Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 152 Series *j, Quality of T-'ter, 12 

DEPAKTMENT OF THE INTEEIOE

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY

CHARLES D. WALCOTT, DlKECTOE

A REVIEW

FORBIDDING^

\

POLLUTION OF INLAND WATERS

IN THE UNITED STATES

SECOND EDITION

By EDWIN B. G^OODELL

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT FEINTING OFFICE 

1905

CONTENTS.

Letter of transmittal ----_---_.._.---.__.____-__--__---.-------.-.-_.---- 5

Water pollution tinder the common law.---..._-.___---_.____-._---.--.-- 7

Principles and decisions-_.._---___.___..__-_____-_-___-----_._----.--- 7

Classification .---_-_---..-.___.______..____.-__---.---.- ........ 7

A. Bights of riparian owners to pure water as against one another. 8

Case in exception ......................... .................. 10

Opinion of Vice-Chancellor Pitney, of New Jersey ............. 11

Missouri v. Illinois et al--_,____..___._._--._._----....-_._.-- 20

Eiparian rights in arid and mining States .................... 21

B. Bights of the public (as distinguished from individual owners)

to have inland waters "kept free from pollution._-.-----....--.-- 23

C. Conditions under which, and extent to which, public mmriipalities may use inland waters in disposing of sewage from pul.'ic

sewers.....__.__-_..__.___.__________.___.._____---..._--.--... 24

Citations of cases .................. .......................... 25

Excerpts from important decisi ns--------------------------- 26

Statutory restrictions of water pollution ............ ..^............ . -.. 32

Classification ............................................ ............ 32

Class I: States with partial restrictions....-_......-...--.---..-.--... 33

^ Alabama .._.---..--.__.._-._.__..._._.._____._____--____-----..- 33

Arkansas............................_-......-.-.-.---...------.- 34

Delaware._.._------.--__-_..:_._.__..__.____...___----------.--- 35

Florida....------.---........-__._._.---_.-- ----.---------- 35

Georgia -.__..---..-._...-___.__. .................._-.-...-----... 35

Idaho .............................'..^........................... 35

Iowa.-._ __--- . ._--.._._-_-_____ .--,..-__--_-_ 36

Kansas .......................................................... 36

^- Kentucky ....................................................... 36

Louisiana........ --...--.---.-...............-----...------..-..-. 36

Michigan.-----.-..-.--............................. ....:......... 36

1 Mississippi ............................................ .......... 38

- Nebraska.------..-.-..-.----.........-.....-.-....-.-.....--..-- 38

NorthDakota ..................... ............................. 39

Oklahoma....................................................... 39

Bhode Island ...........................^........................ 40

Wisconsin.._.------.-___--,._..______.__.____.____---_._--.._._., 43

Class II: States with general restrictions -.-..-..----.-...-.------.-.- 45

California---.-.................................................. 46

Colorado.......---....-...--.......-.......-....-...--------.... 48

"" lUinois .......................................................... 48

^^Indiana ._.._._._.._...______.___.._....______-__:_..--___----___-' 49

3
4 i CONTENTS.

Statutory restrictions of water pollution Continued. Page. 

Class II: States with general restrictions Continued.

Maine _.. ...................:................-........^......... 51

Maryland,. ________._____.____._-------_---------_ ~-............. 52

Missouri-...... .----..-..--.-.----.-.-.-_-.-----.....-...-.---.-.- 53

Nevada _.___._...---.__-_---.-----_-----.-------.-- ..__-_---_-. 54

New Mexico- _...______.____....---------------.-_---.------_.--. 56

North Carolina__..__-._-._- ____..___---__--__-----____------- 58

Ohio _. ..... _ ...-._...-...........-.-.-..--............----... 60-

Oregon ...................................................'....... 62

South Dakota....---_--_---------------.-------------.------..----- 63

Tennessee .-...- ..........._-.----..---.------.-_----...-----.._ 64

Texas ----..-----.---.------.-..----- .---.----....-.-... ....... 64

Utah---.......-.--.-..-.-..-..-.........--..----...-..-..-.-.... 65

Virginia______-..-.-.--____ ....-.--.-..-.--.--._..-.........-... 65

Washington_________________.__..-----------.-_________._.__._._ 67

West Virginia....-..............----.---------.. ______.____.... 69

Wyoming -....................--..-------.. .-_______________.-_ 70

Class III: States with severe restrictions --.---..-_......._........... 73

Connecticut ..----__-.-- ...-..-------------..........._...-.---. 74

Massachusetts.....---.-.-------. ..--.-..---.------........-...-- 77

Minnesota_..__._._._.-----__---. --.--_------.___._..___-__...-._ 81

New Hampshire.-....--.--------.-..----.--.----..-----.----.... 82

New Jersey __________.-___..--_.-.-_-^_..-______ .___.____._._.. 86

New York,............................................... ...... 131

Pennsylvania ________________.___..___._......-.- ................ 132

Vermont .________.....__...____ ................................ 137

General rules _.. ..._._____ .............................................. 141

Bights and duties of riparian owners....._..-....-......._ __________ 141

Bights and duties of municipal corporations................ ... _ _ _ _ 143

Rights and duties of the public _________ ....................... .... 143

Public rights and duties enforce 1 by statute- -_-____.___________--.__ 143

Progress of legislation .._._____________.. __________________________ 143

Index ................................................ .................. 145
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

DEPARTMENT or THE INTERIOR,

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

HTDROGRAPHIC BRANCH, 

Washington, D. <?., August 17,1905.

SIR: I transmit herewith a manscript entitled U A Eeview of the 

Laws Forbidding Pollution of Inland Waters of the United States," 

prepared by Edwin B. Goodell, and request that it be published as a 

water-supply and irrigation paper. This paper is a second edition of 

Water-Supply Paper No. 103, published last year. The subjectmatter has been brought to date by the incorporation of th^ statutes 

passed since the first edition was prepared, and the section on pollution under the common law has been amplified to include the arid 

States and Territories.

One of the important features involved in the determination of 

the water supplies of the United States and the preparation of reports 

upon the best methods of utilizing water resources is the chp.racter of 

those supplies. In the more populous sections of the country the 

quality of water is dependent to a large degree upon the am oimt and 

character of the pollution which is allowed to discharge into the 

streams. Therefore it has been found desirable to study different 

State laws regulating and controlling this matter and to determine 

the scope of the work to a large degree according to them.

Mr. Goodell has presented the subject of antipollution laws in a 

manner which will be of assistance to public officials, water companies, manufacturers, farmers, and legislators, rather than to members 

of the bench and bar. The broad legal principles under which antipollution statutes become operative are explained, and important 

court decisions are quoted to show authority for various deductions. 

The statutes enacted in the different States are classified according to 

the general scope, and an opportunity is thereby afforded to compare 

their effectiveness and desirability. In short, the paper provides 

specific information necessary to a popular knowledge of the conditions in each State with respect to one feature of the conservation of 

natural water resources. Its distribution should be of material assistance in bringing about a general apprehension of correct principles 

upon the subject.

Very respectfully, F. H. NEWE^J,,

Chief Engineer.

Hon. CHARLES D. WALCOTT,

Director United States Geological Survey.

5

A REVIEW OF THE LAWS FORBIDDING POLLUTION OF 

INLAND WATERS IN THE UNITED STATE?.

By EDWIN B. GOODELL.

This subject naturally divides into two parts: .(1) A summary of 

the common law upon the subject of water pollution i. e., tl °, law as 

pronounced and determined by the courts independently of legislative action, and (2) a summary or abstract of the statutes enacted 

by the various legislatures for the correction of the evil.

WATER POLLUTION TINDER THE COMMON LAW.

The "full treatment of this branch of the subject involves tie examination of the very numerous decisions which have been rendered by 

the courts in England and the United States in the determination of 

litigation arising from alleged violations of the right to have inland 

waters preserved in their natural state. It necessarily follows that a 

full treatment of this branch of the subject would be beyond the 

scope of this paper. It is not the purpose of the present publication 

to furnish a complete work upon water pollution for the use of members of the bench and bar, but rather to put into the hands of public 

officials and others who may be interested in the subject a gaiide for 

their action and references to the sources from which a more exhaustive knowledge of the subject may be obtained if required.

No attempt, accordingly, will be here made to present a detailed 

statement of the entire law against water pollution as it exists independently of statutes, but this branch of the subject will be confined 

to a statement of the general principles which are to be deduced from 

the decisions, with references to some of the leading cases.

PRINCIPLES AND DECISIONS. 

CLASSIFICATION.

These principles and decisions have been classified and are presented in the following groups:

A. The rights of riparian owners .to pure water as against one 

another.

7
8 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

B. The rights of the public (as distinguished from individual 

owners) to have inland waters kept free from pollution by riparian 

owners or others.

C. The conditions under which, and the extent to which, public 

municipalities may use inland waters in disposing of sewage matter 

from public sewers.

A. RIGHTS OF RIPARIAN OWNERS TO PURE WATER AS AGAINST ONE

ANOTHER. 

In contemplation of law the water flowing over the land is part 

of the realty and belongs to the owner of the soil. But the latter's 

ownership thereof is a qualified one. He may use it in certain ways 

as it passes, may take from it for his own use to a certain extent, and 

may thus, incidentally, somewhat diminish its volume and slightly 

alter its character. But its nature is to pass on to the owners of the 

adjoining soil, and the next owner has precisely the same rights 

therein as every other owner. It follows, therefore, that as no riparian owner of a stream may appropriate all the water which comes 

to him, neither may he so corrupt or pollute it as to injure the other 

owners by diminishing the value of their property in the natural 

stream. This prohibition is independent of any statute; it is a part 

of the law of the land, except in certain of the arid and mining States 

of the West; its application in these is discussed on pages 21-23.

The conflict of rights between the several owners has given rise to 

litigation in many hundreds of instances, and it is impossible to give 

a rule, limiting the owner's right to use the water of a stream as it 

passes, more exact than this: Every owner may make such use of the 

water for farming and domestic purposes as is reasonable, and in 

the States in which the doctrine of prior appropriation obtains may 

use the water which he has acquired by appropriation, and the lower 

owners must accept the diminution and perturbation of the water 

which necessarily follows from this reasonable use.

If the use for farming or domestic purposes is challenged by another owner, the question of its reasonableness, in that case, is to be 

determined by court or jury as a question of fact.

If the water is used for any other than farming or domestic purposes, it must be such a use as will not change the character of the 

water from its natural state or make it less useful to oth^r owners.

If the riparian owner cast sewage, filth, or waste material therein, 

he does it at his peril.

Independent of statutory provisions there is a remedy for these 

wrongs in the following ways:

By private suit against the wrongdoer for damages.

By injunction when the wrong is a continuing one.

By indictment when the injury affects the rights of the public.
GOODELL.] RESTRICTIONS OF COMMON LAW. 9

Where the acts causing the pollution are done in one jurisdiction 

and the injuries suffered are in another, the injured party has his 

remedy in a civil action to the same extent as if the injurious act and 

the resulting injury were in the same jurisdiction.

These general principles will be found to be fully sustained by the 

cases. The following are given, not as an exhaustive lirt, but to 

enable the reader to find authorities if his needs require: 

Alabama:

Drake v. Iron Co., 1-4 So. Rep., 7-49; 102 Ala., 501; 24 L. R. A., 64; 48 Am. 

St. Rep., 77.

Tenn. Coal Co. t\ Hamilton, 14 So. Rep., 167.

Lewis r. Stein, 16 Ala., 214. 

Arkansas:

'State v. Chapin, 17 Ark., 561. 

California:

Potter r. Froment et aL, 47 CaL, 165.

People v. Elk River Mill and Lumber Co., 107 CaL, 214; S. C. 40 Pac. Rep., 

48G.

Mining Co. v. Mining Co., 48 Pac. Rep., 828.

People v. Gold Run Ditch Co., 66 CaL, 138; 56 Am. Rep., 80; 4 Pac. Rep.,

1152.o 

Colorado:

City of Durango v. Chapman, 60 Pac. Rep., 635. 

Connecticut:

Morgan v. Danbury, 67 Conn., 484.

Nolan r. New Britain, 69 Conn., 668. 

Georgia :

Satterfield p. Rowan, 83 Ga., 187; S. C. 9 S. E. Rep., 677. 

Indiana:

Muncie Pulp Co. v. Martin, 55 N. E. Rep., 796.

State i>. Herring (Ind., 1897), 48 N. E. Rep., 598.

State i'. Wabash Paper Co., 48 N. E. Rep., 653.

Weston Paper Co. i\ Pope, 155 Ind., 394.

Indianapolis Water Co. i\ Am. Straw Board Co., 57 Fed. Rep., 1000. 

Iowa:

Ferguson r. Mfg. Co., 77 la., 576; S. C. 42 N. W. Rep., 448.

Kinnaird v. Oil Co. (Ky.), 12 S. W. Rep., 937. 

Maine:

Gerrish v. Brown, 51 Me., 256, 81 Am. Dec., 569. 

Maryland:

Baltimore r. Warren Mfg. Co., 59 Md., 96.

Price i\ Lawson, 74 Md., 499. 

Massachusetts:

Ball v. Nye, 99 Mass., 582.

Martin v. Gleason, 139 Mass., 183.

Jkerrifleld v. Lombard, 13 Alien, 16.

Woodward v. Worcester, 121 Mass., 245.

Dwight Printing Co. v. Boston, 122 Mass., 583.

McGenness v. Adriatic Mills, 116 Mass., 177.

oThis case was one brought in behalf of the people to restrain a publ'? nuisance, 

caused by discharging the refuse from mining operations into an unnavigable stream. 

The injunction was granted and it was held that the right to pollute the stream in this 

manner could not be gained by prescription.
10 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

Minnesota:

Roller Mills v. Wright, 30 Minn., 254. 

Mississippi:

Mississippi Mills r. Smith, 69 Miss., 299; S. C. 11 So. Rep., 26. 

Missouri:

Smith v. Conathy, 11 Mo., 517. 

New Hampshire:

Hayes v. Waldron, 44 N. H., 580. 

New Jersey:

Holsman v. Boiling Springs Co., 1 McCart, 335.

Acquackanonk Water Co. i>. Watson, 2 Stew. Eq., 366.

Beach v. Sterling Iron and Zinc Co., 9 Dick., 65.

Same case affirmed on appeal, 10 Dick, 824.

(See the opinion of Pitney, V. C., in the last-cited case, given in full on 

pp. 11-20.)

O'Riley v. McChesney, 3 Lans., 278.

Covert v. Cranford, 141 N. Y., 521.

Townsend v. Bell, 24 N. Y. S. (70 Hun, 557), 193.

Smith v. Cranford, 32 N. Y. S., 375. 

Ohio:

The Columbus, etc., Co. i\ Tucker, 48 Ohio St., 41; S. C. 26 N. E. Rep., 630.

Thayer v. Brooks, 17 Ohio, 489. 

Pennsylvania:

Elder v. Lykens Valley Coal Co., 157 Pa, St., 490.

Hindson r. Markle, 171 Pa. St., 138.

Stevenson v. Ebervale Coal Co., 201 Pa. St., 112. 

Rhode Island:

Stillman v. Mfg. Co., 3 W. & M. (R. I.), 546.

Richmond Mfg. Co. v. Atlantic De Laine Co., 10 R. I., 106. 

South Carolina:

Threatt v. Mining Co. (S. C., 1897), 26 S. E. Rep., 970. 

Vermont:

Snow v. Parsons, 28 Vt, 459.

Canfleld v. Andrew, 54 Vt., 1. 

Wisconsin:

Middlestadt v. Starch Co. (Wis.), 66 N. W. Rep., 713.

Hazeltine i\ Case, 46 Wis., 391.

Greene v. Nunnemacher, 36 Wis., 50. 

Wyoming:

Howell v. Johnson, 89 Fed. Rep., 556.« 

English:

Mason v. Hill. 5 B. & Ad., 1.

Embry v. Owen, 6 Exch., 353.

Wood v. Waud, 3 Exch., 748.

Bealey v. Shaw, 6 East, 208.

CASE IN EXCEPTION.

A single case in Pennsylvania seems to create an exception to the 

operation of the principles above stated, viz, Sanderson v. Pennsylvania Coal Company, 113 Pa. St., 126.

0 In this case the injury arose from an act done in Montana, but the injurious result 

occurred in the State of Wyoming.
GOODBLL.] EESTEICTIONS OF COMMON LAW. 11

v

This was a case brought by a riparian owner who had estabUshed a 

home on the banks of a stream, after ascertaining, by a careful investigation, that its waters were uncontaminated by any influx of deleterious matter, and who used the waters of the stream for domestic 

purposes. Subsequently a coal mine was opened higher up the 

stream, and the mining company, in the course of its mining operations, pumped the water from the mine to the surface, where it ran 

into this stream and rendered the water unfit for domestic use. The 

case was bitterly contested, and came before the court several times. 

(See 86 Pa. St., 401; 94 Pa. St., 303, and 102 Pa. St., 370.)

In the final decision the court refused damages to the riparian 

owner. The reasoning of the court indicates that this result was clue 

to its unwillingness to impose upon the immense coal-mining interests 

of the State the burden of paying for the damage to property in the 

water of streams caused by their operations; but the reason g^ven for 

the decision, in the court's attempt to harmonize it with the principles 

firmly established by precedent in Pennsylvania, was that the water 

which the defendant conducted into the stream was contaminated 

only by the coal, which was a natural product, and hence was* said to 

be conducted into the stream in its " natural state." This reasoning 

is specious, since the presence of coal in the brook was due wholly to 

the operations of the defendant company, the stream in its natural 

state showing no trace of coal, and the doctrine thus established for 

Pennsylvania has not found favor in any other jurisdiction.

But in subsequent decisions the courts of Pennsylvania lis.ve been 

careful not to extend the force of Sanderson v. Pennsylvaria Coal 

Company beyond the single act of turning the natural drainag0. from a 

mine into a stream. (See Elder v. Lykens Valley Coal Co., 157 Pa. 

St., 490; Hindson v. Markle, 171 Pa. St., 138, and Stevenson v. Ebervale Coal Co., 201 Pa. St., 112.)

OPINION OF VICE-CHANCELLO? PITNEY, OF NEW JERSEY.

The whole subject was thoroughly treated in Beach v. Sterling Iron 

and Zinc Company (9 Dick. (N. J.), 65).

This was an action for an injunction, brought by the manufacturers 

of a white tissue paper against a mining company, the water from 

whose mines was pumped into the stream above the paper wc^ks and 

befouled the water, making it unfit for the purposes of the complainant. The opinion gives a careful and most lucid and interesting 

review of the course of decisions sustaining and enforcing the rights 

of riparian owners upon streams above tide water to have tl e water 

in the stream maintained in its natural condition. The decision of 

the court in this case was affirmed by the court of errors and appeals
12 LAWS FOEBIDDING INLAND-WATEB POLLUTIOF. [No. 152.

(10 Dick., 821) upon the opinion of the court below, which is given 

here in full:

The material facts of the case are undisputed. The only dispute is as to the 

degree of discoloration caused by the defendant's operations and the length of 

time over which such discoloration extended.

The facts clearly established are as follows:

The Wallkill River rises in the southern part of Sussex County and flows upon 

a course nearly north, passing through the villages of Franklin and Hamburg. 

At the latter place is situated an artificial pond, called the Furnace Pond, caused 

by an old dam, upon which, for several years, has been a paper mill driven by the 

waters of the river from that pond. The complainant. Beach, purchased this 

water power and lands connected with it in the summer of 1891, for the purpose 

of erecting a plant for the manufacture of what is known as white tissue paper. 

Associated with him were two gentlemen by the name of Sparks, who had previously been engaged in the business of waxing white tissue paper according to a 

process which they controlled, and the project was to both manufacture and wax, 

for market, white tissue paper. For that purpose the corporatior was formed, 

of which Mr. Beach and the Messrs. Sparks were stockholders, and the latter 

were the active managers. A large amount of money was spent in erecting a 

plant between the date of the purchase and the 1st of February, 1892, when they 

commenced the manufacture of white tissue paper and carried it on with success 

for about a year.

The manufacture of such paper requires a perfectly clear, pure water, and 

before purchasing the Hamburg water power the complainants inspected the 

stream and inquired as to its character for clearness, and satisfied themselves 

that they would be able to use it for making white tissue paper without incurring the expense of filtration, and their experience for a year proved that their 

expectations were just.

In the month of February, 1893, complaints began to come in from the purchasers of their paper that it was deteriorating in the matter of whiteness, and 

they investigated the cause. The pond was frozen over, but they 1'new by reputation that mining operations were being carried on at Greenspot I ^ the defendant, and they went there March 1 and found a stream of highly colored water 

flowing from the defendant's mine shaft into the river, traced its effect in discoloration to their pond, and by subsequent observations by th?rnselves and 

others in the neighborhood traced its effect not only in and througl the Furnace 

Pond, but for miles down the river to the north of Hamburg. In fact, several 

respectable and credible witnesses, called by the complainants, testified to the 

discoloration of the water in the Furnace Pond and beyond, and the complainants were stopped by the court from producing further evidence on that subject 

in the opening of their case. Several witnesses called by the defendant, among 

them its superintendent, corroborated this evidence, and there is no attempt to 

meet it.

The color was a peculiar reddish-yellow tint, which was in marked contrast 

with the discoloration due to the ordinary road and field wash rfter a heavy 

storm or spring thaw.

This peculiar discoloration continued throughout the month of March and, 

with some intermissions and variations in degree of discoloration, through the 

month of April. Complainants early in March were obliged to stoi the making 

of white tissue paper. Negotiations between the parties for some arrangement 

of the matter failing, the bill was filed on the 21st of April, 1893.

The immediate origin of the discoloration was as follows: The defendant corporation was organized by two gentlemen by the name of Heckscher and two by
GOODELL.] EESTRICTIONS OP COMMON LAW. 13

the name of Wetherill for the purpose of reaching and working a bed of franklinite ore which had been located by boring exploration at a depth cf about a 

thousand feet below the surface near this point called Greenspot. It was the 

continuation of a seani of ore for many years worked to the southwest of Greenspot by two companies, one of which viz, the Lehigh Zinc and Iron Company 

was owned and controlled by the Heckschers and Wetherills. In the spring or 

early summer of 1891 the defendant commenced to sink a perpendicular shaft, 

known as the " Parker shaft," 10 by 20 feet in diameter, and after passing 

through a small amount of superincumbent earth struck solid limestone rock. 

It continued the working without cessation until August 11, 1S92, when, having 

attained a depth of 560 feet (many feet lower than the bed of the Wallkill), the 

workmen struck a water-bearing fissure or rent in the rock, which instantly 

flooded the mine and drove them out. Previous to that time they had encountered small seams or fissures from time to time, producing a little water and 

sometimes a little mud, which they pumped up, of course, carried through a 

trough or trunk several hundred feet westerly toward the Wallkill till it reached 

a small spring run, where it was discharged, and from thence it ran into the 

Wallkill. The amount of water up to August was small, and its dis?oloration 

was slight, so that it was not felt or observed by complainants. The influx in 

August, 1892, was discolored by a fine clay, amounting almost to a pignent, having a high reddish-yellow tint and intermixed with a small quantity of very fine 

sand. This water rose to within 40 feet of the surface, and resisted all attempts 

to lower it by the pumps then in use and until very large and heavy pumps were 

introduced. This was done in September. After the shaft filled with water 

there was no further movement; it became perfectly quiet, and the clay and 

sand began to settle, so that the water in the upper reach of the shaft became 

comparatively clear. The first water that was discharged after heavy pumping 

commenced came from near the top and was but slightly discolored, such discoloration being due to the disturbance of the clay and sand which had settled 

on the timbering of the shaft. The quantity of water struck in the fissure was 

so great that with these powerful pumps very slow advance was made, the 

pumps being lowered from time to time, and the greater the depth attained the 

less rapid the advance and the greater the discoloration.

