How do we fix standing water and drainage problems in our HOA common areas?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 26, 2026

How an HOA board fixes standing water in common areas: who owns each drain, finding the cause, cleaning vs regrading, French drains, permits, bids and a timeline.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

Standing water on common area nearly always comes from one of four things: a drain that is clogged, a drain that was never big enough, ground that has settled or been built up, or water arriving from somewhere it didn't come from before. Find which one you have before you pay for a fix. Clean first, because clearing an inlet or jetting a pipe costs a small fraction of any digging. Bring in a civil engineer when the fix changes where water leaves the site, touches a pond or pipe the city approved, or could push water toward a home. Who maintains each drain, and which permits apply, depends on your plat, your declaration, your city and your state. This guide is general education, not legal advice.

Figure out which drains belong to the association

Pull the recorded plat, the maintenance section of the declaration and any drainage plan the builder filed with the city. On a site map, number every inlet, pipe outfall, swale, channel, pond and underdrain in or next to common area, and write down who maintains each one. Cities draw this line in different places. Southlake, Texas tells its HOAs that the city maintains stormwater infrastructure in public rights-of-way and dedicated public drainage easements, while the HOA maintains the ponds, outlet structures, private channels and swales built as part of the development. In Colorado, C.R.S. 38-33.3-307(1.5) makes the association responsible for drainage structures the local government required as a condition of development, unless the city or county accepted them for maintenance or a special district handles them by law. In Florida, many subdivisions were built under an environmental resource permit that names the association as the entity that operates and maintains the stormwater system. Find the permit and read its conditions on maintenance and inspection. Our guide on how to set up an HOA retention pond maintenance schedule covers the pond side of that work. If a clogged inlet turns out to be the city's, report it and stop there.

Watch it rain, then trace the water

Walk the problem spots during a storm, then again 24 and 48 hours later. Take dated photos from the same spots and note the depth. A puddle that clears the day after a heavy rain is usually normal. Water that sits for days kills turf, leaves ruts when the mowers go through, and gives mosquitoes a place to breed. Then follow the water. Check grates for matted grass clippings, mulch and leaves, and lift a lid to see whether the box is half full of sediment. Look along swales for a raised lip of sod at the edge, which builds up after years of mowing and holds water behind it. Look for ground that has sunk over an old utility trench. Check whether the irrigation ran during the storm or a broken head has been bubbling all night. The Southeast Metro Stormwater Authority in Colorado defines a dry detention pond as one designed not to hold a significant pool after a storm. Its fact sheet lists clogged inlets, sediment buildup, poor mowing and weed control, and failed side slopes among the reasons ponds fail. If a dry pond holds water for days, suspect a blocked outlet, trash rack or trickle channel before anything else. Finally, look uphill. A new patio, pool, fence or regrade on a lot beside the common area can send more water across it or block the path water used to take. That becomes a covenant question, and our guide on how an HOA board should handle a drainage complaint between neighbors walks through it.

Match the fix to the cause, cheapest first

Work up the cost ladder and stop when the water drains. Cleaning comes first. Clear the grates, vacuum sediment out of the inlet boxes and jet the clogged pipes. Then have a camera run through each pipe to look for cracks, crushed sections, separated joints and roots. Restoring a swale is next. Cut back the lip of sod along the edge, pull out the sediment, and reshape the swale to the grade on the drainage plan. Filling a dip with soil works when the ground beyond it can carry water off once the dip is gone. If the whole area is flat or tilts toward the spot, fill pushes the puddle a few feet over. A French drain is a gravel trench with a perforated pipe that collects water and carries it somewhere lower. It needs an outlet: an inlet, a pond, or an open pipe end on association land where the water can run out. Replacing a collapsed pipe, enlarging an inlet or rebuilding a pond outlet is engineered construction and should be designed before it is bid. The water has to end up on association land or in the public system. Moving the puddle onto a lot only moves the complaint.

When to hire a civil engineer

Landscapers and drainage contractors can clean, restore a swale to a known grade and build to someone else's design. Neither should decide where the water goes. Hire a licensed civil engineer when the fix changes how much water leaves the site or where it leaves, when the work touches a pond, an outlet structure or a pipe the city approved, when the problem sits next to homes or a street, or when two contractors give you two different diagnoses. Ask for a short letter or drawing that names the cause, shows the fix and the finished grades, and says where the water goes afterward. That document becomes the bid scope.

Permits, neighbors' land and utility locates

Does the work change a permitted system? The Florida Department of Environmental Protection treats changes to a permitted stormwater system as major or minor modifications, and a change with substantially different water resource impacts brings the newer permit rules into play. Call the water management district that issued your permit before regrading a swale, moving a pipe or changing a pond outlet. In Texas and Colorado, ask the city's engineering or stormwater office whether the job needs a grading, drainage or floodplain permit. Will water land somewhere new? Texas Water Code 11.086 says no person may divert or impound the natural flow of surface water in a way that damages another person's property by overflow, and it lets the injured owner sue for damages. The statute has no exception for an association regrading its own land. Other states handle the question mostly through court decisions, so ask the association's attorney before approving a fix that changes where water runs. Has the 811 call been made? Texas Utilities Code 251.151 requires notice at least 48 hours ahead, not counting weekends and legal holidays. Florida's section 556.105 sets a minimum of 2 full business days, and Colorado's C.R.S. 9-1.5-103(3)(b) sets two business days, leaving out the day the call is made. Make the locate request the contractor's job in the written scope.

Bids, the vote and a notice to owners

Bid from the engineer's drawing, or for a small job from a written scope that names each inlet, pipe run and swale by its number on your site map. Ask each bidder to price cleaning, camera work, repair, and restoring sod and irrigation as separate lines, plus a price per foot of pipe or trench so the board can add a section without rebidding. Require a certificate of insurance and a written workmanship warranty. Follow your state's bid rules. Florida Statutes 720.3055 requires competitive bids when a contract would cost more than 10 percent of the association's total annual budget, reserves included. Texas Property Code 209.0052(c) requires an association contracting for services over $50,000 to solicit bids or proposals through a bid process it has set up. In Colorado, follow your governing documents and any purchasing policy the board has adopted. A motion might read: 'Moved to accept the bid from [contractor] for $[amount] to jet and camera the storm pipe between inlets 3 and 6, reshape swale B to the grades in [engineer]'s letter dated [date], and restore sod and irrigation, paid from the [line item] budget line, with any change order over $[amount] to come back to the board.' Give nearby owners a week's notice: 'On [dates], [contractor] will repair the drainage swale behind [street] to stop water from standing there after storms. Expect equipment on the common area and short irrigation shutoffs in zone [x]. Please keep children and pets away from the work area. Questions go to [contact].' Afterward, send the site map to your reserve study provider so pipes, inlets and ponds show up in the funding plan.

A sample timeline and the mistakes that cost the most

Week 0: a report comes in. Acknowledge it and mark the spot on the site map. Weeks 1 to 3: pull the plat, permit and drainage plan, walk the next real rain, and have the landscaper clear grates and fix irrigation. Weeks 3 to 6: if water still stands, jet and camera the pipes or bring in an engineer. Weeks 6 to 10: scope or design, the permit question, and bids. Weeks 10 to 14: vote, owner notice, 811 and the work. After the next heavy rain: walk it again with the week 1 photos. Hold final payment until the water drains the way the scope said it would. The expensive mistakes repeat. Boards pay for a French drain that has nowhere to send the water. They fill a low spot and flood the yard next to it. They let a crew regrade a swale in a permitted Florida system without calling the district. And they skip the walk after the next storm, so nobody knows whether the fix worked until an owner sends a photo of the same puddle.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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