202 F. 862 | 8th Cir. | 1913
This is a suit in equity brought by the Des Moines Water Company to restrain the appellant, his agents and employés from driving teams of horses upon and removing sand from the bed of the Raccoon river at or near the wells and galleries of the water company upon the ground that these acts threaten injury to such wells and galleries and pollute the water supply of the city.
“That no person shall throw or put into the Raccoon river or any of its tributaries, at any point above where the Des Moines Water Company take water from said river to supply its works, any dead carcass, manure, offal, putrid matter of any kind, or any other substance or fluid which will tend to pollute or render impure the water in said stream, nor shall any person deposit, place or discharge any such substance in, on, or near the banks of said river within five miles, so that the same will wash or flow into said river, nor shall any person bathe or swim in the water of said river within the. corporate limits of the city of Des Moines, above said point where said water company draws water for its works.”
And further:
“It shall be unlawful to place or deposit any dead carcass, manure, offal, putrid, unwholesome, unclean or ofl’ensive matter in, or in such-location or place as that it may be carried, wash, flow, percolate, or in any manner reach the Raccoon river or any of its tributaries, at the point or within five miles above the point from which the Des Moines Water Company take or draw water to supply the city.
“No person shall engage in, establish, or carry on any business, occupation, * * * or permit the same to be done on any premises owned or controlled by him, within five miles' from and above the point where the Des Moines Waterworks Company take or draw water from the Raccoon river to supply the city of Des Moines and its inhabitants with water, which will in any manner cause such water to be or become unclean, unwholesome, offensive or less palatable.
“It shall be unlawful to injure, damage, or in any way interfere with the works, machinery, pipes, mains, hydrants, trenches or sewers of the Des Moines Waterworks Company.”
The state of Iowa has conferred upon its cities authority to grant to individuals or private corporations the power to erect and maintain water plants, and its Legislature has expressly recognized the grant by the city of Des Moines to complainant and its predecessors. It is stated in the bill, and established beyond dispute:
“That in order to enable the complainant to furnish its consumers good, clear, potable water, it is necessary for complainant, instead of pumping directly from the water in said river, to collect the water in wells from which it is pumped by complainant to the mains through which it is distributed. That the water is so collected in said wells by means of galleries which run from the said wells under the bed of the river and about ten feet below it through the water bearing sand and gravel under and near the river, the said galleries being of great length, rectangular in form, and open at the bottom so that the water from the river and water bearing- strata, in order to reach the said galleries, is forced through the sand and gravel and is thoroughly filtered.”
This is the system employed by complainant, and the water supply of the city is dependent, both as to quantity and purity, upon the use and maintenance of these galleries, and particularly upon preserving in the highest state of efficiency the sand-filtering medium overlying the galleries.
It follows that the decree of the Circuit Court must be affirmed.