On about the 1st of January, 1893, the water was reduced to a depth of 420 

feet from the surface, and a delay there occurred of about three weel's, caused 

by the necessity of establishing a pumping station at that point. T^hen the 

rapid pumping commenced again, at or near the 1st of February, the discharge 

was much discolored, and continued growing worse and worse until the bottom 

was reached, and there, without detailing the circumstances, the greatest discoloration Was reached, and continued during the month of March. The discoloring clay is so very flne in its texture that a very slight movement of particles 

of water with which it comes in contact will thoroughly mix it, and it will only 

subside in perfectly still water. This accounts for the fact that it did not fully 

subside in passing through complainants' pond, which is quite narrow, so that it 

is probable that the volume of the water of the Wallkill causes continued motion 

throughout its length.

After the shaft had been entirely pumped out and the volume of water stored 

in the fissure had been entirely exhausted and the flow reduced to th? natural 

supply of the fissure, and the various water channels which had bee'i created 

throughout it by the sudden drawing off of the water had arrived at what the 

experts call an " angle of repose," so that no further scouring resulted from the 

flow of the ordinary quantity of water, there was no discoloration and the water 

ran clear. This condition was, as claimed by the defendant, reached some time 

in the summer of 1893, and the case shows that from about the middle of April
14 LAWS FOBBLDDING INLAND-WATEK POLLUTION [No. 152.

or the 1st of May till about the middle of July the discolorations were temporary 

and increasingly infrequent, and usually the result of clearing out the different 

settling basins, called " sinks," which had been established in the rock at differ 

ent points in the shaft. Since that time the shaft has been sunk over 200 feei 

without finding any more water or fissures.

The proof is clear that the result of the contribution of this discolored water 

to the waters of the river was to render the mixture when it reached complainants' mill unfit, without filtration, for use in making white pape^.

An ingenious experiment was made by an expert, as follows: He ascertained, 

by a rough measurement, that the flow of the river was about forty times that of 

the output from the mine, and he took a jar of perfectly clear water and mixed 

with it one-fortieth of its quantity of the dirty water that came from the mine, 

and exhibited the sample to show to what a slight extent it was discolored.

The dirty water which he used had been confined in a jar for several months, 

with the result that the fine particles of clay had partially coagulated and gathered into little flakes, and when shaken up did not produce the same degree of 

discoloration as exhibited when freshly taken from the running stream. But 

even that experiment showed that the result of so slight a mixture made the 

whole mass palpably roily. In point of fact, as shown by the evidence of the 

 -xpert paper makers, a very small admixture of mud or clay will render the 

water improper, without filtration, for making white tissue paper ; and the effect 

of that evidence is that the river in its'ordinary clear state is no clearer than is 

necessary for that purpose. A very small admixture of coloring or dirty matter 

renders it unfit for use.

Several matters are urged in defense to this case. First, but faintly, that the 

doctrine finally established by a bare majority of a divided court in Pennsylvania, in Sanderson i\ The Coal Company (86 Pa. St., 401; 94 Pa. g*t, 303; 102 Pa. 

St., 370, and 113 Pa. St., 126), should be adopted here. The history of that case, 

in its various phases, is given by a writer in the American Law Register (n. s.), 

vol. 1, p. 1 (1894). It was an action, as here, by a riparian proprietor against a 

mining company for polluting a natural stream Avith water pumped from its 

mine. After three decisions by the supreme court of Pennsylvania in favor of 

the plaintiff's right, that court finally held the contrary and affirmed the right of 

the coal company to discharge its acid mine water into the creek, without regard 

to its effect upon lands below, upon the broad ground that the necessities of the 

mining interests of the Commonwealth required it. This result was attributed 

by the author of the article in the American Law Register (pp. 5, 18), in part, to 

a lack of care on the part of the learned judge who prepared the first prevailing 

opinion (86 Pa. St., 406). The doctrine of that case is shown by that writer to 

be inharmonious with a long line of previous decisions in Pennsylvania, and has 

not been, so far as I can learn, followed in any other State certainly not in 

this State. It was repudiated in Ohio, whose mining interests are quite large, 

in the recent and well-considered case of The Columbus, etc., Co. i\ Tucker (48 

Ohio St., 41). I refer particularly to the lucid expressions of the learned judge 

found on pages 58 and 62.

It was not suggested on the argument that the doctrine evev had the least 

foothold in this State. No case of a stream fouled by mining operations has 

indeed ever, so far as I know, been presented to our courts, but the right of a 

riparian proprietor to have the waters of the stream come to him unchanged 

in quality, as well as undiminished in quantity, has been determined in the 

clearest and most positive manner. In fact, the doctrine stated so tersely by 

Chancellor Kent in Gardner v. Newburgh (2 Johns. Ch. 162, at p. 166) "A right 

to a stream of water is as sacred as a right to the soil over which it flows. It
RESTRICTIONS OF COMMON LAW. 15

is a part of the freehold" has always been adhered to by our courts, I need 

refer only to Holsman v. Boiling Spring Co. (1 McCart, 335), and Acquackanonk Water Co. i\ Watson (2 Stew. Eq., 366). In the last case the right was 

stated by the learned master in an extremely clear and comprehensive manner, 

and the decree advised by him was unanimously affirmed on appeal, for the 

reasons by him given.

The facts of that case are, in a manner, analogous to those here rnder consideration. Watson owned and operated a bleachery which required for use 

clea^and pure water, which he obtained from a small stream running through 

his land. The water company, desiring to supply the city of Passaic with potable water, proposed to take this small stream above the bleachery and substitute for it an equal or greater quantity of Passaic River water, drawr from the 

Dundee Canal and used to drive its pumps. This the court restrained, on the 

ground that the substituted water was not of equal purity with that abstracted.

There is a line of cases of pollution by mine water in England which sustains 

the general doctrine. Hodgkinson v. Ennor (4 Best and S., 229) was the case, as 

here, of a paper maker against a miner who had permitted dirty washings of 

lead ores to run through rents, called " swallets," in limestone rock.into a subterraneous stream, rendering the water, which in its course came to plaintiff's 

paper mill, unfit for use in the manufacture of paper, and the action was sustained by Chief Justice Cockburn and Justices Blackburn and Mellor.

Magor 'V. Chadwick (11 Ad. and E., 571) was a suit by a brewer against a 

miner.

Pennington v. The Brinsop Coal Co. (L. R., 5 Ch. Div. 769) (1877) was a suit 

by a manufacturer against a coal miner, where the only allegation of injury was 

that the acid contributed to the water from the mine rendered it less fit for use 

in the engine boilers driving the machinery of the plaintiff's mill. An- injunction was allowed. Defendant relied, without success, upon the ground taken in 

Sanderson v. The Coal Co., supra, that the acid could not be removed from the 

water; that there was no means of remedying the evil, and an injunction would 

absolutely stop its work. The learned judge (Fry) refused even to exercise the 

right given by the English statute to give damages instead of an injunction, 

relying on Clowes v. Staffordshire Waterworks (L. R., 8 Ch. App., 12") (1873), 

and he declared that he would have granted the injunction, although the present 

damage was only nominal, because of the injury to the riparian rights of the 

plaintiff, and such is the doctrine of the case relied on, which was s suit by a 

silk dyeing and washing establishment against a waterworks compary for rendering the water coming to their works less clear and pure.

The English cases dealing with pollution by mine water culminated in the 

case of Young v. Bankier (L. R., App. Cas., 691) (1893), in the House of Lords, 

on appeal from Scotland. The case was argued, elaborately, of course, before 

six law lords, whose unanimous judgments were delivered after consideration. 

The riparian proprietor (Bankier), the plaintiff there, was a distiller, and used 

the water of the stream in his distilling process, presumably for making mash, 

for which it was peculiarly fit by reason of its softness. The added mine water 

did not render it unfit for ordinary purposes there called primary purposes 

but by reason of its hardness rendered it less fit for distilling purposes. Sanderson v. The Coal Co. was cited, but the court repudiated its doctrire and was 

unanimous in judgment in favor of the respondent, who was the plaintiff and 

had judgment below. Lord Macuaghten, at page 699, says: " Then the appellant urged (precisely as does the defendant here) that working coal was the 

natural and proper use of their mineral property. They said they could not 

continue to work unless they were permitted to discharge the water which
16 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATEE POLLUTION. [No. 152.

accumulates in their mine, and they added that this water course is the natural 

and proper channel to carry off the surplus water of the district. All that may 

be very true, but in this country, at any rate, it is not permiss'ble in such a 

case for a man to use his own property so as to injure the property of his 

neighbor."

There are numerous English cases upon the general right of a riparian proprietor to have the waters of his stream come to him in its natural condition, of 

which I cite Crossley v. Lightowler (L. R., 3 Eq. Cas., 279; 2 Chan. App., 478) 

(1807) ; Attorney-General v. Lunatic Asylum (L. R., 4 Ch. App., 145) ^868). 

Numerous other cases will be found cited in Gould, Waters, section 219, and in 

Higg. Pol. Waterc., 132 et seq.

The argument was advanced by the defendant that the use of t'ie defendant's 

property for mining purposes is what was termed, unfortunately, I think, by 

Lord Cairns, in Fletcher v. Rylands (L. R., 3 H. L., 330, at pp. 338, 339) (1868), 

a natural user, and similar in that respect to plowing a field, and that if it be 

unlawful for defendant here to cast into the stream the muddy waters froni its 

mine it is also unlawful for the farmer to plow his land and allow the muddy 

water which runs from it after a heavy rain to reach the river. But the very 

statement of the two cases shows the absence of analogy between them. In the 

first place, the water from the plowed field comes thereon by ratural causes 

beyond the farmer's control and runs by gravity to the stream, while in the case 

of the mine the water is, as here, found and raised by artificial means from a 

level far below that of the river and would never reach it but for the act of the 

miner, and in the second place, by the common law of the land every owner may 

cultivate his land without regard to its effects upon his neighbor, while such is 

not the law as to mining. The supreme court of Ohio, in Columbus Company v. 

Taylor"(48 Ohio, 41, at p. 58), repudiates the notion that mining was a natural 

use of the land in the sense that farming is.

The ground of a reasonable natural user seems to be at the bottom of what 

was said in Merrifield r. Worcester (110 Mass., 216) upon this topic. So far as 

the expressions there used favor the notion that a city or town may collect and 

discharge sewage matter into a fresh-water stream to the injury of a riparian 

owner without liability to action they are contrary to the law a? held in England for centuries. See Higg. Pol. Waterc., 127 et seq., where several cases 

besides these above cited are collected.

Equally untenable is another position advanced by the defendant, viz, that 

the river was always more or less polluted by contributions frorr other mines 

and from the washing of plowed fields, public roads, and railroad embankments. Such insistments have been frequently made and alwrys overruled. 

The question in such cases seems to be whether the stream has already become 

so far polluted by contributors who have acquired a right so to do by adverse 

use or otherwise as that the pollution presently opposed will not sensibly alter 

its condition. And even in such a case the courts have held that the party has 

the right to deal with each contributor in detail and to buy off such contributors 

as have acquired a right, and is not obliged to submit to fresh contributors. 

I cite the following authorities: Ross r. Butler (4 C. E. Gr., 291, at p. 306) ; 

Attorney-General r. Steward (5 C. E. Gr., 415, at p. 419), where the learned 

chancellor says: " The defendants have no right to pollute or corrupt the waters 

of the creek, or if they are already partially polluted to render them more so; " 

to Cleveland v. The Gas Co. (5 C. E. Gr., 201, at p. 208) ; and to Meigs v. Lister 

(8 C. E. Gr., 199, at p. 205), where the learned chancellor says: "The position 

taken by counsel that the complainants were entitled to no relief from this 

nuisance because the locality was surrounded by other nuisances and dedicated
EESTKICTIONS OF COMMON LAW. 17"

to such purposes has no foundation in law or in fact If there wer« severa, 

nuisances of the like nature surrounding them, they must seek relief from each 

separately. They can not be joined in one suit nor need the suits proceed pari 

passu."

In Cross ley r. Lightowler (L. R., 2 Ch. App., -478, p. 481, 1867) Lord Chelrnsford says: " But the defendants contend that the plaintiffs have nc right to 

complain of any pollution of the Hebble occasioned by them, because there are 

many other manufacturers who pour polluting matter into the stream above the 

plaintiffs' works, so that they never could have the water in a fit state for use 

even if the defendants altogether ceased to foul it. The case of S 1". Helen's 

Smelting Co. v. Tipping (11 H. L. Ch., 642; 11 Jur. N. S.. 785), is, however, an 

answer to this defense. Where there are many existing nuisances, either to the 

air or to water, it may be very difficult to trace to its source the injury occasioned by any one of them; but if the defendants add to the former foul state 

of the water and yet are not to be responsible on account of its previous condition, this consequence would follow that if the plaintiffs were to make terms 

with the other polluters of the stream so as to have water free from impurities 

produced by their works, the defendants might say, ' We began to foul the 

stream at a time when, as against you, it was lawful for us to do so, inasmuch 

as it was unfit for your use, and you can not now, by getting rid of the existing pollutions from other sources, prevent our continuing to do what, at the 

time when we began, you had no right to object to.' " (Attorney-General v. 

Lunatic Asylum, 4 Ch. App., 145, p. 150, report of the expert, and p. If 5.)

In Attorney-General -v. Leeds (L. R., 5 Ch. App., 583, p. 595, 1870) the lord 

chancellor says: " I think the argument deduced from the foul state of the 

water before it gets to Leeds is not deserving of any weight for two reasons: 

First and it is hardly disputed the evil did become seriously aggravated 

when the new sewer was opened that is to say, sixteen or seventeen years 

ago; and, secondly, the nuisance might terminate; and no one can s^y it was 

right that when one nuisance terminates there should be another brought into 

existence."

The sensible and material increase in the discoloration of the water, in this 

case resulting from the contribution of the defendant's mine, is clearly proved. 

The complainant was able to make white paper successfully and satisfactorily 

from February 1, 1892, for nearly a year, and until the serious discharge of discolored water from the defendant's shaft, in January, 1893; .and they were also 

able to make such paper after the discolored water ceased to run, in June or 

July, 1893. During the intermediate period, while the discoloration of the water 

being discharged from the defendant's mine was the greatest, complainant could 

not make white paper satisfactorily.

In whatever point of view the complainant's case is considered it seems 

entirely clear and free from doubt. I can not think the least doubt is cast upon 

the law by the last decision in the Sanderson case, in Pennsylvania- and the 

facts of the case are substantially undisputed. The complainants' title and possession of the ripa, though put in issue by the answer, is established by the 

proofs and was finally admitted at the hearing. Their right to have the water 

come to them in its natural condition follows inevitably. (Holsman v. Boiling 

Spring Co., 1 McCart., 335, at p. 343, bottom, and cases there cited.)' The 

learned chancellor there says: " Where the complainant seeks protection in 

the enjoyment of a natural water course upon his land, the right will ordinarily be regarded as clear. And the mere fact that the defendant c'enies the 

right by his answer or sets up title in himself by adverse user will rot entitle 

him to an issue before the allowance of an injunction."

IKB, 152 05 M 2
18 LAWS FOEBIDDING INLAND-WATEE POLLUTION. [No. 152.

; There can be no doubt that, upon the facts presented, it woull be the duty 

of a judge to direct a verdict, and the rule adopted by the court of errors and 

appeals in Higgins v. The Water Co. (9 Stew. Eq., 538) applies. I refer to'the 

language of the chief justice on page 544 et seq.

The jurisdiction of this court to adopt, on final hearing, the extreme remedy 

of an injunction in this class of cases, when the right is clear, is well established, not only by the case just cited, but by Acquackanouk Water Co. v. 

Watson, supra, which was decided by the court of errors and appeals, and by 

Holsman v. Boiling Spring Co., supra, decided by Chancellor Green, and by 

Shields v. Arndt (3 Gr. Ch., 234), and by Carlisle v. Cooper (6 C. B. Gr., 576).

i It was suggested that in this case no injunction should be ordered, but that 

the complainants should be left to their action at law for damages. I am 

unable to adopt that view. It must now be considered as settled law in this 

State that the maintenance of a nuisance of the kind here in question is, in 

effect, a taking of property. Pennsylvania Railroad Co. r. Angel (14 Stew. Eq., 

316, p. 329), where Judge Dixon, speaking for the court of error? and apifeals, 

says: " This principle rests upon the express terms of the Constitution. In 

declaring that private property shall not be taken without recompense, that 

instrument secures to owners not only the possession of property, but also 

those rights which render possession valuable. Whether you floo'l the farmer's 

fields so that they can not be cultivated, or pollute the bleacher's stream so 

that his fabrics are stained, or fill one's dwelling with smells anc1 noise so that 

it can not be occupied in comfort, you equally take away the owner's property. 

In neither instance has the owner any less of material things than he had 

before, but in each case the utility of his property has been impaired by a 

direct invasion of the bounds of his private dominion. This is the taking of 

his property in a constitutional sense. Of course, mere statutory authority 

will not avail for such an interference with private property. This doctrine 

has been frequently enforced in our courts," and he proceeds tc cite previous 

authorities in the same court. If this be so, then the legislature has no power 

to authorize the maintenance of a nuisance for the promotion of private objects, 

even upon terms of making compensation; for no authority is necessary for 

the position that the legislature is powerless to enact a law declaring that 

defendant may have complainants' mill and water power upon terms of paying 

them what a court may ascertain it is worth. And I am unable to distinguish 

such action and that of leaving complainants to the remedy of repeated actions 

at law to recover damages as often as they are suffered. In tl is respect our 

system of laws varies from that of England, where Parliament is omnipotent 

and is not confined to the mere making of laws the true function of a legislature but may take private property for private purposes, with or without 

making compensation, the only restraint upon its power being its own innate 

sense of justice. Hence the English courts are authorized, in cases of certain 

nuisances, to give damages once for all instead of an injunction.

The result of my consideration of the subject is that there is no principle 

which will sustain a court of equity in refusing an injunction agrinst the maintenance of an established continuing nuisance and leaving the injured party to 

his remedy at law. To do so is, in effect, to permit a party to take his neighbor's 

land for his own use upon terms of making such compensation rs a jury shall 

assess. This is inadmissible.

The object and office of a verdict and judgment at law is to establish the right 

and give compensation for past injuries. The right being once made clear, 

whether by judgment at law or upon incontrovertible rules of law and wellestablished facts, the remedy in equity by injunction to prevent future injury is 

a matter of right, and the relief can not be refused.
GOODELL.] EESTEICTIONS OF COMMON LAW. 19

The ground, however, mainly relied upon by defendant is that the proofs show 

that the nuisance has entirely abated and that there is no danger of its recurrence, and hence an injunction is unnecessary and improper.

At about the time the injunction was issued July 17, 1893 defendant purchased a small tract of land skirting the railroad, between the shaft and the 

river, and established on it a settling basin, into which the mine water was 

turned and given opportunity for subsidence before reaching the river. The 

result was that it was substantially clear, and no further injury has been since 

felt at the paper mill. It is also in proof that from that time up to July, 1894, the 

water was usually clear when it came from the mine. At the sessions o p December 27 and December 28, 1893, Professor Nason, a competent geologist and mining expert, testified that, in his opinion, no further clay and water-bearing seams 

or rents would be met in the course of defendant's mining operations, and that 

the rent which had given so much trouble had, by natural causes, becone harmless. It was not suggested that all or any large proportion of the discolored clay 

deposit had been removed, but the theory was that the descending water had 

worn channels in the clay, resulting in little rivulets centering at the section by 

the shaft, and that the scouring power of the water that is, its power to bring 

down clay had ceased by reason of the clay banks and beds of the little rivulets 

having arrived at an " angle of repose." The stability of this state of affairs 

depends, of course, upon the uniformity of the flow of water, both as to quantity 

and source of inflow, and Professor Nason, on cross-examination, admitted some 

uncertainty in this respect. After his examination and the close of the evidence 

on both sides, and before the argument, viz, about July 16, 1894, an unexpected 

influx of muddy water occurred, due to an overflow from a flume carrying water 

from the neighboring mine of the Lehigh Zinc and Iron Company, which found 

its way into the seam or rent at a point where it came to the surface, about 

1,800 feet from the Parker (defendant's) shaft. This opening was r surface 

fissure or swallet in the rock quite common where limestone rocks cone to the 

surface. In this case, as I understand Professor Nason, he did not suppose or 

infer, from the trend of the fissure, that it reached the surface in that neighborhood, but such was the fact. It was promptly stopped by defendant ?nd filled 

up, so as to prevent any more water getting in at that point.

Now, it seems to me that this occurrence shows the impossibility of affirming 

that there will be no further incursions of muddy water. It is true that with the 

continued use of the settling ground no injury will probably result to complainants from such an irruption. I say " probably," because, in case of a sudden 

irruption of discolored water, the quantity might be so great as to overwork the 

present settling basin. But without a decree and injunction the defendant will 

be at liberty to discontinue its use and permit any muddy water that may appear 

to flow into the Furnace Pond as of old.

At the time the complainants filed their bill the injury was serious and continuous. The defendant positively declined to stop it, but claimed the rigl t to continue it. To complainants' bill was interposed a general denial, and settingUp a 

right to persist in the injury as long as its necessities required. On all these 

issues the defendant is beaten. The complainants have established tt eir case, 

and it would seem to be a most lame and impotent conclusion to refus° to give 

them the very relief prayed for, viz, a perpetual injunction. I am unable to 

imagine any other decree in their favor which would adequately meet the case 

and give them the jtist fruits of their suit; and, surely, if there is no danger of 

further discoloration the injunction will do the defendant no harm, but will be 

of value as a muniment of title to the complainants' property. The language 

of Lord Justice Turner, in Goldsmid v. Tunbridge Wells Commissioners (L. R., 

1 Ch., App., 349, p. 355), applies: " In this particular case I think thr.t regard
20 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

must be had not merely to the comfort or convenience of the occupier of the 

estate, which may only be interfered with temporarily and in a partial degree, 

but that regard must also be had to the effect of the nuisance upon the value of 

the estate and upon the prospect of dealing with it to advantage; and I can not 

but think that the value of this estate, and the prospect of advantageously 

dealing with it, is and will be affected by the continuance of this nuisance."

But the defendant further urges that the complainants have manifested a disposition to make an unreasonably harsh and oppressive use of tl m* rights in the 

premises, and have thereby weakened their standing in equity and disentitled 

them to the extreme decree asked for.

In the month of March, 1893, while the outflow from the mine was at its 

worst, negotiations took place between the parties for some so"t of settlement, 

and a filter was mentioned. The complainants offered to be satisfied if defendant would furnish them with a filter of proper size, which they said, and about 

which there is no dispute, would cost $5,000. The defendant offered to pay onehalf of the expense of the filter, the same to be in full compensation for all 

damages up to the time it was furnished, which offer the complainants refused 

to accept. I can see nothing harsh or oppressive in that refusal.

