When a yard floods, the first fight is often about whose job it is to fix it. In Mobile the answer is actually pretty clear once you know the map — and for most homeowners, the honest version of that answer is “you.” Here’s why, and where the exceptions are.
Three Owners, One Line
Public drainage in Mobile has clear custodians:
- The City of Mobile — Storm Water Management. The public stormwater network inside the city — roadside ditches, culverts, street storm drains, and the outfalls that carry it all toward the creeks — is the city’s, run under a federal municipal stormwater (MS4) permit.
- MAWSS — water and sewer only. The Mobile Area Water & Sewer System handles drinking water and sanitary sewer. It does not run stormwater or yard drainage, which is the single most common point of confusion.
- Mobile County — unincorporated areas. Outside city limits, public-road drainage and rights-of-way fall to Mobile County Public Works.
And then there’s the line that matters most to a homeowner: everything on the public side stops at the right-of-way. Past that line, on your lot, the water is yours.
The City Owns the Public Drainage
The City of Mobile has been putting real money into the public network. There’s ongoing restoration and dredging work on Three Mile Creek — a 14-mile tidal urban stream that drains a big part of the city — and in early 2026 the City Council approved a round of resolutions funding vegetation and debris removal plus stormwater-drainage improvements across several council districts. That’s the public side working on the public problem, and it’s genuinely useful.
But it’s worth being clear-eyed about the reach of it. A city crew clearing a ditch or improving a culvert a few streets over does nothing for the low corner of your back yard. Public drainage moves public water off public land; it was never designed to drain your lot.
MAWSS Owns Water and Sewer — Not Stormwater
This is the confusion worth clearing up, because “the water people” sounds like it should cover water in your yard. It doesn’t. MAWSS runs the pipes that bring drinking water in and carry sanitary sewage out — a separate system from the storm drains.
The distinction shows up in the open during big storms. After heavy rain in May 2025, MAWSS reported a sanitary-sewer overflow of more than 181,000 gallons across several sites, with Three Mile Creek among the receiving waters (per MAWSS, May 2025). That was a sewer event — rain infiltrating the wastewater system — not a stormwater-drainage one. Same rainstorm, different system, different owner. If your problem is a soggy lawn, MAWSS isn’t the number to call.
Your Yard Is Private-Side
Here’s the honest bridge, and it’s the whole point of the page: the water standing on your property is your responsibility. Not the city’s, not MAWSS’s, not the county’s. Once it’s past the right-of-way and onto your lot, no public program is coming to drain it — and that’s not a gap in the system, it’s just where the line falls.
That’s not bad news, exactly. It means the fix is in your control instead of stuck in a public queue. A yard drainage system or a French drain is how you handle the private side — moving the standing water and the high winter water table off your ground and toward somewhere it’s allowed to go.
Where the Line Gets Blurry
A few situations sit right on the boundary, and they’re worth knowing:
- Tying into a public ditch or drain. If your drainage is going to discharge into a public ditch or right-of-way, that generally requires a city or county permit — and a reputable contractor handles that step rather than skipping it. Whether a drain kept entirely on your own property needs a permit varies, so it’s worth confirming for your address rather than assuming either way.
- Drainage easements. In general, some lots carry a recorded drainage easement — a strip where water is legally meant to flow, sometimes for a neighbor’s benefit or the public’s. You can’t just block or reroute one, so it’s worth knowing whether your property has one before you plan a system.
- Shared and upstream water. If a neighbor’s higher lot or a failing public ditch is sending water your way, the fix may involve more than your yard — but the standing water on your ground is still yours to manage while that gets sorted.
The short version stays the same: if it’s in the public right-of-way, it’s the city’s or county’s; if it’s water or sewer pipe, it’s MAWSS’s; if it’s on your lot, it’s yours — and the good news in that last one is that it’s the part you can actually fix.
