Thanks all for the comments. Early on I spoke with him and offered to purchase the materials and help build a suitable structure to contain the manure and to prevent water ingress/outgress (according to manure BMPs) and all he said was "I don't see that there is a problem" and walked off. I have contacted the state and county and they came out but concluded that they don't have any jurisdiction on private lands/waters and all it did was tick him off more when he heard about the complaint. I've spoken to a law firm (specializing in environmental) who tells me that there are civil violations that are a basis for suit, but man---we are talking a lot of money. And if I don't do anything the lawyers tell me that I have basically granted them the right to continue unchallenged in the future. Bluegill, I did have the lawyers send him a letter in which the e coli issue was specifically mentioned and the response from his lawyers was "the state and county were out and didn't see any violations so tough". I'm at my wit's end; we called our pond the crown jewel of our property and had many good times there but now we can't stand to look at it. Dave, the thought of building a berm has passed through my mind but the lawyers tell me that blocking drainage and causing back up on their property would be the basis of a suit against us. They also tell me that if I run a bypass and send it downstream to our next neighbor's pond they could sue us for contaminating their pond. I feel as though I am trapped in a nightmare.
Michael
Last edited by CypressTx; 07/07/12 08:56 AM.