Next, and after bill filed, as I now recollect, defendant made an arrangement 

with the tenant of. a gristmill, located upon a little stream which empties into 

the Furnace Pond, for a right to divert water from the mill and carry it by a 

flume several hundred feet down to the complainants' works and furnish them 

with clear water from that stream. Complainants employer! an expert to 

examine the stream and see whether it would supply sufficient water for their 

paper engines, with the result that they were informed and believed that it was 

not sufficient, and declined to accept it as a substitute for the river water. The 

defendant, nevertheless, in the face of complainants' refusal, brilt the flume a 

mere wooden trough, set upon benches and trestles along the surface of the 

ground down to the mill yard of the complainants. The complainants refused to 

allow it to be put across their mill yard, because it would prevent them from 

having access to their works and from free passage with carts and wagons from 

one part to the other, and said that anything of that kind must be put underground in iron pipes. But the radical difficulty with that movement on the part 

of the defendant was that the right to the use of the water was merely obtained 

temporarily from a mere tenant of the mill property, and did n?t give the complainants any permanent right to the flow of the stream, even if it had been 

large enough for their purposes. I can see nothing harsh or oppress! ve in complainants' action in refusing this offer of substitution. They not only had the 

strict right in law to refuse to accept them, but their conduct in so doing, in my 

judgment, was not inequitable.

I shall advise a decree establishing the complainants' right to the flow of the 

stream in its natural condition and an injunction with costs.

MISSOURI V. ILLINOIS ET AL.

Where an injurious act in one State is so far-reaching in its injurious consequences as to threaten the rights of property a nd the health 

of a large number of citizens in another State, the latter State may 

become a party complainant in the Supreme Court of the United 

States to enforce the legal remedies of its citizens for such injuries. 

(Missouri v. Illinois et al. (U. S. Supreme Court, October term, 

1900), 180 U.S., 208.)
GOODELL.] EESTKICTIONS Of COMMON LAW. 21

This was a case in which the State of Missouri sued to restrain the 

State of Illinois and the Sanitary District of Chicago from carrying 

the sewage of Chicago through an artificial channel to the Mississippi 

River. The right of the State of Missouri to protect its citizens by 

this action and to implead the State of Illinois as a party defendant 

and to have an injunction against the defendants in case the facts 

alleged in its bill should be established was upheld by a divided cotirt 

in overruling a demurrer to the bill. The defendants have answered, 

but at the time of the present writing the final hearing has not been 

reached.

EIGHTS OF RIPARIAN OWNERS IN ARID AND MINING STATES.

In certain of the arid and mining States of the West the doctrine 

of riparian rights has been in whole or in part abrogated by what is 

known as the doctrine of prior appropriation. Where the latter doctrine prevails the rights of riparian owners as given above do not 

exist, and where the doctrine of prior appropriation has been $ dopted 

in part the rights of appropriators to some extent supersede the 

rights of riparian owners.

"Appropriation " is an actual use of the water for a beneficial 

purpose by a person having the right to~ make such use, i. e., by any 

person having lawful access to the water. The appropriator, by the 

fact of appropriation, acquires the right, as against riparian owners, 

to use the water in the state and condition and to the extent necessary 

for the purpose for which he has appropriated it. Subsequent appropriators also acquire rights, but such are subordinate to the rights of 

the prior appropriator.

The doctrine of prior appropriation has been adopted to the extent 

indicated in the States mentioned below:

Arizona:

Clough v. Wing, 17 Pae. Rep., 453. 

Colorado:

" The right to divert unappropriated waters of any natural stream shall 

never be denied." Const., Art. XVI, see. 6.

Wheeler i\ Northern Colorado I. Co., 10 Col., 582.

3 Ain. St. Rep., 603; 17 Pac. Rep., 487. 

Idaho:

Constitution of 1889, Art. XV, sec. 3.

Wilterding v. Green, 45 Pac. Rep., 134; 4 Idaho, 773. 

Montana:

Constitution, Art III, see. 15.

Smith v. Denniff, 24 Mont., 20.

81 Am. St. Rep., 408; 60 Pac. Rep., 398; 50 L. R. A., 741. 

Nevada:

Reno Smelting, etc., Works v. Stevenson, 20 Nev., 269.
22 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

New Mexico:

Compiled Laws of New Mexico, sec. 23.

Albuquerque Laud aud Irr. Co. v. Gutierrez, 61 Pac. Rep., 357. 

North Dakota:

Springville L\ Fullnier, 7 Utah, 450. 

Stowell i?. Johnson, 7 Utah, 215. 

Wyoming:

 Farm Investment Co. v. Carpenter, 9 Wyo., 110; 50 L. R. A., 747; 61 Pac. 

Rep., 288.

In California the common law as to riparian rights seems to prevail, except as to rights acquired by appropriation upon public lands 

made before any riparian owner has acquired title to lands below. 

(Lux v. Haggin, 69 Cal., 254)

In Oregon the right of appropriation is confined to such rights as 

were acquired before Washington became a State, under an act of 

Congress passed in 1866. (Simmons v. Winters, 21 Oreg., 35; 28 

Am. St. Kep., 727; 27 Pac. Kep., 7.)

In Washington the right of appropriation seems to b°, recognized, 

at least as to the portion east of the Cascade Mountains in that State, 

but not as against settlers who have obtained riparian rights before 

the appropriation.

Isaacs I?. Barber, 30 L. R. A., 665.

10 Wash., 124; 45 Am. St. Rep., 772.

38 Pac. Rep., 871.

Benton v. Johncox, 39 L. R. A., 107; 17 Wash., 277.

61 Am. St. Rep., 912 ; 49 Pac., 495.

In several of the arid or partly arid States not included in the 

above list the riparian owner holds subject to the right of those owning above him to a reasonable use of the water for irrigation 

purposes.

Rhodes v. Whitehead, 27 Tex., 309; 84 Am. Dec., 631.

Tolle r. Carreth, 31 Tex., 362; 98 Am. Dec., 540.

Fleming t\ Davis, 37 Tex., 173.

Baker c. Brown, 55 Tex., 377.

Mud Creek Irr., etc., Co. v. Vivian, 74 Tex., 170; 11 S. W. Re-x, 1078.

Barrett v. Metcalf, 12 Tex. Civ. App., 247; 33 S. W. Rep., 758

So far as the doctrine of prior appropriation is recognized, the 

rights of riparian owners are pro tanto extinguished. In such States, 

therefore, the general statements already given require modification.

In States where the doctrine of prior appropriation is established 

it may be safely asserted:

1. That the riparian owners can not complain of pollution so far 

'as such pollution necessarily results from the use for which the 

appropriator has appropriated the water.

2. That no person, except a prior appropriator, may pollute the 

stream so as to render the water less fit for use by one who has law-
GOODELL.] RESTRICTIONS OF COMMON LAW, 23

fully appropriated it, and such prior appropriates can not so pollute 

the water by a subsequent appropriation to a new use. 

Fairplay Hydraulic Mining Co. v. Weston, 29 Colo., 125.

3. No appropriator or other person may pollute waters to the 

.extent of creating a public nuisance.

Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Co., 8 Lawy., 628; 16 Fed.

Rep., 25; 9 Lawy., 441; 18 Fed. Rep., 753. 

People v. Gold Run Ditch, etc., Co., 66 Cal., 138; 56 Am. Rep., 80; 4 Pac.

Rep., 1152.

Carson v. Hayes, 39 Oreg., 97; 65 Pac. Rep., 814. 

Suffolk Gold Min. and Milling Co. r. San Miguel Consd. Mining an-1 Milling

Co., 9 Colo. App., 407; 48 Pac. Rep., 828.

Nixon v. Bear River and A. Water Co., 24 Cal., 367; 85 Ain. Dec., 69. 

Levaroni v. Miller, 34 Cal., 231; 91 Am. Dec., 692.

Yuba Lake, etc., Co. v. Tuba Co., Super. Ct, 66 Cal., 311; 5 Pac. Rep., 490. 

McLaughlin v. Del Re, 71 Cal., 230; 16 Pac. Rep., 881.

B. RIGHTS OF THE PUBLIC (AS DISTINGUISHED FROM INDIVIDUAL 

OWNERS) TO HAVE INLAND WATERS KEPT FREE FROM POLLUTION BY 

RIPARIAN OWNERS OR OTHERS.

Whenever the pollution of a stream or other body of water injuriously affects the health or materially interferes with the peace and 

comfort of a large and indefinite number of people in the neighborhood, such pollution becomes what is known as a public nuisance. 

But, except under such circumstances, the public, as such, has no 

standing to prevent the pollution of waters. When, however, there 

is a public or quasi-public ownership of the banks of a stream, as in 

the case of a source of water supply owned by a municipality or 

owned by a company which supplies the inhabitants of a municipality with water, the public is interested in the enforcement of the 

rights of riparian proprietors, as stated under heading "A."

Where there is a public nuisance caused by the pollution of water, 

it is the duty of public authorities to cause its abatement, and their 

right to do so has been sustained in numerous cases. Wl ^re the 

public is injured in its capacity of riparian owner the remedy is 

either by injunction or by criminal proceedings, according to the 

nature of the wrong and the laws and practice of the jurisdiction in 

which the offense occurs.

The following are cases in which the pollution of water 1 as been 

held to be a public nuisance:

Board of Health v. Casey, 3 N. Y. S., 399.

People v. Elk River Mill and Lumber Company, 107 Cal., 214.

State v. Taylor, 29 Ind., 517.

Greene v. Nunnemacher, 36 Wis., 50.
24 LAWS TORBIDDHsTG INLAND-WATER POLLTITIOF. [No. 152.

C. CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH, AND EXTENT TO WHICH, PUFIJG MUNICIPALITIES MAY USE INLAND WATERS IN DISPOSING OF SEWAGE FROM

PUBLIC SEWERS.

This subject has but recently been receiving attention from the 

courts. It seems to have been the custom of municipalities to clis-. 

charge their sewers freely into the larger streams, and until within 

the last few years but little, if any, objection to the practice has 

found its way into the courts. Latterly the increase of population, 

with the consequent increase of the amount of sewage matter so discharged, has brought about a condition of affairs that has produced 

opposition and in many cases litigation. The principles established 

by the decisions thus made necessary are briefly summarized as 

follows:

Municipalities, if riparian owners, have the same rights and are 

subject to the same restrictions in the use and treatment of the water 

flowing over their lands as private owners are i. e., they may deposit 

sewage and other filth in such waters, provided always that by so 

doing they cause no injury to property below them. They may 

drain the surface water from their streets into water courses, with 

the impurities which it naturally carries, provided they do not 

thereby increase the flew of water into the stream so as to exceed 

the capacity of the channel to the injury of property below.

Brainerd r. Newton, 154 Mass., 255; 27 N. E., 995. 

Cone v. Hartford, 28 Conn., 363.

Where municipalities are expressly authorized by strtute to construct a system of sewerage, and to cause the sewage matter to be 

discharged into any particular waters, the statutory authority is to 

be exercised subject to the implied condition that such discharge will 

not constitute a nuisance. Legislative authority can go no further 

than to authorize municipalities to acquire the rights of lower owners 

by purchase or condemnation, because of the constitutional restriction against taking private property for public use without just 

compensation.

It will thus be seen that the increase of population under the present conditions and with the now prevalent methods of sewage disposal 

in cities is rapidly leading to a condition of affairs which will call 

for radical changes. Many cities will find themselves unable to dispose of their sewage matter by means of rivers without enormous 

expense, and probably not without additional legislation. As will 

be seen hereafter, the subject is already receiving serious attention 

from legislators.
GOODBLL.] RESTRICTIONS OF COMMON LAW. 25

CITATION OP CASES.

The following cases will be found to sustain the general principles 

above stated:

English:

Goldsmid v. Tunbridge Wells Imp. Com., L. R., 1 Chan. App.. 349.

Holt v. Rochdale, L. R., 10 Eq. Cases, 354.

Attorney-General v. Leeds, L. R., 5 Chan. App., 583.

Attorney-General r. Richmond, L. R., 2 Eq. Cases, 306.

Attorney-General i\ Hackney Local Board, L. R., 20 Eq. Cases, 620

Attorney-General r. Cockerniouth Local Board, L. R., 18 Eq. Cases 172.

Attorney-General v. Luton Local Board, 2 Jurist, 180.

Attorney-General v. Halifax, 39 L. J. (N. S.), 129.

North Staffordshire R. R. Co. v. Tunstall Local Board, 39 L. J., Ch-n., 131.

Attorney-General r. Kingston on Thames, 34 L. J., 481.

Attorney-General i\ Basingstoke, 45 L. J. (N. S.), 726.

Attorney-General r. Coluey Hatch Lunatic Asylum, L. R., 4th Ch. Div., 146.

Attorney-General r. Birmingham. 4 Kay & Johns., 528.

Attorney-General r. Metropolitan Board of Works, 1 H. & M., 298.

Bidder r. Croyden Local Board, 6 L. T., 778.

Manchester, etc., Railway Co. v. Worksop Board of Health, 23 Beav., 198.

Oldaker i\ Hunt, 6 De Gex, McN. & G., 376. 

Alabama:

Birmingham v. Land, 374 So. Rep., 613. 

California:

People v. City of San Luis Obispo, 116 Cal., 617.

Peterson v. City of Santa Rosa, 51 Pac. (Cal.), 557. 

Connecticut:

Morgan v. Danbury, 67 Conn., 484.

Nolan v. New Britain, 69 Conn., 668.

(See extracts from opinions. in the Conn, cases given below.) 

Georgia:

Columbia Av. Savings Fund, etc., Co. v. Prison Commission of Georgia, 92.

Fed. Rep., 801 (Cir. Ct. West Div. Ga., 1899). 

Illinois:

Village of Dwight -v. Hayes, 150 111., 273.

Robb v. Village of La Grange (1895), 158 111., 21.

Barrett v. Cemetery Assn., 159 111., 385. 

Indiana:

Valparaiso i\ Hagen, 153 Ind., 337; 48 L. R. A., 707; 74 Am. St. Rep., 305;

54 N. E., 1062. a 

Iowa:

Randolf v. Town of Bloomfleld, 77 la., 50.

Loughran r. City of Des Moines, 72 la., 382; S.' C. 34 N. W. Rep., 172.

" In this case it was held that where «, municipality acts in conformity to the statute, 

skillfully and without negligence, it may discharge its sewage into a strea.m and the 

lower proprietors may not haye an injunction, and are entitled to no compensation for the 

damages suffered by them.

This seems to settle the law in that State; hut the reasoning is not convincing, and it 

is believed no other State has, so'far, adopted that rule, which might, perhaps, be held 

violative of that clause of the'Constitution of the United States which forbids the taking 

of private property for public use without compensation.
26 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

Kansas:

Topeka Water Supply Co. v. City of Potwin, 43 Kan., 404. 

Massachusetts:

Brainard v. Newton (Mass. Sup.), 27 N. E. Rep., 995, and 154 Mass., 255.

Morse -v. Worcester, 139 Mass., 389.

Boston Rolling Mills v. Cambridge, 117 Mass., 396.

Haskell v. New Bedford, 108 Mass., 208.

Woodward v. Worcester, 121 Mass., 245.

Middlesex Co. v. Lowell, 149 Mass., 509.

Merrifield r. Worcester, 110 Mass., 216.» 

Missouri:

The Joplin Consolidated Mining Co. v. City of Joplin, 124 Mo., 129. 

New Hampshire:

Vale Mills v. Nashua, 63 N. H., 136. 

New Jersey:

Doreinus i'. Paterson, 65 N. J. Eq., 711.

State v. Freeholders of Bergen, 1 Dick., 173

Atty. Gen. v. City of Paterson, 45 Atl. (N. J., 1900), 995; 60 N. J. Eq., 385, 

New York:

Butler v. Village of Edgewater, 6 N. Y. S., 174.

Chapman v. City of Rochester, 110 N. Y., 273. 

Pennsylvania:

Good v. Altoona City, 162 Pa. St., 493.

EXCEBPTS FROM IMPORTANT DECISIONS.

In Owens v. Lancaster City (182 Pa. St., 257, and 193 Pa. St., 436) 

the right of a city to use a stream passing through it as an open sewer, 

subject only to liability for any injury done to adjoining property 

through its negligence, seems to be conceded.

As to the limits of this right, and the consequences for which the 

municipality would be liable in the State of Pennsylvania, see the 

following cases:

The city was held liable for injury done to- plaintiff's wharf by 

deposits from a sewer, in Butcher's Ice and Coal Company v. Philadelphia. (156 Pa. St., 54.)

It was held liable to a lot owner for maintaining a sewer mouth 

upon his lot, in Harris i\ City. (155 Pa. St., 76.)

It was held liable for destroying the value of wells, caused by the 

flowing of polluted river water into them by underground passages, 

in Good t<. Altoona. (162 Pa. St., 493.)

It was held liable for damages caused by accumulations of filth, 

ashes, or other material, that obstruct the flow of the water and throw

" In Merrifield r. Worcester damages were refused to a riparian owner who sued in 

tort for the pollution of his stream. The decision turned upon the nonliability of municipal corporations for the consequences of the judicial acts of their governing bodies. It 

holds that the plaintiff might recover for injury caused by pollution due to the improper 

construction or unreasonable use of the sewers, or to the negligence or other fault of the 

defendant in the care and management of them. It is no authority for the principle 

established in Indiana in Valparaiso i\ Hagen.
GOODBLL.] [RESTRICTIONS OP COMMON LAW. 27

it out upon the lands of adjoining owners, in Blizzard *>. The Borough 

of Danville. (175 Pa., 479.)

In Owens v. Lancaster City (182 Pa. St., 257), at page 262, Mr. 

Justice Green remarks, obiter: " We apprehend the same principle 

would apply to the injury inflicted by allowing offensive and injurious odors and smells to issue from the polluting substar^es discharged into the stream from the city sewers."

Nolan v. New Britain (69 Conn., 668) was an action for damages 

caused by the ^defendant's discharge of its public sewers into a stream 

called Pipers Brook, which ran through plaintiff's land.

The city had, in 1872, under alleged legislative authority, cpndemned and taken, and condemned the right to take, occupy, and 

appropriate Pipers Brook for sewer purposes, but plaintiff did not 

appear in the proceedings, nor was any award made to him.

Significant excerpts from the supreme court's opinion, by / ndrews, 

C. J., are here given:

The use of Pipers Brook which the complainant charges that the defendant 

has made, unless there is a lawful warrant therefor, causes a public nuisance. * * * That it would be a public nuisance to render the water of a 

stream so impure that it could not be used for domestic purposes or for watering cattle, and so that it gave off noxious and unhealthy odors is hsrdly open 

to question (Chapman v. Rochester, 110 N. Y., 273), for the reason that these 

causes would injuriously affect every riparian owner along the whole length 

of the stream and every person who lived near it. If a municipal corporation, 

in the absence of a legal right to do so, causes sewage to pollute a water course, 

to the use of which a lower owner through whose premises the water course 

flows is entitled, it is guilty of a nuisance for which damages may be recovered. 

[Many authorities cited.]

On page 681, after an examination of the alleged statutory authority, the opinion continues:

If it had been the intent of the legislature by the act of 1872 to authorize the 

common council of the city of New Britain to take or to affect any lands outside 

of the city limits, it is certain there would have been in the act some provision 

for the ascertainment of damages to be paid to the landowner. Tin right of 

the plaintiff to have the water of Pipers Brook flow through his land as it had 

been accustomed to flow (i. e., pure and uncontaminated) is not an easement, 

but is inseparably annexed to the soil. (Wadsworth v. Tillotson, 15 Conn., 366, 

' 373.) To deprive the plaintiff of that part of his soil for the purposes named in 

that act would be the taking of private property for public use, and tie plaintiff 

would be entitled to have just compensation.

As the complainant lived outside the city limits, it was held that he 

was in no way affected by the assessment proceedings.

The other defenses amounted to a claim of right to such use of the 

stream by prescription. As to this defense the court says, at page 

683:

The sixth defense presents the question of prescription. We hare already 

indicated our opinion that the use of Pipers Brook of which the plaintiff com-
28 LAWS FOEBIDDHSTG INLAND-WATEE POLLUTION. [No. 152.

plains is a public nuisance. We suppose the law to be so that a public nuisance 

can not be prescribed for. No length of time can legitimate, or enable a party 

to prescribe for, a public nuisance. (People v. Cunninghani, 1 Denio., 524; 

Mills v. Hall, 9 Wend., 315; Veazie v. Dwinel, 50 Me., 479, 490; Commonwealth 

v. Upton, 6 Gray, 471, 476; Wood on Nuisances, 722; 19 Am. and Eng. Encyc. of 

Law, 30.) When an action is brought by a party who has suffered a special 

injury in consequence of a public nuisance, a prescriptive right to do the acts 

complained of can not be maintained against him. (Bowen v. Wendt, 103 Gal., 

236; People i\ Gold Run, etc., Mining Co., 66 Cal., 138; Boston Rolling Mills v. 

Cambridge, 117 Mass., 396; O'Brien v. St. Paul, 18 Minn., 176; Cooley on Torts, 

614.) There is no occasion to discuss this defense further, because the defendant's counsel in their brief expressly disclaim that any right can be obtained 

by prescription to commit such a nuisance.

In Morgan *». City of Danbury (67 Conn., 484) the question of 

restraining a city from polluting the water of a stream by sewage, at 

the suit of a mill owner below the city, was thoroughly discussed, 

and the injunction sustained. The opinion is written by Baldwin, J., 

and the important portions of it are as follows (p. 493) :

The nuisance thus complained of consisted, then, of discharging into a river, 

above the plaintiff's premises, certain substances of a kind and in such a manner that the water came to him polluted, and a deposit was made upon his land 

and in his mill pond whereby noxious odors were created, dargerous to his 

health and that of others, his dam partly filled up by filth, and the use and value 

of his property largely taken away injuries which the defendant intended to 

increase by enlarging its sewer system, and adding to the amount of the deposits made from the sewers in the river, the result of which would be to fill 

up his mill pond with filth and sewage, and make his property valueless.

These allegations were denied, but they have been found true, and there is 

nothing inconsistent with their truth in the special finding of facts They stated 

that the deposits from the sewers both filled up the plaintiff's mill pond, and polluted the air he breathed and the waters that flowed over his property. These, 

though proceeding from the same act, produced separate injuries A nuisance 

was created with a double aspect. That to the waters of the stream and the air 

above it it was found constituted a public nuisance, though it was one which also 

wrought a special and peculiar injury to the plaintiff. That from filling up the 

mill pond constituted simply a private nuisance. (Haskell v. New Bedford, 108 

Mass., 208, 216: Brayton r. Fall River, 113 Mass., 218, 229.) It was proper that 

the injunction should be so framed as to protect the plaintiff against every 

serious and irreparable injury which he might suffer by the continuance of the 

nuisance, and its terms are fully conformable to the claims stated in his complaint.

The defendant contends that the decree is too broad, in that it restrains the 

discharge into the river of any sewage, even if not of a noxiou>' or polluting 

character, or though entirely and permanently disinfected and pur'fled.

The primary meaning of " sewage" is that which passes through a sewer 

(Century Dictionary; Webster's International Dictionary). A secondary meaning is derived from the usual character of the contents of a sewer, and as used 

in that sense the word signifies the refuse and foul matter, sclid or liquid, 

which it so carries off.

In the plaintiff's complaint the connection in which the term i^ employed is 

such as to indicate that it was intended to carry the secondary meaning.
GOODBLL.] RESTRICTIONS OF COMMON LAW.' 29

And further, at page 496:

The defendant urges that it should not be made responsible for tl^ acts of 

others, and that if its sewage is thoroughly disinfected, sterilized, and pimtied 

before its discharge into the river nothing further should be required, even 

though as it flows down the stream it may, be brought into contact with other 

substances in such a way as to work a nuisance. But the right to depon't-a thing 

in any place must always be dependent not only on its own nature but on the 

nature of the place in question and the uses to which that has already been put. 

A lighted match may be safely thrown into a brook under ordinary circumstances, but not should it happen to be covered with oil from a leaky trnk.

If different parties by several acts foul the same stream, each may be enjoined 

against the commission of the wrong with which he is individually chargeable.

