“We can’t condemn property to do drainage work. We need 100 percent agreement,” Cahall said. “Right now we don’t have a solution. We are stumped on this one.”

He said if the reluctant property owner is shown proof of the amount of water on neighboring properties, there could be a change of heart and the project could be revisited.

Cahall said it’s been the busiest six weeks in his office since he started with the program 10 years ago. He said Hudson’s situation is one of many, with areas around Harbeson, Oak Orchard, Georgetown, Seaford and Delmar hit the hardest. He said many people who started seeing water on their property in mid-November still have water on their property.

“For some people it’s going to be a long winter because the water has no place to go,” Cahall said.

“We need a dry spell.”

But even with wind, sun and warmer temperatures, the winter groundwater table is up so high, water would have a hard time infiltrating the soil, he said.

Cahall said development is not the main culprit. “We’ve always had a drainage problem – drainage ditches date back to Colonial times – because of our landscape,” he said. “And this has been an abnormally wet period.”

But, he said, if there were less development, officials would not get complaints because the water would be in places where people aren’t.

Ordinance may offer some help

“This has been an eye-opener for everyone,” said Jessica Watson, program manager of the Sussex County Conservation District. Watson said the vicinity around the kennel along Route 24 is a trouble area because there are not many good outlets for runoff water. “And we have a few failed infiltration ponds in the area because the ground is so saturated,” she said.

Watson said the addition of a county drainage ordinance, similar to ones in Kent and New Castle counties, would help alleviate some of the problems. She said the ordinance would require all new home plans to provide lines and grades to show positive water drainage to collection areas such as roadside swales.