Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Oregon

My neighbor lives uphill from me. In fact the driveway to his house crosses my land. he had 3 (or more) loads of gravel dumped in his driveway right above my property. Now the water in my well is very cloudy and difficult to filter.

When this happened last year, I let my neighbor know that this had been a problem to me. This year we saw the wife a day or two after the gravel had been delivered. She told me that my water would be getting cloudy again, but she was not concerned about my problems with my water so long as she had fresh gravel in her driveway so it wouldn't get muddy.

What recourse do I have? Simple inconsideration I could accept, unhappily, but with some understanding that they don't think of others. In this case, she DID think of us. The tone of her voice led me to feel that she did this maliciously, and I do feel that my well has been polluted. I know it will wash out, eventually. In the meantime I have months of extra work cleaning my water and using up water filters.


Asked on 11/12/10, 2:54 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Daniel Meek Daniel W. Meek

You can sue your neighbor for harming your water, whether intentional or not. A good summary is here (look under the heading State Law): http://www.p2pays.org/ref/01/00062.htm.

Her statement that your water would be getting cloudy shows that they knowingly contaminated your water. It would be helpful to get that statement in writing. So send her an email or letter saying "Thank you for telling me that my water would be getting cloudy again, because you are again dumping gravel in the driveway. Of course that requires me to filter my wanter for several (weeks or months), and no filter removes most of the contamination."

You can also contact Oregon DEQ and complain: 1-800-452-4011, x5664).

Does your neighbor have a recorded easement to use your land for his driveway? If not, you might consider notifying him of that fact.

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Answered on 11/17/10, 4:22 pm


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