6 N.W.2d 471 | Minn. | 1942
The city drains its sewage into the two branches of the river through three outlets without the use of any purification works whatever. A canning factory operates from June to September within the city limits and drains the effluent from its operations into one of the city's sewers, using about 700 gallons of water per minute to conduct its washing operations. Up to about the tenth of August of each year, the factory is engaged in canning peas and, from that time until mid-September, in canning corn. The operation of canning corn results in considerable refuse, which the company causes to be piled on its premises. The drainage from this refuse, amounting to six or seven gallons per minute, flows *321 out to the river through a tile drain installed by the company.
There is abundant evidence in the record that, in consequence of the drainage into the stream of the raw sanitary sewage and effluent from the canning factory, a nuisance is created by pollution of the stream as it passes through plaintiff's premises.
The principal defense of the city is that some two or three years after the canning factory was established the city enacted an ordinance the effect of which was to forbid the drainage into the sewers of effluent such as is discharged from the factory. No effort was made by the city to enforce this ordinance, and the factory continued to use the sewers for an outlet, except in the case of the drainage from its pile of corn refuse.
1. We are not impressed with the defense that the city is relieved from responsibility for the effluent from the canning factory because of the ordinance forbidding its disposition through the sewer. Neither counsel has found a case directly in point on this question, but the liability of cities for pollution of water by sewage is too well established to require extensive citation of authorities. Joyce v. Village of Janesville,
The duty of maintenance, repair, operation, and the keeping of the sewer from creating a nuisance rested on the city. It could not by mere passage of an ordinance relieve itself from its fundamental duty or delegate its responsibility for injuries to those who connected with the sewer. Hines v. City of Nevada, supra.
2. The city makes the further point that the sewer was a condition and not the proximate cause of the nuisance. We see no merit in that contention despite the authorities cited in its support. A sewer is constructed for the very purpose of carrying away the foul substances which would otherwise pollute the surroundings of the city dwellers. If suitable arrangements are not made to purify the effluent, it follows naturally and proximately that a nuisance is created. It is not a mere remote cause or condition contributing to the nuisance. If the sufferers from the nuisance were left to recover from each householder and business in a city, it would create an intolerable situation and be a travesty on justice.
3. Here, as in Shuster v. City of Chisholm,
Counsel for the city contends that from the evidence it was impossible for a jury to segregate the harm caused by the drainage from the corn refuse pile, for which it claims it is not liable, from that caused by the refuse deposited in the city sewers, and that, therefore, under the principles stated by this court in Johnson v. *323
City of Fairmont,
Order affirmed.
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE GALLAGHER took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.