And see, also, Watson ?>. Town of New Milford (72 Conn., 561) ; 

Platt Bros. & Co. v. Waterbury (72 Conn., 531) ; and note on u Rights 

of municipal corporations to drain sewage into waters," appended to 

a report of the last-named case in 48 Lawyers' Rep. Annotated, 

page 691.

In Mayor, etc., of Birmingham, ?\ Land (34 So. Rep., 613), decided 

by the supreme court of Alabama in June, 1903, the Connecticut 

cases above cited were followed. Among other things, the court, per 

McClellan, C. J., say:

The fact that the city of Birmingham had statutory authorization to construct 

a sewer emptying into Valley Creek, upon the condemnation of lands taken or 

injured in its construction and use, is not of importance, since the lands here 

injured have not been condemned. The nuisance is none the less a nuisance 

.because of the statutory power referred to, the right to exercise the power in 

respect of this land not having been acquired. City of Mansfield v. Balliett 

(65 Ohio St., 451; 58 L. R. A., 628, and note).

See, to the same effect, Sammons v. City of Gloversville (67 N. E. 

Rep., 622), decided by the court of appeals of New York, June 9,1903. 

In this case an injunction was granted, its operation being suspended 

to enable the defendant to obtain legislative relief, or to abate the 

nuisance.

In Middlesex Company v. Lowell (149 Mass., 509), decided in 1889, 

it was held that an injunction should be granted to restrain defendant from discharging sewage into plaintiff's mill pond, and that no 

right to do so could be acquired by prescription.

This places Massachusetts in line with the other States, notwithstanding the decision in Merrifield y. Worcester that a city is not 

liable for damages caused by lawfully laying out and constructing 

and reasonably using a system of sewers in accordance with plans 

adopted by the proper corporate body, upon the principle that such 

body acts quasi judicially in so adopting plans.

In Butler v. Village of White Plains (69 N. Y. Supp., 193; N. Y. 

Sup. Court App. Div., 2d Dept., March, 1901), an injunction was
30 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

granted against a nuisance caused by the deposit of the effluent of 

defendant's sewage in the Bronx River. The fact that others were 

polluting the stream was no defense.

Grey, Attorney-General, v. Paterson (13 Dick., 1; on appeal, 15 

Dick., 385), was an action brought by riparian owners below Paterson 

for an injunction restraining the city of Paterson from depositing or 

discharging its sewage through its drains or sewers into the Passaic 

River, and from constructing new sewers to discharge into said river, 

find from enlarging or increasing its present sewerage system with 

outlets into said river.

By an act passed in 1867 (P. L. of 1867, p. 653, sec, 17) Paterson 

had been authorized by the legislature as follows:

That the mayor and aldermen of the city of Paterson are hereby authorized to 

cause such surveys, maps, and returns to be made as- may be necessary to enable 

them to prescribe and adopt, either for the whole or any part of said city, the 

location of streets and sewers, or either, and the width thereof, hereafter to be 

opened or constructed therein, and when such location, width, and grade shall be 

adopted, the surveys, maps, and returns prescribing and denning the same shall 

be recorded in the clerk's office of the county of Passaic, and thereupon no street 

or sewer shall thereafter within the district comprised in any such survey, map, 

or return be opened or constructed, except in conformity therewith as to location, width, and grade, and fully to accomplish the purposes contemplated by this 

section the said mayor and aldermen may employ such engineers, surveyors, and 

other persons, and provide for their compensation and pass such ordinances as 

they may deem to be proper, and may enter upon any land for making surveys 

and examinations.

On the 26th of February, 1868, Paterson was further authorized to 

construct sewers and drains (P. L., 1868, p. 126). The second section 

provides:

That all such sewers and drains shall be constructed in conformity with the 

plans thereof adopted or which shall he adopted by said mayor and aldermen 

pursuant to the seventeenth section of the act approved April 4, 1867, entitled 

"A further supplement to the act entitled 'An act amending and revising the act 

to incorporate the city of Paterson.'"

It was found by the court that, so far as the authority of the State 

can avail for that purpose, the legislative consent, in this case, furnishes ample protection to the city for the appropriate exercise of the 

power granted.

It was further said that riparian owners below the point where the 

tide ebbs and flows were not entitled to an injunction, because the 

title to their lands did not extend below high-water mark.

The title of owners above the ebb and flow of the tide extends to 

the middle of the stream, subject only to the rights of the public for 

purposes of navigation; and it is held that, notwithstanding the legislative grant of authority, such owners can not be deprived of their
GOODELL.] EESTEICTIONS OP COMMON LAW. 31

right of property in the river without just compensation. Following 

the case of Beach v. Sterling Iron and Zinc Company (9 Dick., 65), as 

affirmed in 10 Dick., 824, it was decided that the owners above tide 

water were entitled to compensation, but in view of the great detriment to the city if aii injunction should be granted and the comparatively small injury done to the owners the injunction was refused, 

except in the alternative that the city should refuse to make such 

compensation for the diminished value of their lands as shall be 

ascertained to be just.

In this case there is no recognition of the damage done to the lands 

adjoining or near the stream. The complainant's right to redress 

arises wholly from the injury done to the water, in which they have 

a proprietary right.

In Winchell v. Waukesha (110 Wis., 101), Dodge, J., gave the 

opinion, which in part is as follows:

The findings and evidence disclose a very obvious nuisance, which, if created 

and maintained by an individual, would entitle the, plaintiff to the aid of a 

court of equity to effect its abatement, and to damages if pecuniary injury be 

established, with the decisions of this court. * * * It has been declared by 

this court in Harper v. Milwaukee (30 Wis., 365, 372), that "the general rule of 

law is that a municipal corporation has no more right to erect and maintain a 

nuisance than a private individual possesses, and an action may be maintained 

against such corporation for injuries occasioned by a nuisance for which it is 

responsible in any case in which, under like circumstances, an action could be 

maintained by an individual." Again, in Hughes v. Fond du Lac (73 Wis., 380, 

383) it is said: "A municipal corporation is no more exempt from Hal'lity in 

case it creates a nuisance, either public or private, than an individual." These 

statements are very broad, and, appellant insists, must yield to various exceptions and limitations (pp. 105 and 306).

When, if ever, the legislature shall enact that streams generally or any stream 

shall be used as sewers without liability to the owners of the soil through which 

they run, the question of constitutional protection to private rights may be 

forced upon the courts for decision. Until such enactment is made, however, in 

clear and unambiguous terms, we shall be slow to hold by inference or implication that it has been made at all. The right of the riparian owner to the 

natural flow of waters, substantially unimpaired in volume and purity, is one 

of great value, which the law nowhere has more persistently recognized than in 

Wisconsin. Not alone the strictly private right, but important public interests, 

would be seriously jeopardized by promiscuous pollution of our streams and 

lakes. Considerations of aesthetic attractiveness, industrial utility, and public 

health and comfort are involved. Amid this conflict of important rights, we can 

not believe that the legislature concealed, in words merely authorizing municipalities to raise and expend money for the construction of sewers, a declaration 

of policy that each municipality might, in its discretion, without Hat'lity to 

individuals, take practical possession of the nearest stream as a vehicle for the 

transportation of its sewage in a crude and deleterious condition. At that 

stage in its logic we can not agree with the Indiana court in Valparaiso v, 

Hagen (153 Ind., 337).
32 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

STATUTORY RESTRICTIONS OF WATER POLLUTION.

CLASSIFICATION.

Speaking generally, jurisdiction over the pollution of waters in the 

United States is confined to the several States. There is no provision 

in the Constitution which gives to Congress authority in the premises, 

partly, no doubt, because at the time of its adoption the great importance of the subject from an interstate point of view was not thought 

of. Hence, by the familiar principle that the several States retain 

full sovereign powers except so far as such powers are restricted by 

the National Constitution or expressly delegated thereby to -the 

National Government, the States have full control of this subject. 

In reviewing these laws, accordingly, we must examine the statutes 

of all the States and Territories.

Uniformity of legislation is not to be expected. The natural conditions existing in different portions of the vast territory rre so various, 

the density of population differs so widely in the different sections 

involved, and public enlightenment as to the deleterious effects of 

water pollution and the necessity to restrain it is, in sparsely settled 

districts, so far behind that which has been developed in congested 

areas by the terrible consequences, that statutory regulations must 

necessarily differ. In some States there is found nothing more than 

a simple provision making it a crime to poison wells and springs, 

while others have made elaborate provisions designed to check and, 

so far as possible, absolutely to prevent all pollution of waters by 

mingling with them the refuse products of animal life or the wastes 

of human industry. If, therefore, we are to avoid making this review 

a mere catalogue of statutes, it will be necessary to adopf some system 

of classification and grouping. Doubtless a mere citation of the 

statutes of all the States, taken in their alphabetical order, would 

serve a useful purpose in enabling the reader to turn to the particular section in which his interest lies and to find the legislation which 

affects this section. But if, by a logical grouping of States according 

to their progress in this particular, we can give a clearer idea of the 

status of such legislation as a whole, without seriously interfering 

with the usefulness of the book as a compendium of State laws upon 

this subject, much will be gained.

Accordingly, I have arranged the States and Territories in three 

groups or classes, placing those in each group in alphabetical order 

.for convenience of reference.
GOODELL.] PARTIAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS ALABAMA. 33 

CLASS I. STATES WITH PARTIAL RESTRICTIONS.

This group comprises those States and Territories in which the 

legislature has confined itself to forbidding the poisoning or pollution 

of drinking water in certain ways or in certain localities. They 

belong in the same category because they are all at the same stage of 

growth in sanitary education i. e., there is manifest in their legislation no sense of the general desirability of pure natural .waters, but 

only a desire to prevent certain acts recognized as criminal in intent 

or as likely to injure special groups of persons (public or priw.te corporations) whom the legislature desires to protect.

An alphabetical list of the States and Territories in Class I, with 

the statutes in force in each at the close of 1905, either given in full 

or abstracted so as to show their nature and force, is here presented.

ALABAMA.

[Acts of Alabama, 1896-97, p. 1281.]

AN ACT to punish any person who pollutes or contaminates water supplied to 

cities and towns of the State.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted ~by the general assembly of Alabama, That 

it shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly deposit any de°,d animal or nauseous substance in any source, standpipe, or reservoir from 

which water is supplied to any city or town of said State. Any person violating the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not exceeding 

$500 and may be sentenced to hard labor for the county not exceeding 

one year.

Approved, February 17, 1897.

[General Acts, Alabama, 1903, Act No. '542, p. 499.]

AN ACT to amend, reconstruct, and provide for the enforcement of the laws 

relating to the public health.

SEC. 15 (p. 508). Whenever complaint shall be made in writmgtoa 

health officer of a county, city, or town that there is in any pond, lake, 

or stream owned or maintained by a private individual or corporation 

any source of infection, or unsanitary condition, which is prejudicial 

to the public health, or likely to become so, or any material o1* thing 

that is grossly offensive or indecent, it shall be the duty of such 

health officer to thoroughly investigate such complaint. If upon 

investigation said health officer shall be of the opinion that said complaint is well founded, he shall at once notify the person responsible 

therefor that he must remove or abate, at his own expense, saio1 source 

of infection, unsanitary condition, or grossly offensive or indecent 

IRE 152 05 M 3
34 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

material or thing. Should such person responsible for said nuisance 

refuse or neglect to obey such order, said officer shall refer the matter 

to the county board of health for investigation, and either party to 

the contest may request the State health officer to be present and participate in the investigation. Should said county board of health 

agree with the opinion of said health officer, and should the person 

responsible for said nuisance or for said indecent material or thingstill refuse or neglect to comply with the decision reached by said 

county board of health, the health officer to whom said complaint was 

first made shall proceed with as little delay as possible to cause said 

source of infection, unsanitary condition, or grossly offensive materail or thing to be removed or abated at the expense of the person 

responsible therefor.

ARKANSAS.

[Sandel and Hill's Digest, 1894.]

SEC. 1903. The throwing or dragging of dead animals, or animals 

in a dying condition, into any running stream or other body of 

water in this State is a misdemeanor.

Anyone violating the provisions of this chapter, on conviction 

thereof, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten nor more than 

fifty dollars. (Act March 2T, 1891.)

[Laws of 1895, Act CXXVI, p. 183,]

AN ACT authorizing municipal corporations and other corporations to exercise 

certain privileges, and for other purposes.

SEC. 7. If any person shall * * * commit such a nuisance in 

or near the impounding dams or reservoirs of any water plant, or 

shall pollute the water or effect [affect] its wholesome qualities, he 

shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be finec1 for each and 

every offense in any sum not exceeding $200.

[Sandel and Hill's Digest, sec. 5134.]

They [municipal corporations] shall have the power to provide a 

supply of water by constructing or acquiring, by purchase or otherwise, wells, pumps, cisterns, reservoirs, or waterworks; to regulate 

the same; to prevent the unnecessary waste of water; to prevent the 

pollution of the water and injury to the. waterworks; and for the purpose of establishing or supplying waterworks any municipal corporation may go beyond its territorial limits; and its jurisdiction to prevent or punish any pollution or injury to the stream or source of 

water,.or to the waterworks, shall extend five miles beyond its corporate limits. [As amended by laws of 1903, act 88, p. 152.]
GOODELL.] PARTIAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS. 85

DELAWARE.

[Laws of 1893, p. 1024.]

AN ACT to amend chapter 242, volume 19, of the Laws of Delaware, entitled 

"An act to provide for the lighting of Middletown."

SEC. 10 (p. 1029). That if any person or persons shall des; gnedly 

or maliciously injure the said light and water works, or obstruct the 

water to and from the same, or in any manner pollute the water 

supply * * * they shall forfeit and pay to the commissioner of 

the town of Middletown a fine not exceeding one hundred (100) dollars, to be recovered, etc.

FLORIDA.

[Revised Statutes of Florida, approved January 8, 1891.]

SEC. 2658. Poisoning food or water. Whoever mingles any poison 

with food, drink, or medicine, with intent to kill or injure another 

person, or wilfully poisons any spring, well, or reservoir of water 

with such intent, shall be punished by imprisonment in th». State 

prison for life or any term of years.

SEC. 2665. Corrupting or interfering -with water supply. Whoever 

wilfully or maliciously defiles, corrupts, or makes impure any spring 

or other source of water or reservoir, or destroys or injures ary pipe, 

conductor of water, or other property pertaining to an aqueduct, or 

aids or abets in any such trespass, shall be punished by imprisonment 

not exceeding one year or by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.

GEORGIA.

[Laws of 1896, p. 84.]

No. 57. AN ACT to prohibit the poisoning of any spring, well, or reservoir of 

water, to provide a penalty for the violation of the same, and for other purposes.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of 

Georgia, and it is hereby enacted by authority of the same, That from 

and after the passage of this act any person who wilfully and wantonly poisons or procures another to poison any spring, fcuntain, 

well, or reservoir of water shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and on 

conviction therefor shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary for a 

term of not less than two nor more than twenty years.

SEC. 2. Repeals inconsistent laws.

Approved, December 19, 1896.

IDAHO.

[Penal Code, passed 1901.]

SEC. 4916. Every person * * * who wilfully poisons any spring, 

well, or reservoir of water is punishable by imprisonment in the State 

prison for a term not less than one nor more than ten years.
36 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

IOWA. 

[Code of Iowa, annotated. 1897.]

SEC. 4979. Throwing dead animals in stream^ spring, etc. If anjperson throw, or cause to be thrown, any dead animal into any river, 

well, spring, cistern, reservoir, stream, or pond, he shrll be imprisoned in the county jail not less than ten nor more than thirty days 

or be fined not less than five nor more than one hundred dollars.

KANSAS.

[Laws of 1905, chap. 267, fish and game law.] ,

SEC. 6. It shall be unlawful for any person to empty or throw into 

or place in any lake, pond, river, creek, or stream, or other water 

within or bordering on this State, any acid, drug, lime, or other deleterious substance, or fishberries, or dynamite, giant powder, or other 

explosive matter of whatever kind, or any material or liquid which 

may kill, stun, poison, or craze fish; provided, that nothing in this 

section shall be construed to prevent the proper use of explosives 

for the exclusive purpose of improving navigation, or for blasting 

rock on [in] preparing foundations, or other improvements on or 

along the streams or waters of the State.

KENTUCKY.

[Compilation by John D. Carroll, 2d ed., 1899.]

SEC. 1278. If any person shall cast or place the carcass of any cattle or that of any other dead beast in any water course or within 

twenty-five yards thereof, or shall cast the same into any spring, or 

into any pond, such person, for every such offence, shall be fined for 

the first offense not less than five nor more than twenty dollars, and 

every subsequent offense not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars. (Under head of " Offences against public health.")

LOUISIANA.

[Revised Laws (Wolff).]

SEC. 924. Amending law of 1882, page 109.

Makes it an offense to " throw or cause to be thrown or conveyed 

into any navigable stream, bay, or lake within this State, bagasse 

from sugar mills, ballast from vessels, sinking timber of any kind, or 

any other matter of a nature to form an obstruction to its free navigation."

MICHIGAN.

[Compiled Laws of the State of Michigan (Lewis M. Miller).]

SEC. 11496. Willfully poisoning spring, well, or reservoir made a 

crime.
&OODHLL.] PARTIAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS MICHIGAN. 37

SEC. 2806. The council (of any village located upon or adjacent to 

any of the navigable waters of this State) shall have authority to 

" provide by ordinance for the preservation of the purity of the 

waters of any harbor, river, or other waters within the village," and 

other powers.

SEC. 3146. The council (of any.city located upon or adjacent to any 

of the navigable waters of the State) " shall have authority to provide by ordinance for the preservation of the purity of the waters 

of any harbor, river, or other waters within the city, and within onehalf of a mile from. the corporate boundaries thereof; to prohibit and 

punish the casting or depositing therein of any filth,-logs, floating 

matter, or any injurious thing," and other powers.

[Public Acts, 1899, No. 80, p. 115.]

AN ACT to prevent and punish the pollution and contamination of tie waters 

of the stream known as Wolf Creek, in. Lena wee County, Michigan, and the 

tributaries thereof.

The people of the State of Michigan enact:

SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any person or person? to wilfully or in any other manner knowingly to befoul, pollute, contaminate in any manner, so as to render said water offensive for drinking 

purposes, the waters of that stream situated in the townships of 

Adrian, Rome, and Cambridge, Lenawee County, Michigan, and 

known commonly as' Wolf Creek, or any tributary thereof situated 

in said county, at any place in said stream above the dam from which 

the water supply of the city of Adrian is taken.

SEC. 2. Whoever mischievously, maliciously, or wilfully puts any 

dead animal, carcass or part thereof, or any other putrid, nauseous, 

noisome, or offensive substance in said stream or its tributaries, or in 

any other manner befouls the waters of said stream or its tributaries 

in an unwholesome or offensive manner, or shall drain the contents 

of any barnyard, waste factory products, or other unwholesome substance, into the water of said stream or its tributaries, shall be 

deemed guilty of a violation of this act.

SEC. 3. Any person convicted of a violation of this act shall be 

punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars and not less 

than five dollars and costs of prosecution, and in default of the payment of said fine and costs he shall be imprisoned in the jail of 

Lenawee County not less than ten nor more than ninety days, or both 

such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Approved, May 17, 1899.
38 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

[House Enrolled Act No. 404.]

AN ACT in relation to the pollution of the waters of Pine River in the counties 

of Midland and Gratiot, and Cass River in the county of Tuscola.

SEC. 1. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation, 

except municipal corporations, or any agent or employe of such firm 

or corporation to pollute the waters of Pine River in the counties of 

Midland and Gratiot, and Cass River in the county of Tuscola, by 

depositing or attempting to deposit therein any beet p ulp or other 

waste matter of any kind or character liable to decomposition.

SEC. 2. Any person, firm, or corporation, or any agent or employe 

of such firm or corporation, found guilty of a violation of this act 

shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred fifty dollars, 

or more than three hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county 

jail for not less than three months nor more than six months, or by 

both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.

MISSISSIPPI. f

[Annotated Code of the General Statute Laws (Thompson, Dillard & Campbell).]

SEC. 1326 (under "Crimes and misdemeanors'"). If any person 

shall in any manner permanently obstruct any of the navigable 

waters, or shall place any obstruction therein and not remove the 

same within a reasonable time, or if any person shall pollute any 

such waters by putting therein the carcass of any dead animal, or any 

refuse or foul matter, or any matter or thing calculated to render the 

water thereof less fit for drink or the sustenance of fisl , the person 

so offending, in either case, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on 

conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars, 

or by imprisonment in the county jail not more than thirty days, or 

both; but this shall not apply to the Mississippi or Yazoo rivers.

[Amended; Laws of 1898, chap. 89, p. 101.]

Exception of Mississippi and Yazoo rivers dropped out, and the 

following clause added: u But this act shall not be so construed as to 

prevent any city or town in this State from constructing sewers so 

as to empty into any navigable streams of water in this State." 

(Approved February 10, 1898.)

NEBRASKA.

[Compiled Statutes of Nebraska, 1897.]

SEC. 6892 (Criminal Code, sec. 229). Putting offensive matter into 

well or spring. If any person or persons shall put any dead animal, 

carcass, or part thereof, or other filthy substance, into any well, or 

into any spring, brook, or branch of running water, of which use is
\ 

GOODELL.] PABTIAL STATUTE BESTBICTIONS NOKTH DAKOTA. 39

made for domestic purposes, every person so offending shall be fined 

in any sum not less, than two nor more than forty dollars.

SEC. 6893 (230). If any person or persons shall put the carcass of 

any dead animal, or the offals from any slaughterhouse or butcher's 

establishment, packing house, or fish house, or any spoiled meats or 

spoiled fish, or any putrid animal substance, or the contents of any 

privy vault, upon or into any river, bay, creek, pond, canal, road, 

street, alley, lot, field, meadow, public ground, market space, or common * * * he shall be fined in any sum not less than one nor 

more than fifty dollars.

NORTH DAKOTA.

[Revised Codes of North Dakota, 1899.]

SEC. 7291 (Penal Code, sec. 435). Fouling water .with gas tar. 

Every person who throws or deposits any gas tar or refuse of any gas 

house or factory into any public waters, river, or stream, or into any 

sewer or stream emptying-into any such public waters, river, or 

stream, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

[Chap. 69. Fouling the public waters of this State.]

SEC. 7653. Fouling public waters. Every person who deposits or 

places or causes to be deposited or placed any dead animal, offal, or 

other refuse matter offensive to the sight or smell or deleterious to 

health upon the banks or in the waters of any lake or stream, so far 

us the same is within the jurisdiction of the State is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof is punishable by a fine of not 

less than twenty and not" exceeding one hundred dollars.

SEC. 7654. Extent of last section. The provisions of the last section shall be construed to include privies and privy vaults and any 

stable, shed, pen, yard, or corral wherein is kept any hors0 , cattle, 

sheep, or swine and located nearer than sixty feet from the top of the 

bank of such lake or stream, and also any slaughter house, grave, 

graveyard, or cemetery located nearer than eighty feet therefrom. 

But the provisions of said section shall not be construed to prevent 

any incorporated city within this State from running its severs into 

any river: Provided, That where there is n dam across srid river 

within the corporate limits of any such city, any such sewer shall connect with such river below such dam.

OKLAHOMA. 

[Wilson's Revised and Annotated Statutes of Oklahoma, vol. 1, j>. 894.]

SEC. 3732. From "An act to prevent public nuisances and fixing 

penalties for maintaining the same."
40 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

SEC. 1C. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons or corporations to put any dead animal, carcass, or part thereof into any well, 

spring, brook, or branch of running water of which use is made for 

domestic purposes. Every person or persons so offending shall, oii 

conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less than f ve nor more 

than one hundred dollars.

