North Catasauqua resident Robert Williams said when the borough paved the alley behind his house, he thought it would be an improvement, but found that solving one problem only created another.

"Now that the potholes are gone, there's nowhere for the rain water to go," he told The Press before last Tuesday's North Catasauqua Borough Council meeting.

Once a dirt and gravel alley that could absorb rainwater, the alley is now a surface that water runs across.

Williams, who lives at 1086 Howertown Road, attended the council meeting in support of his neighbor, Kerry Smith, whose home is at 1084 Howertown Road. Smith has complained to the borough about stormwater runoff flooding her backyard a number of times. She came to last week's meeting with photos of a waterfall streaming from the alley to her driveway and yard during a rainstorm, a problem she says she has seen for the last four or five years.

The conflict between Smith and the borough has centered on whether her water problem is caused by the borough's repaving of the road or by runoff from another property.

If the water is coming from another property along the alley, then the problem would be a civil one, and not a borough responsibility.

Borough council members and employees have recently stood in the alley in the rain, watching the flow of water in the area to determine the cause and plan a solution to Smith's wet, sinking yard.

Williams was at the meeting to talk about the water he has witnessed running "downhill, off the edge of the alley" into Smith's yard.

"You shouldn't have to wear boots to get to your car," he said.

Smith showed a photo taken in the yard on Easter 2008, which showed the yard undamaged, and others that show how the yard has sunk from constant flooding.

Borough council Vice President Shawn McGinley assured Smith that the borough is taking steps to solve the problem.

He said Herman Paving has been hired by the borough to construct barriers, small humps, in the road to direct the water away from her driveway and yard. The contractor was awaiting good weather to complete the job at the time of the meeting, he said.

McGinley said the diversion project will cost the borough about $2,750.

"We want to remediate your problem without causing another problem," he said, adding that the new berm will be high enough to divert the water and low enough to drive over without damaging a vehicle and is meant to cause rainwater to flow down to Chapel Street.

A much more expensive solution would be to construct a swale to take away the excess water, but the council hopes the diversion plan will make that expense unnecessary.