone finally agrees on a solution to the flooding problem, funding will become the next question.

Will each resident be specially assessed?, will the original developer pay?, will the municipality pay? Its not going to be easy.

Why do neighborhood flooding problems arise? Naturally, there are many reasons, but often poor planning is at least part of the problem. When a large area of farmland or undeveloped property becomes developed, it is necessary to plan for runoff. If runoff is not properly anticipated, it can lead to flooding.

Runoff is the natural flow of rain water the follows a rainfall. Fields that are undeveloped can often absorb rainfall so that flooding does not result. But when the farmland or undeveloped property becomes paved and developed, natural abortion can no longer take place.

Unless proper planning is provided for the rainwater runoff, flooding will result. The flooding may be limited to the new development, or it may affect lower lying neighboring communities that did not experience any flooding problems before the development.

To address possible flooding problems, most communities now require developers to propose approaches for handing rainwater before any shovel ever hits the ground. This can range form the simple installation of storm drain sewers, to the installation of multi-million dollar water retention systems.

Sometimes, costly runoff systems are hidden underground, below residential projects.

Proper engineering is just part of the solution.

In addition, guarantees for long term maintenance must also be in place. A sophisticated drainage system will require long term maintenance and cleaning. Who will pay for this? What guarantees do the government and neighbors have that the system will be maintained years after a developer completes the project and is nowhere to be found? If you suffer from flooding, the problem may be difficult to resolve.

You will need to determine the cause of the flooding.

If it is a new development, you may be able to require the developer or the community to pay for the "fix." If the source can not be found, if the developer cannot be located, or if the local government is unresponsive, resort to legal redress may be necessary.

Published: December 28, 2000

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Stuart Lieberman, Esq. writes about environmental issues. He was a New Jersey Deputy Attorney General assigned to the State Department of Environmental Protection from 1986 to 1990. Currently he is a shareholder in the environmental law firm of Lieberman & Blecher, P.C., located in Princeton, New Jersey. Stuart can be reached at slieberman@liebermanblecher.com.