SEC. 3733. Any person or persons or corporations who shall put 

any dead animal or any part of the carcass of a dead animal into any 

river, creek, or pond shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any 

sum not less than two nor more than twenty-five dollars.

SEC. 2344. Every person who throws or deposits any gas tar or 

refuse of any gas house or factory into any public waters, river, or 

stream, or into any sewer or stream emptying into any such public 

waters, river, or stream is guilty of a misdemeanor.

RHODE ISLAND.

[Revision of 1896, sec. 16; p. 977.] 

OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON.

SEC. 16. Every person who shall mingle any poison w; th any food, 

drink, or medicine, with intent to kill or injure any person, and every 

person who shall wilfully poison any spring, well, or reservoir of 

water with such intent shall be imprisoned for life or for any term of 

years.

[Laws of Rhode Island, 1904, chap. 1222, p. 33.]

AN ACT for the better protection of the shell fisheries in the public waters of

this State.

SEC. 1. No person shall deposit in, or allow to escape into, or shall 

cause or permit to be deposited in, or allowed to escape into any of the 

public waters of this State any substance which shall in any manner 

injuriously affect the growth of the shellfish in or under said waters, 

or which shall in any manner affect the flavor or odor of such shellfish so as to injuriously affect the sale thereof, or which shall cause 

any injury to the public and private fisheries of this State.

SEC. 2. Any person violating any of. the provisions of this act 

shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not less than five hundred 

dollars or more than two thousand dollars, one-half thereof to the 

use of the complainant and one-half thereof to the use of the State: 

Provided, That in case, of conviction upon prosecution by the commissioners of shell fisheries the whole of any fine imposed shall go to 

the use of the State.

SEC. 3. Every person violating any of the provisions of this act 

shall be liable to pay to the party injured by such violation double
PAETIAL STATUTE EESTRICTIONS RHODE ISLAND. 41

the amount of damages caused thereby, to be recovered in an action 

of the case in any court of competent jurisdiction. It shall not be 

necessary, before bringing suit for the recovery of- such damages, for 

a criminal prosecution to have been first instituted for the violation 

of the provisions of this act, nor shall the recovery of damages under 

this section be a bar to such criminal prosecution.

SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of shell fineries 

to investigate all complaints made to them of the violation of any of 

the provisions jof this act. For the purpose of such investigation said 

commissioners may make examination of the premises, hold public 

hearings, summon witnesses, and take testimony under oath, and they 

shall have power to punish, by fine or imprisonment or both, all contempt of their authority in any hearing before them. They may 

employ professional or expert services as they may deem desirable.

SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of the shell fish commissioners to prosecute any person in their opinion guilty of the violation of any of the 

provisions of this act, and in all such prosecutions said commissioners 

shall not be required to enter into any recognizance or to give, surety 

for costs. It shall be the duty of the attorney-general to conduct the 

prosecution of all cases brought by said commissioners under the 

provisions of this act. Complaints may also be brought and prosecuted by any citizen for any violation of its provisions.

SEC. 6. The expenses incurred by the commissioners of shell fisheries in the performance of the duties imposed upon them by this act 

shall be paid by the general treasurer out of any funds in the treasury 

not otherwise appropriated, upon the presentation of vouchers therefor duly certified by their chairman.

SEC. 7. All provisions of the General Laws, of the Public Laws, 

and of any special law inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed, 

and this act shall take effect upon its passage.

 [Laws of Rhode Island, 1904, chap. 1178, p. 58.]

AN ACT to prevent pollution of the sources of the water supply of the cities 

of Pawtucket and Woonsocket and the towns of Bristol and East Providence.

SEC. 1. Section 1 of chapter 491 of the Public Laws is hereby 

amended so as to read as follows:

" SEC. 1. No person shall throw or discharge, or suffer to be discharged from land owned, occupied, or controlled by him, irto any 

stream, pond, or reservoir used as a source of water supply by the 

city of Woonsocket, the city of Pawtucket, the city of Newport, the 

town of Bristol, the town of Warren, the town of East Providence, 

the town of Narragansett, the town of Jamestown, the East Greenwich fire district, or by any water company supplying water for 

domestic use in any of said cities or towns, or into any tributary or
42 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

feeder of any such stream, pond, or reservoir, any sewerage, drainage, 

refuse, or noxious or polluting matter of such nature ?,s will corrupt 

or impair the quality of the waters of said stream, pond, or reservoir, 

or render the same injurious to health, which water ehall be of the 

recognized standard of purity to be determined by tie State board 

of health or other recognized authority. But the provisions of this 

section shall not interfere with or prevent the enriching of land for 

agricultural purposes by the owner or occupant thereof if no human 

excrement is used thereon. Any person violating the provisions of 

this section shall be punished for each oifence by a fine* of fifty dollars 

or by imprisonment for not to exceed thirty days or by both such fine 

and imprisonment.

SEC. 2. Section 2 of chapter 491 is hereby amended so as to read as 

follows:

" SEC. 2. The State board of health or the secretary of said board, 

when satisfied that any sewerage, drainage, or refuse or polluting 

matter exists in a locality such that there is danger tliat said sewerage, drainage, or refuse or polluting matter may corrupt or impair 

the quality of said waters or render them injurious to health, may 

order the owner or occupant of the premises where said sewerage, 

drainage, or refuse or polluting matter exists to remove the same from 

said premises within such time after the serving of the notice prescribed in the next succeeding section as said board or secretary may 

designate; and if the owner or occupant neglects or refuses so to do 

he shall be fined twenty dollars for each day during which he permits 

said sewerage, drainage, or refuse or polluting matter to remain upon 

said premises after the time prescribed for the removal thereof."

SEC. 3. Section 3 of chapter 491 is hereby amended so as to read as 

follows:

" SEC. 3. Such notice shall be in writing, signed by the secretary of 

the State board of health or the person performing the duties of that 

official, and shall be served by any sheriff, deputy, sheriff; or constable by reading the same in the presence or hearing of the owner, 

occupant, or his authorized agent, or by leaving a copy of the same in 

the hands or possession of, or at the last and usual place of abode of, 

said owner, occupant, or agent if within this State: Provided ^ however, That if said owner, occupant, or agent be a corporation incorporated in this State, said notice shall be served by leaving a copy 

thereof at the last and .usual place of abode of the president or person 

performing the duties of president of said corporation. But if said 

premises are unoccupied, or the residence of the owner is unknown or 

without this State, or if the said owner is a corporation incorporated 

without this State, the notice may be served by posting a copy of the 

same on the premises and by advertising the same in some newspaper 

published in Providence County in such manner and for such length
GOODELL.] PAKTIAL STATUTE KESTKICTIONS WISCONSIN. 43

of time as the State board of health or the Secretary thereof may 

determine."

SEC. 4. Section 4 of chapter 491 is hereby amended so as to read as 

follows:

 " SEC. 4. The secretary of the State board of health, when so 

directed by said board, shall prosecute for all violations of thi? chapter and shall not be required to give surety for costs upon complaints 

made by him; but the cities of Woonsocket and Pawtucket and the 

towns of Bristol and East Providence shall be directly liable to the 

State for the costs incurred in the prosecution for violation of this 

chapter in their respective cases/''

SEC. 5. Section 5 of chapter 491 is hereby amended so as to read as 

follows:

" SEC. 5. The appellate division of the supreme court, upon the 

application of the mayors of said cities or the presidents of the town 

councils of said towns, or upon the application of the secretary of the 

State board of health, may issue an injunction to enforce the orders 

of the State board of health, or the secretary thereof, provided for in 

this chapter."

SEC. 6. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby 

repealed, and this act shall take effect upon its passage.

Passed April 12, 1904.

WISCONSIN.

[Wisconsin Statutes, 1898, p. 651.] 

POWEBS OF COUNCIL IN CITIES LfNDER GENERAL LAW.

57. To provide for the preservation of any harbor within or of 

the city; prevent airy use of the same or of such part of any lake, 

river, stream, spring, or pond as is within the city, or any action in 

relation thereto inconsistent with or detrimental to the public health 

or caleulMed to render the water of the same or any part thereof 

impure ofc offensive; or tending in any degree to fill up and obstruct 

the same; prohibit and punish the casting or depositing therein of 

any earth, dead animals, ashes, or other substance, or filth, logs, or 

floating matter. * * *

PRESERVATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH. 

[Idem, p. 1065.]

SLAUGHTERHOUSES. SEC. 1418. No person shall erect, maintain, or 

keep any slaughterhouse upon the bank of any river, running stream, 

or creek, or throw or deposit therein any dead animal or any part 

thereof or any of the carcass or offal therefrom, nor throw or deposit 

the same into or upon the banks of any river, stream, or creek which
44 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

shall flow through any city, village, or organized town containing two 

hundred or more inhabitants, or erect, maintain, or us^ any building 

for a slaughterhouse within the limits of any village, incorporated or 

unincorporated, or at any place within one-eighth of a mile of any 

dwelling house or a building occupied as a place of business; and 

every person who shall violate any of the provisions of this section 

shall forfeit for each such violation not less than ten dollars nor more 

than one hundred dollars; and the mayor of the city, president of the 

village, and the chairman of the town in which any such slaughterhouse is located shall have the power to and shall cause the same to be 

immediately removed; and every such officer who shall knowingly 

permit any such slaughterhouse to be used or. maintain ed contrary to 

the provisions of this section shall forfeit not less than fifteen dollars 

nor more than fifty dollars. In any county containing a population 

of one hundred thousand or over all the provisions of this section 

relating to slaughterhouses shall apply to all establishments and 

manufactories in which dead animals or any part thereof or any of 

the carcasses or offal therefrom are collected and converted into marketable products.

OFFENSES AGAINST LIVES AND PERSONS. 

[Idem, p. 2669.]

SEC. 4384. Poisoning food, drink, etc. Any perron who shall 

mingle any poison with any food, drink, or medicine, with intent to 

kill or injure any other person, or who shall wilfully poison any 

spring, well^ or reservoir of water with such intent, shrll be punished 

by imprisonment in the State prison not more than-ten years nor less 

than one year.

[Laws of Wisconsin, 1905, chap. 402.]

| i( AN ACT to amend section 4567 of the statutes of 1898, as amended by chapter

325, laws of 1903, prohibiting depositing of deleterious substances in waters 

and providing a penalty. I

SEC. 1. Section 4567 of the statutes of 1898, as amended by chapter 

325, laws of 1903, is hereby amended by adding after the words. 

" decayed wood,1 ' where they occur in line 14 of chapter 325, laws of 

1903, the words: u Sawdust, sawmill offal, and planing mill shavings; " also by adding after the word " paper *" where it occurs in line 

16 of chapter 325, laws of, 1903, the words " beet sugar; " further 

amend by striking out the word " or "" in line 20, all of lines 21, 22, 23, 

24, and 25, and the words " mill shavings " in line 26 of chapter 325. 

laws of 1903; also further amend by adding after the word " mouth," 

where it occurs in line 30 of chapter 325, laws of 1903, the words 

" nothing in this section shall apply to the following streams: The 

Kickapoo River, the Pine Kiver in Kichland County, Balsam branch
GOODBLL.] GENERAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS. 45

in Polk County, the Chippewa River from mouth of Thornapple 

River to its mouth, Flambeau River from dam at Ladysmitfa to its 

mouth. Black River from Falls Dam down, in Jackson County, and 

the Wisconsin River from the north boundary line of the reity of 

Rhinelander down to its mouth," so that said section 4567 when so 

amended shall read as follows: *

" SECTION 4567. Any person who shall cast, deposit, or throw overboard from any row, sail, or steam boat or other craft into any of the 

inland waters of this State or into Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay, and 

Chequamegon Bay, or deposit or leave upon the ice thereof until it 

melts, any fish offal, which shall be construed to mean and include 

the head, intestines, blood, and cleanings of fish and dead fish, or 

throw or deposit or permit to be thrown or deposited any lime, tanbark, ship ballast, stone, sand, slabs, decayed wood, sawdust, sawmill offal, and planing-mill shavings, or any acids or chemicals or 

waste or refuse arising from the manufacture of pulp, paper, or beet 

sugar, or other substances deleterious to fish life (authorized drainage and sewage from municipalities excepted), into any of the rivers, 

lakes, or streams of this State, including Green Bay, Chequamegon 

Bay, Sturgeon Bay, or into any streams wherein there have been 

planted trout fry, or in which trout naturally abound, shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one 

hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not less than 

thirty days nor more than four months. (Nothing in this section 

shall apply to the following streams: The Kickapoo River, the Pine 

River in Richland County, Balsam branch in Polk County, the Chippewa River from the mouth of Thornapple River to its mouth, Flambeau River from clam at Ladysmith to its mouth, the BlacV River 

from the Falls Dam down in Jackson County, and the Wisconsin 

River from the north boundary line of the city of Rhinelander down 

to its mouth.) The fact of any fisherman coming to the shore with 

dressed fi,sji in his boat and without the offal produced by such dressing shall be prima facie evidence of the violation of the first clause of 

this section."

SEC. 2. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with or in conflict with 

the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and f.fter its 

passage and publication.

Approved, June 17, 1905.

CLASS II. STATES WITH GENERAL RESTRICTIONS.

This group consists of those Slates and Territories in which the 

importance of pure water for every inhabitant of the State or Territory for drinking and domestic purposes has received legislative
46 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

recognition. It will be noted that the laws are general in their application, varying much in the elaborateness of the wording and in the 

emphasis laid upon the remedies and penalties provided for infractions of the law.

This class logically includes all States not included in Class I, but 

inasmuch as certain States have recently adopted stringent and elaborate methods, novel and extraordinary in their character, to restore 

and protect the purity of their navigable and potable waters, these 

States have been omitted from Class II and are treated in a class by 

themselves, forming Class III (see p. 57).

CALIFORNIA.

[Penal code as in force at the close of the session of 1901.]

SEC. 374. Putting dead animals in streets, rivers, etc. Every person who puts the carcass of any dead animal, or the offal from any 

slaughter pen, corral, or butcher shop into any river, cr^ek, pond, reservoir, stream, street, alley, public highway, or road in common use, 

or who attempts to destroy the same by fire within one-fourth of a 

mile of any city, town, or village, except it be in a crematory, the 

construction and operation of which is satisfactory to the board of 

health of such city, town, or village; and every person who puts any 

water-closet or privy, or the carcass of any dead animal, or any offal 

of any kind in or upon the borders of any stream, pond, lake, or reservoir from which water is drawn for the supply of the inhabitants of 

any city, city and county, or any town in this State, so that the drainage for such wT ater-closet, privy, or carcass, or offal may be taken up 

by or in such stream, pond, lake, or reservoir; or wl x o allows any 

water-closet or privy, or carcass of any dead animal, or any offal of 

any kind to remain in or upon the borders of any such stream, pond, 

lake, or reservoir within the boundaries of any land owned or occupied by him, so that the drainage from such water-closet, privy, carcass, or offal may be taken up by or in such stream, pond,1 lake, or 

reservoir, or who keeps any horses, mules, cattle, swine, sheep, or 

live stock of any kind penned, corralled, or housed on, over, or on the 

borders of any such stream, pond, lake, or reservoir, so that the waters 

thereof become polluted by reason thereof, or who bathes in any such 

stream, pond, lake, or reservoir," or who by any other means fouls or 

pollutes the waters of any such stream, pond, lake, cr reservoir is 

guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished as described in section 377. (Commissioners'1 amendments, 

approved March 16, 1901; took effect July 1, 1901.)

SEC. 374^. Discharging coal tar, etc., into waters. Every person, 

firm, association, or corporation which shall discharge or deposit, or
GOODBLL.] GENERAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS CALIFORNIA. v 47

shall cause or suffer to be discharged or deposited, or to pass in or 

into the waters of any navigable bay or river in this State any coal 

tar or refuse or residuary product of coal, petroleum, asphalt, bitumen, or other carbonaceous material or substance is guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each offense is punishable by imprisonment in the 

county jail for not exceeding one year or by fine not exceeding $1,000 

or by both such fine and imprisonment. (New section, approved 

March 25, 1901; took effect immediately.- Statutes, 1901, p. 813.)

[Statutes of California, 1905, chap. CXXXV, .p. 138.]

AN ACT to amend the penal code of the State of California by adding a new section thereto, to be nuinbei'ed section 377b, making it a misdemeanor to refuse or 

neglect to conform to the rules, orders, and regulations of the State board of 

health, concerning the pollution of water, used or intended to be used for 

human or animal consumption:

SEC. 1. A new section to be numbered section 377b is hereby added 

to the penal code of the State of California, to read as follows:

377b. Any person who shall violate or refuse or neglect to conform 

to any sanitary rule, order, or regulation prescribed by the State 

board of health for the prevention of the pollution of springs, 

.streams, rivers, lakes, wells, or other waters used or intended to be 

used for human or animal consumption shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

SEC. 2. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent or in conflict with this 

act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect immediately. (Act of March 18, 

1905.)

[Statutes of California, 1905, Chap. CXXXVI, p. 138.]

AN ACT To amend the penal code of the State of California by adding a new 

section thereto, to be numbered section 377c, making it a misdemeanor to 

refuse or, neglect to conform to the rules, orders, and regulations of the State 

board of health, concerning the pollution of ice used or intended fcr public 

consumption.

SEC. 1. A new section, to be numbered 377c, is hereby added to the 

penal code of the State of California, to read as follows:

377c. Any person who shall violate, or refuse or neglect to conform 

to any sanitary rule, order, or regulation prescribed by the State 

board of health for the prevention of the pollution of ice or the sale 

or disposition of polluted ice offered, kept, or intended for public use 

or consumption, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

SEC. 2. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent or in conflict with this 

act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect immediately. (Act of March 18, 

1905.)
48 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

COLORADO.

[Mills' Annotated Statutes, 1891, p. 949.]

SEC. 1376. Polluting streams penalty. If any person or persons 

shall hereafter throw or discharge into any stream of running water 

or into any ditch or flume in this State any obnoxious substance, such 

as refuse matter from slaughterhouse or privy, or slops from eating 

houses or saloons, or any other fleshy or vegetable matter which is 

subject to decay in the water, such person or persons shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished" by a fine not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars for each and every offense so 

committed.

SEC. 1357 provides a penalty not exceeding five hundred dollars for 

anyone " who shall in anywise pollute or obstruct any water course, 

lake, pond, marsh, or common sewer, or continue such obstruction or 

pollution so as to render the same offensive or unwholesome," &c.

SEC. 3330 (p. 1861). Emptying oil into the waters of the State a 

misdemeanor penalty.

AN ACT To prohibit the emptying or running of oil or petroleum, or other oleaginous substance into any waters of this State, and to impose a penalty for 

the violation of this act.

[Laws, 1889, p. 287, approved March 7, 1889, in force June 7, 1889.]

If any person or persons, corporation or corporations shall hereafter 

empty or cause to be emptied, or allow the emptying or flowing of 

oil, petroleum, or other oleaginous substance into any of the waters 

of this State, or deposit or cause the same to be deposited at such 

distance that the same may be carried into such waters by natural 

causes, such person or persons, corporation or corporations so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and up^n conviction 

thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or 

both such fine and imprisonment, for each such offense.

ILLINOIS.

[Kurd's Revised Statutes, 1901, sec. 202, p. 627.]

Whoever willfully and maliciously de,files, corrupts, or makes impure any spring or other source of water or reservoir * * * 

shall be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars or confined in a 

county jail not exceeding one year.

Page 631, section 221, makes it a public nuisance. 

1. To cause or suffer the carcass of any animal or any offal, filth, 

or noisome substance to be collected or deposited or to remain in any 

place to the prejudice of others.
GOODBLL.] GENERAL STATUTE BESTRICTIONS INDIANA. 49

2. To throw or deposit any offal or other offensive matter, or any 

carcass of any dead animal, in any water course, lake, pond, spring, 

well, or common sewer, street, or public highway.

3. To corrupt or render unwholesome or impure the water of any 

spring, river, stream, pond, or lake to the injury or prejudice of 

others.

INDIANA. 

[Burns's Annotated Statutes, 1904.]

SEC. 2156. Nuisance by dead animals. Whoever puts the carcass 

of any dead animal or the offal from any slaughterhouse or butcher's 

establishment, packing house, or fish house, or any spoiled mQ,ats or 

spoiled fish, or any putrid animal substance, or the contents of any 

privy vault upon or into any river, pond, canal, lake, public ground, 

market place, common, field, meadow, lot, road, street, or alley, and 

whoever, being the owner or occupant of any such place, knowingly 

permits any such thing to remain therein to the annoyance and injury 

of any of the citizens of the State, or neglects or refuses to remove or 

abate the nuisance occasioned thereby within twenty-four hours after 

knowledge of the existence of such nuisance upon any of the, above 

described premises owned or occupied by him, or after notice thereof, 

in writing, from any health officer of the city or the trustee of the 

township in which such nuisance exists, shall be fined not more than 

one hundred dollars nor less than one dollar.

SEC. 2169. Whoever maliciously or mischievously puts any dead 

animal carcass or part thereof on, or any other putrid, nauseous, 

noisome, or offensive substance into, * * * or in any manner 

befouls any well, cistern, spring, brook, canal, or stream of running 

water, or any reservoir of waterworks of which any use is irade or 

may be made for domestic purposes shall be fined not more than one 

hundred dollars nor less than five dollars, to which may be added 

imprisonment in the county jail not more than sixty days nor less 

than ten days.

(The foregoing section is repealed by the act of 1905 hereafter 

quoted.)

SEC. 3538. Streams and ferries. The common council shall have 

exclusive power to keep open streams, and preserve, and, if necessary 

and expedient, change the course of rivers passing through or bordering upon the corporate limits of such city; to prevent encroachment 

or injury to the banks thereof, or the casting into the same of offal, 

dead animals, logs, or rubbish. * * *

IEE 152 05 M i
50 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152. 

[Acts of 1901, Chap. LXI, p. 96.]

AN ACT prohibiting the discharge of waste water and refuse of manufacturing 

establishments into streams of water, conferring certain powers upon the 

State board of health in such cases, providing penalties for the violation 

thereof, and declaring an emergency.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of the /State of 

Indiana, That it shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation owning or operating any manufacturing establishment to discharge or permit to be discharged into any stream of water any waste 

water or refuse from said factory of such character as to pollute said 

stream, except by and in pursuance to a written permission so to do, 

first obtained from the State board of health as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 2. Whenever any person, firm, or corporation owning or 

operating a manufacturing establishment shall file with the secretary of the State board of health a verified application in writing, 

asking permission to be allowed to discharge into an;r stream any 

waste water or refuse from such establishment, and showing therein 

that the water of said stream is at such stage as that such refuse or 

waste water may be safely discharged into such stream without 

injury to the public, it shall be the duty of such board to inspect the 

said stream at and below the point of such proposed discharge, and 

if it is found that such refuse and waste water may be safely discharged therein without injury as aforesaid, the said board may, in 

its discretion, grant and issue a written permit allowing such discharge into said stream for a time to be limited therein, which permit shall be void and of no effect after the time so fixed, and may be 

revoked by said board at any time. The holder of any such permit 

regularly issued by such board shall be authorized to discharge any 

such refuse or waste water into such stream during the time fixed 

and limited in such permit, and shall not be liable therefor in any 

suit at law or in equity: Provided, That nothing herein contained 

shall prevent any person specially damaged by any such discharge 

from recovering the amount of such special damages so sustained in 

an action at law brought for such purpose.

SEC. 3. Any person, firm, or corporation violating any of the provisions of this act shall be fined in any sum not less than twenty-five 

dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.

SEC. 4. Whereas an emergency exists for the immediate taking 

effect of this act, the same shall be in force on and after its passage.

