BOGGED IN MYSTERY CITY TRYING TO TRACE SOURCE OF NEIGHBORHOOD FLOODING.

Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer

CANYON COUNTRY - Night and day, stagnant ponds emerge mysteriously in Buzzy McCray's back yard, covering the bricks and elaborate stone pattern on her patio floor.

Sure, her lilies like the extra water. But she could do without the squishy mud, caked dirt being tracked into her house, the vinyl flooring in her dining room starting to curl and the clouds of mosquitoes nesting outside in the tall weeds.

It's the same in Jean Harrell's back yard. Blackened clumps of mud, thick as oil, smother any grass trying to sprout.

For more than a year, some residents on Bakerton Avenue in Canyon Country have watched their back yards sink under standing water.

It's a situation that has affected residents in scattered homes on Bakerton - homes that are more than 30 years old.

``When they added a whole new housing project above mine, my house and the next two houses became inundated with water,'' Harrell said. ``It's damaged the back yard, and I cannot mow one side of it.''

``They say it's because we're not draining right,'' said McCray, who has lived in her home for 35 years. ``But I know I drain right. I just wonder what's under our house.''

Several phases of home developments were built in the hillside above Harrell's and McCray's in the last five years, city officials said.

But the city has found no evidence that pinpoints any one development, officials said.

City workers have inspected the homes, both Harrell's and McCray's and the new ones, but concluded there is no identifiable cause.

But a collection of factors could be the cause, including pools constructed in the homes above that could be leaking, irrigation systems to keep the hillside landscaped, hillside terrace ditches that may not be properly cleaned or a lack of drains.

The city is asking residents on Bakerton and Tambora and in other parts of Santa Clarita, to monitor these issues to help homeowners keep their back yards water-free, said Christopher Price, assistant city engineer.

``We end up with these issues all over town, but when there's nothing really clear we can't accuse anyone,'' he said.

The city circulated a letter late last month, hoping residents will be vigilant.

``City staff believes that if residents examine their property with the above observations in mind and implement these recommendations, the neighborhood will eventually be free of the water-ponding issue,'' Price wrote in a memo sent last month to neighbors in the area last month. ``These efforts should result in lower water usage, along with potentially reducing damage to existing landscape, hardscape, swimming pools and structural systems.''

Susan Abram [phone]

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Jean Harrell of Bakerton Avenue in Canyon Country says waterlogged soil undermined her house and destroyed her garden.

(2 -- color) Bakerton Avenue resident Buzzy McCray shows a photo of her garden plants before excess water in the soil killed them.

(3 -- 4) Above, at Buzzy McCray's house on Bakerton Avenue, standing water in the yard, below, dates from development in her area.

David Crane/Staff Photographer