AlanBown wrote:
I would start with the extension office of that local county.
I tried the town "planning & zoning" people (after the "construction"
folks referred me to them). They said to call one of three engineering
firms in the town but those engineering firms came up blank. They
didn't have a clue who would inspect an earth embankment.

Sounds a bit weird that the pipe is going to a neighbor.
Maybe I explained it wrong. The pipe merely goes to the other side of
the earch embankment (i.e., it transects the dam). It just sticks out
the other side of this ten-foot-tall embankment. It just so happens the
neighbor's property line is exactly at the foot of that embankment,
parallel to the embankment ... so the results is that the water goes
from the pond on property #1 to the pipe to a brook on property #2.

What are the water/ground water laws for NJ.
I do not know and I'm scared to death of the town becoming involved but
I do know that if the system is broken, I'll need to fix it and if I
want to modify anything I'll need competent engineering advice before I
do anything to the riparian system. But, I'd like to do all that
privately if possible.

In Colorado you can have water/river/stream on the property & can not
use it.
I don't understand what this implies. All I'd use the incoming water
for (which comes in from a stream) is to fill the pond and then spill
out to the neighbor's property. Nothing else is intended (the house is
situated only on 2 acres of hilly lawan so there's not much else to do
with the water but let it run on by).

Best check with the county/local authority and find out what
the deed restrictions/title are for the property.
As per above, I don't understand how this would matter.
All I want to have is some professional person (civil engineer,
hydraulic engineer, dam inspector, whatever) inspect it to tell me if
it's safe and sound and if it's not, to then tell me what I need to do
to fix it so that it is safe and sound.


I grew up on a farm in Iowa and if the dam did not leak that was good
enough
for us.
There's more to the story than I said in that the neighbor is
complaining that it's structurally not sound (I think he is just trying
to keep anyone from purchasing the property but I don't know that for a
fact).

All I need is the Internet listing to find a company that has the
credentials to inspect an embankment such as this and tell me reliably
what (if anything) needs to be done to make that dam safe & sound.

What have I done wrong?
Does anyone know of such a consultant in northern NJ?