[Laws of 1905, chap. 169, p. 584.]

SEC. 553. Befouling water. Whoever maliciously or mischievously 

puts any dead animal, carcass, or part thereof, or any other putrid, 

nauseous, noisome, or offensive substance into, or in any manner be-
GOODELL.] GENERAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS MAINE. 51

fouls any well, cistern, spring, brook, canal, or stream of running 

water, or any reservoir of waterworks, of which any use is or may 

be made for domestic purposes, shall, on conviction, be fined not less 

than five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, to whi«,h may 

be added imprisonment in the county jail not less than ten days nor 

more than sixty days.

SEC. 689. Repeal. All laws within the purview of this act are 

hereby repealed; but this repeal shall not affect any prosecutions 

pending or offenses heretofore committed under existing laws, and 

such prosecutions and offenses shall be continued and prosecuted 

to a final determination, as if this act had not passed; nor shall 

this repeal affect the enforcement of any fine or penalty pr other punishment provided as a punishment for the violation of any civil 

statute; nor shall this act be construed to repeal any act pr.ssed at 

this session of the general assembly.

(Approved March 9, 1905.)

MAINE.

[Laws of 1891, chap. 82, p. 67.] 

AN ACT to protect waters used for domestic purposes.

SEC. 1.° Whoever knowingly and willfully poisons, defiles, or in 

any way corrupts the waters of any well, spring, brook, lake, pond, 

river, or reservoir used for domestic purposes for man or b^ast, or 

knowingly corrupts the sources of the water supply of any water 

company or of any city, town, or municipal corporation supplying 

its inhabitants with water, or the tributaries of said sources of supply, in such manner as to affect the purity of the water so supplied, 

or knowingly defiles such water in any manner, whether the same 

be frozen or not, or puts the carcass of any dead animal or other 

offensive material into said waters or upon the ice thereof, rhall be 

punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding one year.

SEC. 2. Whoever shall wilfully injure any of the property of any 

water company or of any city, town, or municipal corporation used by 

it in supplying water to its inhabitants shall be punished by a fine not 

exceeding one thousand dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding one 

year, and such person shall also forfeit and pay to such water company, city, or town three times the amount of actual damages sustained, to be recovered in an action of the case. (As amended by the 

laws of 1905, Chap. 93, p. 97.)

SEC. 3. Inconsistent acts repealed.

« As amended by laws of 1905, chap. 97, p. 100.
52 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

LLaws of 1903, Special Laws, chap. 94, p. 156.] 

AN ACT to prevent the pollution of the waters of Sebago Lake.

SEC. 1. No person or corporation shall use or occupy any structure 

hereafter built upon or near the shores of Sebago Lake, in the county 

of Cumberland, or upon any of the islands of said lake for such purposes or in such manner that the sewage or drainage therefrom shall 

enter the waters of said lake or pollute the same.

SEC. 2. No sewage, drainage, refuse, or polluting matter of such 

kind and amount as either by itself or in connection with other matter will corrupt or impair the quality of the water of said Sebago 

Lake or render it injurious to health shall be discharged into said 

lake, but nothing herein shall prohibit the cultivation and use of the 

soil in the ordinary methods of agriculture if no human excrement is 

used thereon within three hundred feet of the shores of said lake.

SEC. 3. The supreme judicial court shall have jurisdiction in equity 

to enjoin, prevent, or restrain any violation of the provisions of this 

act.

SEC. 4. This act shall take eft'ect when approved.

Approved February 26, 1903.

MARYLAND.

[Poe's Maryland Code, adopted March 14, 1888.]

SEC. 240. If any ballast, ashes, filth, earth, soil, oysters, or oyster 

shells be taken, unladen, or cast out of any ship, steamboat, scow, 

pungy, or other vessel, on any pretense whatever, in tl ^ Chesapeake 

Bay above " Sandy Point," or in the waters of Herring Bay, or in any 

river, creek, or harbor within this State, below high-w^ter mark, the 

master or other person having charge of such vessel shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined.

Waters of Potomac River above the canal dam near the mouth of 

Wills Creek are protected by section 242 against pollution calculated 

to render the waters of said river " impure or unfit for use."

.WATER SUPPLY POLLUTION OF SOURCES OF.

[Passed in 1886, chap. 6.]

SEC. 277. If any person shall put, or cause to be placed, any dead 

animal or part of the carcass of any dead animal, or any decayed or 

filthy animal or vegetable matter, into any stream, or the tributary 

of any stream, well, spring, reservoir, pond, or other source from 

which water or ice is drawn, taken, or used for drinking or domestic 

purposes, or shall knowingly suffer any sewage, washings, or other
GOODELL.] GENEBAL STATUTE BESTRICTIOETS MISSOURI. ' 53

offensive matters from any privy, cesspool, factory, trades e^tablishment, slaughterhouse, tannery, or other place over which he shall 

have control, to flow therein, or into any drain or pipe communicating 

therewith, whereby the water supply of any city, town, village, community, or household is fouled- or rendered unfit for drinking and 

domestic purposes, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, 

upon conviction thereof jn a court of competent jurisdiction, be fined 

not more than two hundred dollars for every such offence; and after 

reasonable notice, not exceeding fifteen days, from the State board of 

health, or any local sanitary authority, to discontinue the act whereby 

such water supply is fouled, a further sum of not more than fifty 

dollars for every day during which the offence is continued.

MISSOURI.

[Revised Statutes, 1899.] 

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS.

SEC. 2234. Putting dead animals in well, &c. If any person or 

persons shall put any dead animal, carcass, or part thereof, the offal, 

or any other filth into any well, spring, brook, branch, creek, pond, or 

lake, every person so offending shall, on conviction thereof, be fined 

in any sum not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars. If 

any person shall remove, or cause to be removed and placed * * * 

in any of the streams and water courses other than the Mirsouri or 

Mississippi River, any dead animal, carcass, or part thereof, or other 

nuisance, to the annoyance of the citizens of this State, or any of 

them, every person so offending shall, upon conviction thereof, be 

fined for every such offence any sum not less than ten dollars nor 

more than fifty dollars, and if such nuisance be not removed within 

three days thereafter, it shall be deemed a second offence against the 

provisions of this section.

SEC. 2235. Comipting or diverting water supply. Whoever willfully or maliciously poisons, defiles, or in any way corrupts the water 

of a well, spring, brook, or reservoir used for domestic or municipal 

purposes, or whoever willfully or maliciously diverts, dams up, and 

holds back from its natural course and flow any spring, brook, or 

other water supply for domestic or municipal purposes, after said 

water supply shall have once been taken for use by any person or 

persons, corporation's, town, or city for their use, shall be adjudged 

guilty o*f a misdemeanor and punished by a fine not less tl an fifty 

nor more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in th°- county 

jail lut exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, 

and shall be liable to the party injured for three times the actual 

damage sustained, to be recovered by suit at law.
54 LAWS FOEBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

1974. Injury to schoolhouses and church buildings. Every 

person * * * who shall in any manner pollute the water contained in any well, cistern, or reservoir (in which water is gathered 

o»* kept for the supply of a schoolhouse or those attending the same) 

shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

[Section 28 of House bill No. 15, laws of 1905, p. 163 ]

AN ACT relating to the preservation, propagation, and protect'on of game animals, birds, and fish ; creating the office of game and fish warden ; creating a 

game protection fund, and appropriating money therefrom.

SEC. 28. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, firm, or 

corporation to suffer or permit any dyestuff, coal tar, oil, sawdust, 

poison or deleterious substances to be thrown, run, or drained into 

any of the waters of this State in quantities sufficient to injure, 

stupefy, or kill fish which may inhabit the same at or b°low the point 

where any such substances are discharged or permitted to flow or 

thrown into such waters. Any person or persons, firm, or corporation 

offending against any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed 

guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not less 

than $200.00 nor more than $500.00 for each offense.

Approved March 10, 1905.

NEVADA.

[General Statutes of Nevada.]

SEC. 4617. (Crimes and punishments, sec. 54.) * * * Every 

person who shall willfully poison any spring, well, or reservoir of 

water shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment 

in the State prison for a term not less than one nor more than ten 

years.

Sawdust in rivers. It is made a misdemeanor to deposit sawdust 

in or on the waters of any lake, river, or running stream by laws of 

1889, page 24, Chapter XV.

[Laws of Nevada, 1903, Chap. CXXII, p. 214.]

AN ACT to prevent the pollution or contamination of the waters of the lakes, 

rivers, streams, and ditches in the State of Nevada, prescribing penalties, and 

making an appropriation to carry out the provisions of this act. (Approved 

March 20, 1903.)

The people of the State of Nevada, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows :

SECTION 1. Unlawful to pollute any body of 'water. Any person or 

persons, firm, company, corporation, or-association in this State, or
GOODELL.] GENEEAL STATUTE EESTEICTIONS NEVADA. 55

the managing agent of any person or persons, firm, company, corporation, or association in this State, or any duly elected, appointed, or 

lawfully created State officer of this State, or any duly elected, 

appointed, or lawfully created officer of any county, city, town, 

municipality, or municipal government in this State, who si all deposit, or who shall permit or allow any person or persons in their 

employ or under their control, management, or direction to deposit 

in any of the waters of the lakes, rivers, streams, and ditches in this 

State any sawdust, rubbish, filth, or poisonous or deleterious substance or substances liable to affect the health of persons, fish, or live 

stock, or place or deposit any such deleterious substance or substances 

in_any place where the same may be washed or infiltered into any of 

the waters herein named, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 

and upon conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction 

shall be fined in any sum not less than fifty dollars nor mc^e than 

five .hundred dollars, exclusive of court costs: Provided, That in 

cases of State institutions, municipalities, towns, incorporated towns 

or cities, when, owing to the magnitude of the work, immediate correction of the evil is impracticable, then in such cases the authorities 

shall adopt all new work, and as rapidly as possible reconstruct 

the old systems of drainage, sewerage, and so as to conform with the 

provisions of this act: And provided further, That all such new and 

reconstructed systems shall be completed within four years from the 

date of passage hereof: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be so 

construed as to permit mining or milling companies to dump tailings 

directly into any stream in this State so as to prevent or impede the 

natural flow of such stream. Nothing in this act shall.be so construed 

as to apply to any quartz mill or ore reduction works in this State.

SEC. 2. For the purposes of this act the word " ditch "" shall be construed to mean any ditch, canal, channel, or artificial waterway used 

for carrying or conducting water into any reservoir from which it 

may be used or distributed for domestic purposes to any person in this 

State, or to any person in any county, city, town, or municipality in 

this State.

SEC. 3. The sum of three thousand dollars is hereby appropriated 

out of any money in the State treasury, not otherwise appropriated, 

subject to the disposal of the governor of this State, for the purpose 

of enforcing the provisions of this act, either in the courts of this 

State or in the courts of the United States, such expenditure to be 

allowed and paid as other claims against the State are allowed and 

paid.

SEC. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the 

first day of July, A. D, nineteen hundred and four.
56 LAWS FOEBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

NEW MEXICO.

[Compiled laws, act of March 16, 1897.] 

STEEAMS AND LAKES.

SEC. 54. It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to throw 

or cast the dead body or carcass of any animal or fowl, or to run or 

empty any sewers or other polluted or befouled substances into any 

river, stream, lake, pond, reservoir, ditch, or any water course, or to 

in any manner or by any means pollute or befoul the waters thereof, 

within this Territory, so as to render the same unwholesome or 

offensive or dangerous to the health of the inhabitants of any community or of any person having the right to use and who uses the 

same, for drinking or domestic purposes, or that may render such 

waters unfit or dangerous for watering stock, or for agricultural or 

horticultural purposes.

SEC. 55. That the polluting of waters in any of the iranners above 

specified is hereby declared to be a public nuisance, which shall be 

immediately removed by the person or persons creating the same, 

upon the demand of any public officer or of any person or persons, 

who may have a right to the use of said waters.

SEC. 56. That any person or persons violating any of the provisions 

of sec. 54 may be tried therefor before any justice of the peace of the 

county where the offence is committed, and upon conviction thereof 

shall be punished by a fine in any sum not less than ten dollars nor 

more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail 

for any period of time not less than ten days nor more than sixty 

days, or by both fine and imprisonment. And in addition thereto the 

justice of the peace shall direct the sheriff of the county or the constable of the precinct to relieve such nuisance, at the expense of the 

person or persons creating the same, which said expenses shall be 

taxed as other costs against the person or persons so ofrending, and 

&hall be collected in the manner provided by law for the collection of 

costs in criminal cases.

[Laws of 1899, chap. 79, p. 175.]

AN ACT to amend section 54 of the compiled laws of 1897. (Approved March

16th, 1899.)

Be it enacted by the legislative assembly of the Territory of New 

Mexico:

SECTION 1. That section 54 of the compiled laws of 1897 be, and 

the same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

SEC. 54. It is hereby made unlawful for any person to cast the 

dead body of any animal or fowl, or any refuse matter, such as tin
GOODELL.] GENERAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW MEXICO. 57

cans, paper, ashes, bones, or other garbage into any running stream, 

spring, lake, pond, reservoir, ditch, or water course, or to run or empty 

any sewer or other foul substance into the same, or in any otHr manner or means to pollute or foul the said water so as to render the same 

offensive or dangerous to the health of the inhabitants of any conimunity or of any person having the right to use the same for drinking or domestic purposes, or that may render said waters unfit or 

unhealthy for watering stock. But it shall be the duty of every 

person, outside of incorporated towns, cities, or villages, to destroy all 

domestic refuse and garbage by burning the same; any violation of 

this section shall be considered a misdemeanor and punishec1 as provided by law.

SEC. 2. All acts and parts of acts in conflict herewith ar3 hereby 

repealed; and this act shall take effect from and after its ppssage.

[Laws of 1903, chap. 21, p. 32.]

AN ACT to prevent injury to ditches, pipe lines, reservoirs, and the taking of 

and befouling of water therefrom. (Approved March 10th, 1903.)

Be it enacted l>y the legislative assembly of the Territory of New 

Mexico:

SECTION 1. Any person who shall wilfully and maliciously cut, 

break, or injure, or who shall by shooting or by clamming or obstructing the same cause to break any ditch, flume, pipe line, or reservoir, or 

any of the attachments or fixtures used in connection therewith, shall 

be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not 

less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars, or by confinement 

in the county jail for not more than sixty days, or by both such fine 

and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court trying the case, 

except in cases where such pipe line or reservoir is used for the purpose of supplying water to any community, village, town, or city for 

domestic purposes, in which event the person committing such offence 

shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than one 

hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not less than 

thirty nor more than sixty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court trying the case.

SEC. 2. Any person who shall bathe in, or wilfully cast any filth in, 

any reservoir or ditch used for supplying water for domestic use 

shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined 

not less than ten dollars or not more than twenty-five dollars

SEC. 3. All acts and parts of acts in conflict herewith ar?, hereby 

repealed, and this act shall take effect from and after its passage.
58 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATEE POLLUTION. [No. 152.

NORTH CAROLINA.

[North Carolina Criminal Code and Digest (2d ed.), p. 436.]

SEC. 500. Putting poisonous substance in water for the purpose of 

killing fish is forbidden.

Laws of 1903, chapter 245, page 321, forbids throwing sawdust into 

the water courses of Yancey County.

[Laws of North Carolina, 1903, chap. 159, p. 182.] 

AN ACT to protect water supplies.

Sections 1 to 10, inclusive, provide a thorough system of inspection 

and forbid any person or corporation to supply water for the public 

without taking the precautions therein prescribed.

Sections 11 to 17 are as follows:

SEC. 11. Whoever defiles, corrupts, pollutes any well, spring, drain, 

branch, brook, or creek, or other source of public water supply used 

for drinking purposes, in any manner, or deposits the body of any 

dead animal on the watershed of any such water supply, or allows 

the same to remain thereon unless the same is buried with at least 

two feet cover, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and fined and imprisoned, in the discretion of the court.

SEC. 12. Whoever shall collect and deposit human excreta on the 

watershed of any public water supply shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of 

the court.

SEC. 13. No person, firm, corporation, or municipality shall flow or 

discharge sewage into any drain, brook, creek, or river from which a 

public drinking-water supply is taken, unless the same shall have 

been passed through some well-known system of sewage purification 

approved by the State board of health. Any person, firm, corporation, or the'officer of any municipality having this work in charge, 

who shall violate this section shall be guilty of a misc'emeanor, and 

the continued flow and discharge of such sewage may be enjoined by 

any person.

SEC. 14. That all schools, hamlets, villages, towns, or industrial 

settlements which are now located or may be hereafter located on the 

shed of any public water supply not provided with a sewerage system, shall provide and maintain a tub system for collecting human 

excrement, and provide for removal of the same from the watershed 

at least twice each week. Every person, firm, corporation, or municipality violating this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and 

fined or imprisoned, in the discretion of the court.

SEC. 15. No burying ground or cemetery shall be established on 

the watershed of any public water supply nearer than five hundred 

yards of the source of supply.
GOODELL.] GENERAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NORTH CAROLINA. 59

SEC. 16. All water companies now operating under charters from 

the State or municipalities, which may maintain public water supplies, may acquire by condemnation such lands and rights in land 

and water as are necessary for the successful operation and protection 

of their plants, said proceedings to be the same as prescribed by chapter 49, volume 1, of the Code of North Carolina.

SEC. 17. For carrying out the provisions of this act the State board 

of health is authorized and empowered to have the bacteriological 

examination made as hereinbefore provided for, and to charge for the 

same the sum of five dollars ($5.00) for each examination.

[Laws of 1905, chap. 415.] 

AN ACT to establish a State laboratory of hygiene.

SECTION 1. That for the better protection of the public health and 

to prevent the spread of communicable diseases there shall H established a-State laboratory of hygiene, the same to be under the control 

and management of the State board of health.

SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of the State board of health to 

have made in such laboratory monthly examinations of samples 

from all the public water supplies of the State. The board shall 

also cause to be made examinations of well and spring waters when 

in the opinion of any county superintendent of health or any registered physician there is reason to suspect such waters of being contaminated and dangerous to health. The board shall likewise have 

made in this laboratory examinations of sputum in cases of suspected 

tuberculosis, of throat exudates in cases of suspected diphtheria, of 

blood in cases of suspected typhoid and malarial fever, of faeces in 

cases of suspected hook-worm diseases, and such other examinations 

as the public health may require.

SEC. 3. For the support of the said laboratory the sum of twelve 

hundred dollars is hereby appropriated and an annual tax of sixty 

dollars, payable quarterly, by each and every water company, municipal, corporate, and private, selling water to the people, said tax to 

be collected by the sheriff as other taxes and paid by said sheriff 

directly to the treasurer of the State board of health, and tb°. printing and stationery necessary for the laboratory to be furnished upon 

requisition upon the State printer.

SEC. 4. Section seventeen of chapter one hundred and f fty-nine 

of the laws of one thousand nine hundred and three i? hereby 

repealed.

SEC. 5. This act shall be in force from and after its ratification.

In the general assembly read three times, and ratified this 4th day 

of March, 1905.
60 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATEB POLLUTTON. [No. 152.

OHIO.

[Bates's Annotated Revised Statutes of Ohio, p. 3343.]

SEC. 6921. Nuisance. Whoever * * * corrupts or-renders unwholesome or impure any water course, stream, or water * * * 

shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars.

SEC. 6923. (Unlawful deposit of dead animals, offal, <£>c., into or 

upon land or water.} Whoever puts the carcass of any dead animal, 

or the offal from any slaughterhouse or butcher's establishment, 

packing house, or fish house, or any spoiled meat or spoiled fish, or 

any putrid substance, or the contents of any privy vaults, upon or 

into any lake, river, bay, creek, pond, canal, road, street, alley, lot, 

field, meadow, public ground, market place or common, and whoever, 

being the owner or occupant of any such place, knowingly permits 

any such thing to remain therein, to the annoyance of any of the citizens of this State, neglects or refuses to remove or abtvte the nuisance 

occasioned thereby, within twenty-four hours after knowledge of the 

existence of such nuisance upon any of the above-described premises, 

owned or occupied by him, or after notice thereof in writing from 

any supervisor, constable, trustee, or health officer of any municipal 

corporation or township in which such nuisance exists, or from a 

county commissioner of such county, shall be fined not more than 

fifty dollars nor less than ten dollars and pay the costs of prosecution, and in default of the payment of said fine and costs be imprisoned not more than thirty days; but the provisions hereinbefore made 

shall not prohibit the depositing of the contents of privy vaults and 

catch-basins into trenches or pits not less than three feet deep, excavated in any lot, field, or meadow, the owner thereof consenting, outside the limits of any municipal corporations, and not less than thirty 

rods distant from any dwelling, well, or spring of water, lake, bay, or 

pond, canal, run, creek, brook, or stream of water, public road or 

highway: Provided, That said contents deposited in said trenches or 

pits are immediately thereafter covered with dry ear^h to the depth 

of at least twelve inches; nor shall said provisions prohibit the 

depositing of said contents into furrows situate and distinct, as specified for said trenches or pits, provided the same are immediately 

thereafter wholly covered with dry earth by plowing or otherwise: 

And provided also, That the owner or occupant of the land in which 

said furrows are plowed consents and is a party thereto: Provided 

also, That the board of health of any municipal corporation may 

allow said contents to be deposited within corporate limits into 

trenches or pits or furrows, situate distant and to be-covered as 

aforesaid.

SEC. 6925. Emptying of coal dirt, petroleum, dec., into lakes, rivers, 

<&c., or permitting same; penalty. Whoever intentionally throws or
GOODEM,.] GENERAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS OHIO. 61

deposits, or permits to be thrown or deposited, any coal dirt, coal 

slack, coal screenings, or coal refuse from coal mines, or any refuse or 

filth from any coal-oil refinery or gas works, or any whey or filthy 

drainage from a cheese factory, upon or into any of the rivers lakes, 

ponds, or streams of this State, or upon or into any place from which 

the same will wash into any such river, lake, pond, or stream; or 

whoever shall, by himself, agent, or employe, cause, suffer, or permit 

any petroleum, or crude oil, or refined oil, or any compound or mixture or other product of such well, except fresh or salt water, or 

residuum of oil or filth from oil well, or oil tank, or oil vat, or place 

of deposit, of crude or refined oil, to run into, or be poured, or 

emptied, or thrown into any river, or ditch, or drain, or water course, 

or into any place from which said petroleum, or crude oil, or residuum, or refined oil, or filth may run or wash, or does run or wash, 

into any such river, or ditch, or drain, or water course, upon indictment and conviction in the county in which such coal mines, coal-oil 

refinery, gas works, cheese factory, oil well, oil tank, oil vat, or place 

of deposit of crude or refined oil are situated, shall be fined in any 

sum not more than one thousand dollars nor less than fifty dollars.

(Fine and costs a lien; execution.} And such fine and costs of 

prosecution shall be and remain a lien on said oil well, oil tank, oil refinery, oil vat, and place of deposit, and the contents of said oil well, 

oil tank, oil refinery, oil vat, or place of deposit until said fine and 

costs are paid; and said oil well, oil tank, oil refinery, oil vat, ov place 

of deposit, and the contents thereof, may be sold for the payment of 

such fine and costs upon execution duly issued for that purpose.

SEC. 6927. (Befouling well, spring, cf'f.) Whoever maliciously 

puts any dead animal carcass, or part thereof, or any other putrid, 

nauseous, noisome, or offensive substance into, or in any manner befouls, any well, spring, brook, or branch of running water, or any 

reservoir of waterworks, of which use is or may be made for domestic 

purposes, shall be fined not more than fifty nor less than five dollars, 

or imprisoned not more than sixty days, or both.

[Laws of 1004, house bill 277, p. 135.]

AN ACT to amend section 2433, Revised Statutes of Ohio, for the purpose of 

preventing the pollution of water and providing penalty therefor.

SEC. 1. That section 2433, Revised Statutes of Ohio, be, and the 

same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

u SEC. 2433. The jurisdiction of any municipal corporation to prevent the pollution of its water supply and to provide penalty therefor 

shall extend twenty miles beyond the corporation limits. Whoever 

pollutes any running stream, the water of which is used for domestic 

purposes by any municipality by putting therein any putrid or offen-
62 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

sive substance (other than fresh or salt water) injurious to health 

shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, which shall be punishable by a 

fine of not less than five or more than five hundred dollars. It shall 

be the duty of the board of public service or board of trustees of public affairs of any municipal corporation to enforce the provisions of 

this section.""

SEC. 2. Original section 2433 is hereby repealed.

OREGON.

[Bellinger and Colton's Annotated Codes and Statutes of Oregon, vol. 1, p. 735.]

OP CRIMES AGAINST THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

SEC. 2128. Polluting with sewage, dv-., water for domestic use unlawful. Any person who shall put any sewage, drainage, or refuse, 

or polluting matter, as either by itself or in connection with other 

matter will corrupt or impair the quality of any well, spring, brook, 

creek, branch, or pond of water which is used or may be used for domestic purposes, shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor. (Laws 

1885, p. 110, sec. 1.)

SEC. 2129. Animal carcass, d'C., unlawful to place in -water for domestic use or near dwelling. If any person shall put any dead animal carcass, or part thereof, excrement, putrid, naup^ous, noisome, 

decaying, deleterious, or offensive substance into, or in any other 

manner not herein named befouls, pollutes, or impairs the quality of 

any spring, brook, creek, branch, well, or pond of water, which is or 

may be used for domestic purposes, or shall put any such dead animal carcass, or part thereof, excrement, putrid, nauseous, noisome, 

decaying, deleterious, or offensive substance within one-half mile of 

any dwelling house or public highway, and leave the same without 

proper burial, or, being in the possession or control of any land, shall 

knowingly permit or suffer any such dead animal carcass, or part 

thereof, excrement, putrid, nauseous, noisome, decaying, deleterious, 

or offensive substance to remain without proper burial upon such 

premises, within one-half mile of any dwelling-house or public highway, whereby the same becomes offensive to the occupants of such 

dwelling or the traveling public, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. (1885, p. 110, sec. 2.)

SEC. 2130. Penalty for violating preceding provisions and jurisdiction to enforce. Any person violating- the provisions of this act shall, 

upon conviction, be fined not less than ten nor more thru fifty dollars, 

or be imprisoned not less than five days nor more than twenty-five 

days, or by both fine and imprisonment. Justices of the peace shall 

have jurisdiction of offences committed against the provisions of this 

act.
GOODELL.] GENERAL STATUTE KESTKICTIONS SOUTH DAKOTA. 63

SEC. 2131. Polluting water used for domestic purposes, or to which 

live stock have access, unlawful. If any person or persons shall put 

any dead animal's carcass, or part thereof, or any excrement, putrid, 

nauseous, decaying, deleterious, or offensive substance in any veil, or 

into any spring, brook, or branch of running water, of which use is 

made for domestic purposes, or to which any cattle, horses, or other 

kind of stock have access, every person so offending shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less than three nor more than 

fifty dollars.

SEC. 2133. Animal carcass, unlawful to put in-river or elsewhere to 

injury of health. If any person or persons shall put any part of the 

carcass of any dead animal into any river, creek, pond, road, street, 

alley, lane, lot, field, meadow, or common, or if the owner or owners 

thereof shall knowingly permit the same to remain in any of the 

aforesaid pfeces to the injury of the health or to the annoyance of the 

citizens of this State, or any of them, every person so offending shall, 

on conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not less than two nor more 

than twenty-five dollars, and every twenty-four hours during which 

said owner may permit the same to remain thereafter shall be deemed 

an additional offence against the provisions of this act.

SOUTH DAKOTA.

[Revised Codes of 1903, Penal Code, p. 1146.]

SEC. 445. Every person who throws or deposits any gas tar, or 

refuse of any gas house or factory into any public waters, river, or 

stream, or into any sewer or stream emptying into such public waters, 

river, or stream, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

SEC. 446. It shall be unlawful for any person, persons, company, or 

corporation to place or cause to be placed any manure, butcher's offal, 

carcasses of animals, or other deleterious substances into any river, 

stream, or lake, in the State of South Dakota, or upon the banks 

thereof in such proximity that such substances may be washed into 

said water or water courses.

SEC. 447. Any violation of the provisions of this chapter is a misdemeanor, and the person, persons, company, or corporation so violating are deemed guilty thereof, and upon conviction shall be liable 

to a fine not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, 

and in addition thereto such offending person or persons shall be 

subjected to imprisonment in the county jail for the period of thirty 

days unless he or they cause such deleterious substances to be removed.

SEC. 448. This act shall not be construed as to interfere vith or 

prevent any necessary or legitimate mining operation or sewerage 

system.
64 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

TENNESSEE. 

[Code of Tennessee, 1896.]

SEC. 6869. It is a public nuisance * * *

3. To corrupt or render unwholesome or impure the water of any 

river, stream, or pond to the injury or prejudice of others.

SEC. 6520. If any person place or throw the dead body of any animal in any spring, well, cistern, or running stream of water he is 

guilty of a misdemeanor.

[1903, chap. 310, p. 905.]

Section 1 makes it a misdemeanor for " any person to in any way 

wilfully * * * disturb, pollute, contaminate, or injure the water 

in the tanks, standpipes, or reservoirs of any such waterworks by 

bathing therein or by any other act or acts tending to injure the 

water or to make it unpalatable, unwholesome, or unft for domestic 

or manufacturing purposes of any plant supplying water for domestic or manufacturing purposes, however owned."

SEC. 2. That it shall be a misdemeanor for any person to wilfully 

corrupt or to permit anything to run or fall into any stream from 

which water shall be taken for the purpose of supplying water to any 

water plant such as is referred to in section 1 of this act, and any 

person violating this section-shall be punished as provided in section 

1 hereof.

Act takes effect April 7, 1903, on its passage.

TEXAS.

[White's Annotated Penal Code of Texas, p. 256.] 

OFFENCES AFFECTING PUBLIC HEALTH.

ART. 424. If any person shall in any wise pollute of a [or?] obstruct 

any water course, lake, pond, marsh, or common sewer, or continue 

such obstruction or pollution so as to render the same unwholesome 

or offensive to the inhabitants of the county, city, town, or neighborhood thereabout, he shall be fined in a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars.

OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON.

ART. 647. If any person shall mingle or cause to be mingled any 

other noxious potion or substance with any drink, food, or medicine, 

with intent to kill or injure any other person, or shall wilfully poison 

or cause to be poisoned any spring, well, cistern, or reservoir of water 

with such intent, he shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than ten years.

0 So in original.
GOODELL.] GENERAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS VIRGINIA. 65

UTAH.

[Revised Statutes, p. 910, Penal Code: Public Health and Safety.]

SEC. 4274. Befouling waters. Any person who shall either:

1. Construct or maintain any corral, sheep pen, stable, pigpen, 

chicken coop, or other offensive yard or outhouse, where the waste or 

drainage therefrom shall flow directly into the waters of any stream, 

well, or spring of water used for domestic purposes; or

2. Deposit, pile, unload, or leave any manure heap, offensive rubbish, or the carcass of any dead animal where the waste or drainage 

therefrom will flow directly into the waters of any stream, well, or 

spring of water used for domestic purposes; or

3. Dip or wash sheep in any stream, or construct, maintain, or use 

any pool or dipping vat for dipping or washing sheep in such close 

proximity to any stream used by the inhabitants of any city, town, or 

village for domestic pusposes as to make the waters thereof impure 

or unwholesome; or

4. Construct or maintain any corral, yard, or vat to be used for the 

purpose of shearing or dipping sheep within twelve miles of any city, 

town, or village, where the refuse or filth from said corral ov yard 

would naturally find its way into any stream of water used by the 

inhabitants of any city, village, or town for domestic purposes; or

5. Establish and maintain any corral, camp, or bedding plp.ce for 

the purpose of herding, holding, or keeping any cattle, horses, sheep, 

or hogs within seven miles of any city, town, or village, where the 

refuse or filth from said corral, camp, or bedding place will naturally 

find its way into any stream of water used by the inhabitants of 

any city, town, or village for domestic purposes, shall be guilty of 

a misdemeanor.

[Laws of 1899, chap. 45, p. 66.]

SEC. 2. No house refuse, offal, garbage, dead animals, decaying 

vegetable matter, or organic waste substance of any kind si all be 

thrown on or allowed to remain upon any street, road, ditch, gutter, 

public place, private premises, vacant lot, water course, lake, pond, 

spring, or well.

VIRGINIA.

[Pollard's General Laws, 1887-1896, chap. 72, p. 44 (Acts 1887-88, p. 83).]

AN ACT to prevent the pollution of drinking water in this State. (Approved

February 3, 1888.)

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That ary person or persons who shall.knowingly and wilfully throw or cause to 

be thrown into any reservoir or other receptacle of drinking water, 

IBB 152 05 M 5
66 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

or spring, or stream of running water ordinarily usec1 for the supply 

of drinking water or domestic purposes of any person or family, 

town, or city in this Commonwealth the dead body of any animal, or 

shall drown and leave, or cause to be drowned and left any animal 

therein shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof 

shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars or imprisoned not 

exceeding six months, or both, at the discretion of the court in which 

such conviction is made.

[Idem, p. 115 (Acts 1891-92, p. 759K]

AN ACT to prevent the pollution of potable water used for the supply of cities 

and towns. (Approved February 29, 1S92.)

1. Be it enacted l>y the general assembly of Virginia, That it shall 

be unlawful, except as hereinafter provided, for any person to defile 

or render impure, turbid, or offensive the water used for the supply 

of any city or town of this State, or the sources or streams used for 

furnishing such supply, or to endanger the purity thereof by the following means, or any of them, to wit, by washing or bathing therein, 

or by casting into any spring, well, pond, lake, or reservoir from which 

such supply is drawn, or into any stream so used, or the tributary 

thereof above the point where such supply is taken out of such stream 

or is impounded for the purposes of such supply, or into any canal, 

aqueduct, or other channel or receptacle for water connected with 

any works for furnishing a public water supply, any offal, dead fish, 

or carcass of any animal, or any human or animal filth or other foul 

or waste animal matter, or any waste vegetable or mineral substance, 

or the refuse of any mine, manufactory, or manufacturing process, 

or by discharging or permitting to flow into any such source, spring, 

well, reservoir, pond, stream, or the tributary thereof, canal, aqueduct, or other receptacle for water, the contents of any sewer, privy, 

stable, or barnyard, or the impure drainage of any mine, any crude 

or refined petroleum, chemicals, or any foul, noxious, or offensive 

drainage whatsoever, or by constructing or maintaining any privy 

vault or cesspool, or by storing manure or other soluble fertilizer of 

an offensive character, or by disposing of the carcass of any animal, 

or any foul, noxious, or putrescible substance, whether solid or fluid 

and whether the same be buried or not, within two hundred feet of 

any water course, canal, pond, or lake aforesaid, wHch is liable to 

contamination by the washing thereof or percolation therefrom: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to 

authorize the pollution of any of the waters of this State in any manner now contrary to law: And provided further, That this act shall 

not apply to streams the drainage area of which, above the point 

where the water thereof is withdrawn for the supply of any city or
GOODELL.] GENEKAL STATUTE EESTEICTIONS WASHINGTON. 67

town, or is impounded for the purposes of such supply, shall exceed 

fifty square miles.

2. That any person knowingly or wilfully violating the tennis of 

this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall te punished for each offence by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or 

by imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, or by both, at the discretion of the court: And provided further, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the washing of ore cr minerals in any of the streams or waters of this Commonwealth other 

than such as may be used for the water supply of any city or town.

3. This act shall take effect fifteen clays after its passage.

WASHINGTON. 

[Ballinger's Annotated Codes and Statutes, including acts of 1897.]

NUISANCES. Sec. 3085. It is a public nuisance:

######*

2. To throw or deposit any offal or other offensive matter, or the 

carcass of any dead animal, in any water course, stream, lake, pond, 

spring, well, or common sewer, street or public highway, or in any 

manner to corrupt or render unwholesome or impure the water of 

any such spring, stream, pond, lake, or well, to the injury or prejudice of others.

Punishment provided in section 3097.

[Acts of 1899, Chap. LXX, p. 114 : Providing for a pure water supply.]

AN ACT to preserve from pollution the water supplied to the inhabitants of 

cities and towns in the State of Washington; to declare what are nuisances in 

the vicinity of the source of such water supply; providing for the ab?tement 

thereof, and for the punishment of the violations of this act.

Be it enacted ~by the legislature of the State of Washington: 

SECTION 1. That for the purpose of protecting the water furnished 

to the inhabitants of towns and cities within this State from pollution, the said towns and cities are hereby given jurisdiction over all 

property occupied by the works, reservoirs, systems, springs, branches, 

and pipes by means of which, and of all sources of supply from 

which, such cities or the companies or individuals furnishing water 

to the inhabitants of such cities or towns obtain their supply of 

water or store or conduct the same.

SEC. 2. That the establishment or maintenance of any slaughter 

pen, stock-feeding yards, hogpens, or the deposit or maintenance of 

any uncleanly or unwholesome substance, or the conduct of any business or occupation, or the allowing of any,condition upon o^ sufficiently near the sources from which the supply of water for the
68 LAWS FOKBIDDING INLAND-WATEK POLLUTION. [No. 152.

inhabitants of any such city or town is obtained, or where such 

water is stored, or the property or means through which the same 

may be conducted or conveyed, so that such water would be polluted 

or the purity of such water or any part thereof destroyed or endangered, is hereby prohibited and declared to be ur lawful, and is 

hereby declared to be and constitute a nuisance, and as such to be 

abated as other nuisances are abated under the provisions of the 

existing laws of the State of Washington, or under the laws which 

may be hereafter enacted in relation to the abatement thereof; and 

that any person or persons who shall do, establisl , maintain, or 

create any of the things hereby prohibited for the purpose of or 

which shall have the effect of polluting any such sources of water 

supply or water, or shall do any of the things hereby declared to be 

unlawful, shall be deemed guilty of creating and maintaining a 

nuisance, and may be prosecuted therefor, and upon conviction 

thereof may be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars.

SEC. 3. If upon the trial of any person or persons for the violation 

of any of the provisions of this act such person or persons shall be 

found guilty of creating or maintaining a nuisance a? hereby defined 

or of violating any of the provisions of this act, it si all be the duty 

of such person or persons to forthwith abate such nuisance, and in 

the event of their failure so to do within one day after such conviction, unless further time be granted by the court, a warrant shall be 

issued by the court wherein such conviction was obtained directed 

to the sheriff of the county in which such nuisance exists, and the 

sheriff shall forthwith proceed to abate the said nuisance, and the 

cost thereof shall be taxed against the party so convicted as a part of 

the costs of such case.

SEC. 4. It is hereby made the duty of the city health officer, city 

physician, board of public health, mayor of the city, or such other 

officer as may have the sanitary condition of such city or town in 

charge, to see that the provisions of this act are enforced, and, upon 

complaint being made to any such officer, to immediately investigate 

the said complaint and see if the same shall appear to be well founded; 

and if the same shall appear to be well founded, it shall be, and is 

hereby, declared to be the duty of such officer to proceed and file a 

complaint against the person or persons violating any of the provisions of this act and cause the arrest and prosecution of such person 

or persons.

SEC. 5. That any city supplied with water from any source of supply as hereinbefore mentioned, or any corporation owning waterworks for the purpose of supplying any city or the inhabitants thereof 

with water, in the event that any of the provisions of this act are 

being violated by any person, may, by civil action in the superior
OOODBLL.] GENEBAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS WEST VIBGINIA. 69

court of the proper county, have the maintenance of the nuisance 

which pollutes or tends to pollute the said water, as provided for by 

section 2 of this act, enjoined, and such injunction may be perpetual.

WEST VIRGINIA. 

[Code of West Virginia, 1891, p. 933.]

OFFENCES AGAINST PUBLIC HEALTH MISDEMEANOR TO PUT DEAD ANIMALS, ETC., 

INTO WATER USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES.

If any person or persons shall knowingly and willfully throw or 

cause to be thrown into any well, cistern, spring, brook, or branch of 

running water which is used for domestic purposes, any dead animal, 

carcass, or part thereof, or any putrid, nauseous, or offensive substance, he or they shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than five dollars nor mo^e.thaii 

one hundred dollars, and may, at the discretion of the jury, be confined in the jail of the county not exceeding ninety days, and shall 

moreover be liable to the party injured in a civil action for damages. 

(Acts 18T2-T3, ch. 176.)

PREVENTING THE DEPOSIT OF THE CARCASSES OF DEAD ANIMALS AND OTHER NOXIOUS 

MATTER IN CERT4TN WATERS OF THE STATE, ETC.

It shall be unlawful to put the carcass of any dead animal, or the 

offal from any slaughterhouse, butcher's establishment, or packing 

house, or slop or other refuse from any hotel or a tavern, or any 

spoiled meats or spoiled fish, or any putrid animal substance, or the 

contents of any privy vault, upon or into any river, creek, o^ other 

stream within this State, or upon the surface of any road, street, alley, 

city lot, public ground, market space, or common, or on the surface 

within one hundred feet of any public road.

III. A justice of the peace shall have jurisdiction of any offence 

against the provisions of this act, committed within his county. Any 

such offence shall be punished by a fine of not less than five or more 

than fifty dollars, and the proceedings in the case, as well as in all 

other cases under this act, shall be in conformity with sections 221 to 

230, inclusive, or chapter 50 of the Code of West Virginia, which sections are hereby made applicable to such cases. Upon a corviction 

for any such offence the accused must bury at least three feet under 

the ground, or destroy by fire, any of the things named in the first 

section which he has placed in any of the waters or places named in 

such section, or which he has knowingly permitted to remain upon a 

city lot, public ground, market space, or common, contrary to the 

provisions of the second section, within twenty-four hours after such 

conviction, and if he shall fail to do so, the justice shall further fine 

him not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars. (Acts 1887, ch. 25.)
70 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

WYOMING.

[Revised Statutes, 1899.] 

CRIMES AGAINST THE PEKSON.

SEC. 4966. Poisoning springs. Whoever poisons any spring, well, 

cistern, or reservoir of water with intent to injure or kill any human 

being shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not more than fourteen 

years.

CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY.

SEC. 5114. Putting off ens-ice substances in creek, or highway declaimed 

a nuisance. If any person or persons, association of persons, company, or corporation shall deposit, place, or put, or cause to be deposited, placed, or put upon or into any river, creek, bay, pond, canal, 

ditch, lake, stream, railroad, public or private road, highway, street, 

alley, lot, field, meadow, public place or public ground, common, 

market place, or in any other and different locality in this State, 

where the same may become a source of annoyance to any person or 

detrimental to the public health, the carcass of any dead animal or 

the offal or refuse matter from any slaughterhouse, butcher's establishment, meat market, packing house, fish house, hogpen, stable, or 

any spoiled meats, spoiled fish, or any animal or vegetable matter in 

a putrid or decayed state, or liable to become putrid, decayed, or 

offensive, or the contents of any privy vault, or any offensive matter 

or substance whatever, or shall cause to be maintained any privy, 

slaughterhouse, meat market, or any other or different place, building, or establishment that shall directly or indirectly be the cause of 

polluting the waters of any spring, reservoir, stream, lake, or water 

supply used wholly or partly for domestic purposes, or if the owner 

or owners, tenant or tenants, occupant or occupants of any lands or 

tenements, dwellings, or places of business, or any other and different 

places or localities, whether defined in this section or not, shall knowingly permit any of the said offensive matters or substances, or any 

other and different offensive matter or substances, to remain in any 

of the aforesaid places or other and different places or localities, or 

shall permit any of the aforesaid places to be. maintained which shall 

cause the pollution of any stream, spring, reservoir, lake, or water 

supply, either directly or indirectly, in any locality, place, or situation in this State, to the annoyance of the citizens or residents of this 

State, or any of them, or to the detriment of the public health, or who 

shall neglect or refuse to remove or abate the nuisance, offence, or 

inconvenience occasioned or caused thereby within twenty-four hours 

after knowledge of the existence of such nuisance, offence, or inconvenience in or upon any of the above-described premises or places,
GOODBLL.] GENERAL STATUTE RESTRICTIONS WYOMING. 71

or any other and different place or locality, owned or occupied by 

him her, it, or they,05 [them?] or after notice in writing from the 

sheriff, deputy sheriff, or coroner of any county in this State, or the 

constable of any precinct, or the marshal or any of the policemen of 

any city, town, or village in which such nuisance shall exist, or from any 

peace officer in this State of the locality wherein such nuisance shall 

exist, every such person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, 

and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than 

ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars, and if such nuisance is not 

abated within forty-eight hours after the same is created or exists to 

the knowledge of such offender, or within forty-eight hours after 

said written notice is given, such failure to abate such nuisance shall 

be deemed a second offence against the provisions of this section, 

and every like failure and neglect to abate such nuisance of each 

twenty-four hours thereafter shall be considered an additional offence, 

and shall be subject to a like penalty as is herein provided.

SEC. 5115. Abatement of nuisance. Provides that officer shall remove nuisance, on neglect of owners so to do, expenses collectible in 

civil action.

SEC. 5116. Throwing sawdust into streams. If any person or persons who may own, run, or have charge of any sawmill in this State 

shall throw or permit the sawdust therefrom to be thrown or placed 

in any manner into any river, stream, creek, bay, pond, lake, canal, 

ditch, or other water course in this State, such person or persons shall 

be liable to a like penalty as is provided in section 5114.

[Laws of Wyoming, 1905, chap. 31, p. 25.]

FISH POLLUTING WATERS.

AN ACT To repeal section 1 of chapter 22 of the session laws of Wyoming of 

the year A. D. 1903, being an act entitled "An act to amend and reenact section 2146, revised statutes of Wyoming, 1899, relating to the unlawful taking 

or having in possession of certain kinds of fish," and to amend and reenact 

section 2148, revised statutes of Wyoming, 1899, relating to the unlawful 

placing of deleterious substances, poisons, or explosives in the waters of the 

State.

SEC. 1. That section 1, chapter 22, of the session laws of Wyoming, 

1903, being "An act to amend and reenact section 2146 of the revised 

statutes of Wyoming, 1899, relating to the unlawful taking or having 

in possession of certain kinds of fish, 11 be and the same is hereby 

repealed.

SEC. 2. That section 2148 of the revised statutes of Wyoming, 1899, 

be amended and reenacted so as to read as follows:

" SEC. 2148. Any owner or owners of any sawmill, reduction works, 

smelter, refining or contraction works, or any of the employees

0 So in original.
72 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

thereof, who shall throw, deposit, or in any way permit to pass into 

any natural stream or lake wherein are living fish, any sawdust, 

chemicals, or other matter or substance that will tend to drive away 

from such waters any fish shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor 

and shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one 

hundred dollars, or shall be imprisoned in the county jail not less 

than thirty days nor more than sixty days. Any person who shall 

kill in any of the waters of this State, by use of any poison or deleterious drug, or by the use of any explosive substance, or explode or 

cause to be exploded any powder, giant powder, hercules powder, 

dynamite, nitroglycerine, lime gas, or any other explosive substance 

for the purpose of catching, killing, or destroying food fish in such 

waters shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction 

thereof shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than two 

hundred dollars, and shall be imprisoned in the county jail not less 

than ninety days nor more than one year: Provided further, That 

nothing in this title contained shall prevent the owner or owners of 

any quartz mill or reduction works in this State, now located or to 

be hereafter located upon any natural stream or lake, from operating 

or working said quartz mill or reduction works, where the said owner 

or owners thereof shall build or cause to be built a suitable dam, to 

be used in connection with said quartz mill or reduction works, and 

which dam shall be so constructed as to prevent any tailings or substance from passing into the stream or lake which will destroy or 

drive away the fish or any number of them from said stream, lake, 

or water."

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its 

passage.

Approved February 15, A. D. 1905.

[Chapter 83, House bill No. 87.] 

FISH.

AN ACT to repeal section 1 of chapter 22 of the session law? of Wyoming of 

the year A. D. 1903, being an act entitled "An act to amend and reenact section 2146, revised statutes of Wyoming, 1899, relating to the unlawful taking 

or having in possession of certain kinds of fish," and to ar>end and reenact 

section 2148, revised statutes of Wyoming, 1899, relating to the unlawful 

placing of deleterious substances, poisons, or explosives in the waters of the 

State.

SEC. 1. Repeal of sec. 1, chap. 22, laws 1903. That section 1, chapter 22, of the session laws of Wyoming, 1903, being "An act to amend 

and reenact section 2146 of the revised statutes of Y^yoming, 1899, 

relating to the unlawful taking or having in possession of certain 

kinds of fish" be, and the same is hereby, repealed.
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS. 73

SEC. 2. Use of explosives and poison. That section 2148 of the 

revised statutes of Wyoming, 1899, be amended and reenacted so as 

to read as follows:

" SEC. 2148. Any owner or owners of any sawmill, or any of the employees thereof, who shall throw, deposit, or in any way permit to 

pass into any natural stream or lake wherein are living fslvany 

sawdust or other matter or substance that will tend to drive away 

from such waters any fish, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 

and shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one 

hundred dollars,.or shall be imprisoned in the county jail not less 

than thirty days nor more than sixty days. Any person who shall 

kill in any of the waters of this State, by use of any poison or deleterious drug, or by use of any explosive substances, or explode or 

cause to. be exploded any powder, giant powder, hercules powder, 

dynamite, nitroglycerine, lime gas, or any other explosive substance 

for the purpose of catching, killing, or destroying the food fish in 

such waters, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more 

than two hundred dollars, and shall be imprisoned in the county jail 

not less than ninety days nor more than one year."

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its 

passage.

Approved February 21, A. D. 1905.

CLASS III. STATES WITH SEVERE RESTRICTIONS.

This group consists of those States which have adopted unusual 

and stringent methods to enforce the right of their citizens to unpolluted natural waters. The adoption of the legislation embodied in 

the following pages under this group indicates that the inhabitants 

of the States in which these laws have been adopted have b^gun to 

realize the immense harm which the increased pollution of waters, 

owing to increase of population, is doing to persons and property 

within their borders. It is noticeable that in several of the States 

stringent methods are adopted by which pollution by cities can be 

regulated and controlled; while in at least one State (New Jersey) a 

system has been instituted which, carried to its logical conclusion, 

will result in conveying all sewage matter from cities and large towns 

so far beyond the borders of the land as to render it wholly inoffensive or in some other way preventing its getting into any inland 

waters in an offensive form.
74 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

CONNECTICUT.

[General Statutes, revision of 1902, sec. 1328, as amended by chap. 28, of the laws of

1905.]

Every person who shall wantonly and indecently expose his person,, 

or who shall bathe in any reservoir from which the inhabitants of 

any town, city or borough are supplied with water, or in any lake, 

pond or stream tributary to such reservoir, or who shall cast any 

filthy or impure substance into said reservoir, or any of its tributaries, or commit any nuisance in or about it or them, shall be fined 

not more than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than six 

months, or both.

[General Statutes, revision of 1902, p. 668.]

SEC. 2593. Pollution of water from which ice Is taken. Every person who shall put any substance into waters from which ice is procured for consumption Avhich shall defile, pollute, or injure the 

quality of said ice, or who shall throw anything into such waters or 

upon the ice with intent to injure the quality of the ice or obstruct 

the cutting or gathering of the same, shall be fined not more than 

thirty dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days This section 

shall not affect the rights of any manufacturing establishment now 

existing or hereafter established to use any waters in carrying on its 

business.

SEC. 2594. Pollution of waters. Every person who shall put or 

leave a dead animal or carcass in a pond, spring, or reservoir, the 

water of which is comreyed to any building, or who shall wilfully put 

and leave in any of the waters of this State a dead animal, shall be 

fined not more than fifty dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty 

days.

SEC. 2595. Penalty for polluting drinking water. Every person 

who shall put anything into a well, spring, fountain, or cistern, or 

other place from which water is procured for drinking or other 

purposes, with the intent to injure the quality of said water, shall 

be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned not more 

than six months.

SEC. 2596. Analysis of water. Town, borough, and city health 

officers shall, when in their judgment health is menaced or impaired 

through a water supply, send, subject to the approval of the county 

health officer, samples of such water to the State board of health for 

examination and analysis, and the expense of such examination and 

analysis shall be paid out of the funds appropriated to said board to 

investigate the pollution of streams.

SEC. 2598. Location of cemeteries. No cemetery or place of sepulture shall hereafter be located or established within one-half mile of
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS CONNECTICUT. 75

any reservoir from which the inhabitants of a town, city, or borough 

are supplied with water; nor shall such reservoir be located or established within one-half mile of a cemetery or place of sepulture unless 

the superior court of the county wherein such cemetery or place of 

sepulture or reservoir is located shall, upon application or notice find 

that such cemetery or place of sepulture or such reservoir so proposed 

to be located is of public convenience and necessity and will not be 

detrimental to the public health.

SEC. 2602. Pollution of reservoirs Penalty. No person, after 

notice shall have been posted that any reservoir, or any lake, pond, or 

stream tributary thereto, is used for supplying the inhabitants of a 

town, city, or borough with water, shall wash any animal, clothing, 

or other article therein. No person shall throw any noxious or harmful substance into such reservoir, lake, pond, or stream, nor si ^ll any 

person, after receipt of written notice from any county or town 

health officer having jurisdiction that the same is detrimental to such 

water supply, suffer any such substance to be placed upon land 

owned, occupied, or controlled by him, so that the same may be 

carried by rains or freshets into the water of such reservoir, lake, 

pond, stream, or drain, or allow to be drained any sewage from said 

land into such water. Every person who shall violate any provision 

of this section shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars or 

imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.

SEC. 2603. Appointment of special police. The governor rnry, upon 

the application of such town, borough, city, or company, commission 

during his pleasure one or more persons who, having been sworn, 

may act as policemen for the purpose of preventing and abating 

nuisances and protecting such water supply from contamination. 

Such policemen shall arrest without previous complaint and warrant 

any person for any offense under the provisions of any law for the 

protection of water supplies when the offender shall be taken or 

apprehended in the act or on the speedy information of others, and 

all persons so arrested shall be immediately presented before proper 

authority. Every such policeman shall, when on duty, wear in plain 

view a shield bearing the words u Special police " and the name of 

the town, city, borough, or company for which he is commissiciied.

[Acts of 1903, chap. 192, p. 148.]

AN ACT concerning injunctions.

Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives in general 

assembly convened.

SECTION 1. Section 2599 of the Cireneral Statutes is hereby amended 

to read as follows: Whenever any land or building is so used, occupied or suffered to remain, that it is- a source of injury to the water
76 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

stored in a reservoir used for supplying a town, city, cr borough with 

water, or to any source of supply to such reservoir, or when such 

water is liable to pollution in consequence of the use of the same, 

either the .authorities of such town, city, or borough, or the company 

having charge of said water, may apply to the superior court, or any 

judge thereof in vacation, in the county in which paid town, city, 

borough, or company is located, for relief; and said court or judge 

may order the removal of any building, enjoin any use or occupation 

of any land or building or of said water which is detrimental to said 

water, or make any other order, temporary or permanent, which in 

its or his judgment may be necessary to preserve the purity of said 

water. Said town, city, borough, or company may, by its officers or 

agents, duly appointed for such purpose, at all reasonable times enter 

upon and inspect any premises within the watershed tributary to such 

water supply, and in case any nuisance shall be found thereon which 

pollutes or is likely to pollute such water, may abate such nuisance 

at its own expense after reasonable notice to the owner or occupant 

of said premises and upon his neglect or refusal to p.bate the same; 

but such town, city, borough, or company shall be liable for all unnecessary or unreasonable damage done to said premises.

SEC. 2. Section 2600 of the General Statutes is hereby amended to 

read as follows: Any city, town, borough, or corporation authorized 

by law to supply the inhabitants of any city, town, or borough with 

pure water for public or domestic use may take and use such lands, 

springs, streams, or ponds, or such rights or interests therein as the 

superior court or any judge thereof in vacation may, on application, 

deem necessary for the purposes of such supply. For the purpose of 

preserving the purity of such water and preventing any contamination thereof, such city, town, borough, or corporation may take such 

lands or rights as the superior court or any judge thereof in vacation 

may, on application, deem necessary therefor. Compensation shall 

be made to all persons entitled thereto in the manner provided by 

section 2601.

SEC. 3. Section 2601 of the General Statutes is hereby amended to 

read as follows: In all cases where the law requires compensation to 

be made to any person whose rights, interests, or property are injuriously affected by said orders, such court or judge shall appoint a 

committee of three disinterested freeholders of the county who shall 

determine and award the amount to be paid by such authorities before 

such order is carried into effect.

Approved June 18, 1903.
GOODELL.] SEVEEE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS MASSACHUSETTS?. 77

MASSACHUSETTS.

[Revised laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, enacted November 21, 19C1, taking 

effect January 1, 1902, chap. 75, p. 677.]

OF THE PEESERVATION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

SEC. 112. Supervision of inland waters. The State board of health 

shall have the general oversight and care of all inland waters and of 

all streams and ponds used by any city, town, or public institution, 

or by any water or ice company, in this Commonwealth as sources of 

water supply, and of all springs, streams, and water coursec tributary thereto. It shall be provided with maps, plans, and documents 

suitable for such purposes and shall keep records of all. its transactions relative thereto.

SEC. 113. Examination of water supply. Said board may cause 

examinations of such waters to be made to ascertain their purity and 

fitness for domestic use or their liability to impair the interests of the 

public or of persons lawfully using them or to impair the public 

health. It may make rules and regulations to prevent the pollution 

and to secure the sanitary protection of all such waters as are used 

as sources of water supply.

SEC. 114. Effect of publication of notice. The publication of an 

order, rule, or regulation made by the board under the provisions of 

the preceding section, or section one hundred and eighteen, in a newspaper of the city or town in which such order, rule, or regulation is 

to take effect, or, if no newspaper is published in such city or town, 

the posting of a copy of such order, rule, or regulation in a public 

place in such city or town, shall be legal notice to all persons, and an 

affidavit of such publication or posting by the person causing such 

notice to be published or posted, filed and recorded with a copy of the 

notice in the office of the clerk of such city or town, shall be admitted 

as evidence of the time at which, and the place and manner in which, 

the notice was given.

SEC. 115. Report and recommendations. Said board shall annually, on or before the tenth day of January, make a report to the general court of its doings for the preceding year, recommend measures 

for the prevention of the pollution of such waters and for the removal 

of polluting substances in order to protect and develop the rights and 

property of the Commonwealth therein and to protect the public 

health, and recommend any legislation or plans for systems of main 

sewers necessary for the preservation of the public health and for the 

purification and prevention of pollution of the ponds, streams, and 

inland waters of the Commonwealth. It shall also give notice to the 

attorney-general of any violation of law relative to the pollution of 

water supplies and inland waters.
78 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

SEC. 116. Agents and assistants. Said board may appoint, employ, 

and fix the compensation of such agents, clerks, servants, engineers, 

and expert assistants as it considers necessary. Such agents and 

servants shall cause the provisions of law relative to the pollution of 

water supply and of the rules and regulations of said board to be 

enforced.

SEC. 117. Advice as to methods. Said board shall consult with and 

advise the authorities of cities and towns and persons having, or about 

to have, systems of water supply, drainage, or sewerag^ as to the most 

appropriate source of water supply, and the best metl od of assuring 

its purity or as to the best method of disposing of th^ir drainage or 

sewage with reference to the existing and future needs of other cities, 

towns, or persons which may be affected thereby. It shall also consult with and advise persons engaged or intending to engage in any 

manufacturing or other business whose drainage or sewage may tend 

to pollute any inland water as to the best method of preventing such 

pollution, and it may conduct experiments to determine the best 

methods of the purification or disposal of drainage or sewage. No 

person shall be required to bear the expense of such consultation, 

advice, or experiments. Cities, towns, and persons shall submit to 

said board, for its advice, their proposed system of water supply or of 

the disposal of drainage or sewage, and all petitions to-the general 

court for authority to introduce a system of water supply, drainage, 

or sewerage shall be accompanied by a copy of the recommendation 

and advice of said board thereon. In this section thQ, term " drainage " means rainfall, surface, and subsoil water only, and " sewage " 

means domestic and manufacturing filth and refuse.

SEC. 118. Removal of causes of pollution. Upon petition to said 

board by the mayor of a city or the selectmen of a town, the managing board or officer of any public institution, or by a board of water 

commissioners, or the president of a water or ice company, stating 

that manure, excrement, garbage, sewage, or any otr°r matter pollutes or tends to pollute the waters of any stream, pond, spring, or 

water course used by such city, town, institution, or company as a 

source of water supply, the board shall appoint a time and place 

within the county where the nuisance or pollution is alleged to exist 

for a hearing, and after notice thereof to parties irterested and a 

hearing, if in its judgment the public health so requires, shall, by an 

order served upon the party causing or permitting such pollution, 

prohibit the deposit, keeping, or discharge of any such cause of pollution, and shall order him to desist therefrom and to remove any 

such cause of pollution; but the board shall not prohibit the cultivation and use of the soil in the ordinary methods of agriculture if no 

human excrement is used thereon. Said board shall rot prohibit the
GOODBLL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS MASSACHUSETTS. 79

use of any structure which was in existence on the eleventh day of 

June, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, upon a complaint made by the board of water commissioners of any city or town 

or by any water or ice company, unless such board of water commissioners or company files with the State board a vote of its city council, 

selectmen, or company, respectively, that such city, town, or company 

will, at its own expense, make such changes in said structure or its 

location as said board shall deem expedient. Such vote shall be binding on such city, town, or company. All damages caused by such 

changes shall be paid by such city, town, or company; and if the parties can not agree thereon, the damages shall, on petition of either 

party, filed within one year after such changes are made, be assessed 

by a jury in the superior court for the county where the structure is 

located.

SEC. 119. Appeal from, order. Whoever is aggrieved by an order 

passed under the provisions of the preceding section may appeal 

therefrom in the manner provided in sections 95 and 97, frit such 

notice as the court shall order shall also be given to the board of 

water commissioners and mayor of the city or chairmen of the selectmen of the town or president or other officer of the water or ice company interested in such order. While the appeal is pending tr^, order 

of the board shall be complied with, unless otherwise authorized by 

the board.

SEC. 120. Enforcement of Taw. The supreme judicial cour^. or the 

superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity, upon the. application 

of the State board of health or of any party interested, to enforce its 

orders or the orders, rules, and regulations of said board of health, 

and to restrain the use or occupation of the premises or such portion 

thereof as said board may specify, on which said material is deposited 

or kept, or such other cause of pollution exists, until the orders, rules, 

and regulations of said board have been complied with.

SEC. 121. Entry on premises. The agents and servants of said 

board may enter any building, structure, or premises for the purpose 

of ascertaining whether sources of pollution or danger to the water 

supply there exist, and whether the rules, regulations, and orders 

aforesaid are obeyed. Their compensation for services rendered in 

connection with proceedings under the provisions of section 118 shall 

be fixed by the board and shall in the first instance be paid by the 

Commonwealth; but the whole amount so paid shall, at the end of 

each year, be justly and equitably apportioned by the tax commissioner between such cities, towns, or companies as, during said year, 

have instituted said proceedings, and may be recovered in an action 

by the treasurer and receiver-general, with interest from date of the 

demand.
80 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

SEC. 122. Penalties. Whoever violates any rule, regulation, or 

order made under the provisions of section 113 or section 118 shall be 

punished for each offence by a fine of not more than five hundred 

dollars, to the use of the Commonwealth, or by imprisonment for not 

more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

SEC. 123. Application of preceding sections. The provisions of the 

eleven preceding sections shall not apply to the Merrimac or Connecticut rivers, nor to so much of the Concord River as lies within 

the limits of the city of Lowell, nor to springs, streams, ponds, or 

water courses over which the metropolitan water board has control.

SEC. 124. Sources of water supply as to. The provisions of the 

refuse, or polluting matter of such kind and amount as either by 

itself or in connection with other matter will corrupt or impair the 

quality of the water of any pond or stream used as a source of ice or 

water supply by a city, town, public institution, or water company 

for domestic use, or render it injurious to health, and no human 

excrement shall be discharged into any such stream or pond, or upon 

their banks if any filter basin so used is there situated, or into any 

feeders of such pond or stream within twenty miles above the point 

where such supply is taken.

SEC. 125. Prescriptive rights unaffected application limited. The 

provisions of the preceding section shall not destroy or impair rights 

acquired by legislative grant prior to the first day of July in the 

year 1878, or destroy or impair prescriptive rights of drainage or 

discharge, to the extent to which they lawfully existed on that date; 

nor shall it be applicable to the Merrimac or Connecticut rivers, or to 

so much of the Concord River as lies within the limits of the city of 

Lowell.

SEC. 126. Injunction against pollution of water supply. The 

supreme judicial court or the superior court, upon application of the 

mayor of a city, the selectmen of a town, managing board or officer of 

a public institution, or a water or ice company interested, shall have 

jurisdiction in equity to enjoin the violation of the provisions of 

sec. 124.

SEC. 127. Pejialty for corrupting spring, etc. Whoever willfully 

and maliciously defiles or corrupts any spring or other source of 

water, or reservoir, or destroys or injures any pipe, conductor of 

water, or other property pertaining to an aqueduct, or aids or abets 

in any such trespass, shall be punished by a fine of not more than 

one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year.

SEC. 128. Penalty for corrupting sources of water supply. Whoever willfully deposits excrement or foul or decaying matter in water 

which is used for the purpose of domestic water supply, or upon the 

shore thereof within five rods of the water, shall be punished by a
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS MINNESOTA. 81

fine of not more than fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not more 

than thirty days; and a police officer or constable of a city or town in 

which such water is wholly or partly situated, acting within the limits 

of his city or town, and any executive officer or agent of a water 

board, board of water commissioners, public institution, or water 

company furnishing water or ice for domestic purposes, acting upon 

the premises of such board, institution, or company, and not more 

than five rods from the water, may, without a warrant, arrest any 

person found in the act of violating the provisions of this section and 

detain him until a complaint can be made against him therefor. But 

the provisions of this section shall not interfere with the sewage of a 

city, town, or public institution, or prevent the enriching of land for 

agricultural purposes by the owner or occupant thereof.

SEC. 129. Penalty for bathing in public ponds. Whoever bathes in 

a pond, stream, or reservoir the water of which is used for the purpose of domestic water supply for a city or town, shall be punished 

by a fine of not more than ten dollars.

SEC. 130. Penalty for driving on ice of pond used for water supply. Whoever, not being engaged in cutting or harvesting ice, or in 

hauling logs, wood, or lumber, drives any animal on the ice of a pond 

or stream which is used for the purpose of domestic water supply for a 

city or town, shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars 

or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days.

NOTE. Sections 95 and 97, referred to in section 119, provide for 

an appeal to the superior court of the county and a jury trial. The 

verdict may alter, affirm, or annul the order, and shall be returned 

to the court for acceptance, and, if accepted, shall have the authority 

and effect of a valid order of the board.

MINNESOTA. 

[General Statutes, p. 120.]

SEC. 130. Pollution of sources of water supply forbidden. No sewage, drainage, or refuse, or polluting matter of such kind as, either 

by itself or in connection with other matter, will corrupt or impair 

the quality of the water of any spring, well, pond, lake, stream, or 

river for domestic use, or render it injurious to health, and no human 

or animal excrement shall be placed in or discharged into or placed 

or deposited upon the ice of any pond, lake, stream, or river used as a 

source of water supply by any town, village, or city; nor shs 11 any 

such sewage, drainage, refuse, or polluting matter or excrement be 

placed upon the banks of any such pond, lake, stream, or river within 

five miles above the point where such supply is taken, or into any 

feeders or the banks thereof of any such pond, lake, stream, or river: 

IBB 152 05 M= 6
82 LAWS FOKBIDDING INLAND- WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

Provided, nothing in this section contained shall apply to Lake Superior. (1885. Chap. 225, sec, 1.)

SEC. 431. Supervision of sources of water supply procedure in 

cases of pollution. The State board of health shall have the general 

supervision of all springs, wells, ponds, lakes, streams, or rivers used 

by any town, village, or city as a source of water supply, with reference to their purity, together with the waters feeding the same, and 

shall examine the same from time to time, and inquire what, if any. 

pollution exists and their causes. In. case of a violation of any of the 

provisions of section one of this act (sec. 430) said bo?rd may appoint 

a time and place for hearing parties to be affected, and shall give due 

notice thereof, as hereinafter provided, to such parties; and after 

such hearing, if in its judgment the public health requires it, may 

order any person or corporation, or municipal corporation, to desist 

from the acts causing such pollution, and may direct any such person 

or corporation to remedy the pollution, or to cleanse or purify the 

polluting substances in such a manner and to such a degree as shall 

be directed by said board, before being cast or allowed to flow into the 

waters thereby polluted, or placed or deposited upon the ice or banks 

of any of the bodies of water in the first section of this act mentioned. 

Upon the application of the proper officers of any town, village, or 

city, or of not less than ten legal voters of any such town, village, or 

citjr, to said State board, alleging the pollution of the water supply 

of any such town, village, or city by the violation of any of the provisions of this act, said State board shall investigate the alleged pollution, and shall appoint a time and place when and where it will 

hear and examine the matter, and shall give notice of such hearing 

and examination to the complainant, and also to the person or corporation or municipal corporation alleged to have caused such pollution, and such notice shall be served not less than ten days prior to 

the time so appointed, and shall be served in the same manner that 

now is or hereafter may be by law provided for the service of a summons in a civil action in the district court. Said board, if in its 

judgment any of the provisions of this act have been violated, shall 

issue the order or orders already mentioned in this section. (1885. 

Chap. 225, sec. 2.)

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[Public statutes of New Hampshire and general laws in force Jan. 1. 1901. p. 337, chap. 

108. tWm. M. and Arthur H. Chase.)]

Section 13, entitled, u The prevention and removal of nuisances," is 

as follows : " If a person shall .place, leave, or cause to b° placed or left 

in or near a lake, pond, reservoir, or stream tributary thereto, from 

which the water supply for domestic purposes of a city, town, or village is taken, in whole or in part, any substance or fluid that may
GOODHLL.] SEVEEE STATUTE EESTEICTIONS NEW HAMPSHIEE. 83

cause the water thereof to become impure or unfit for such purposes, 

he shall be fined not exceeding twenty dollars or be imprisoned not 

exceeding thirty days, or both."

SEC. 14, The board of health of the town or the water commissioners having charge of the water supply or the proprietors thereof 

may remove such substance or fluid, and they may recover the 

expense of removal from the person who placed the same or caused 

it to be placed in or near the water as aforesaid in an action oil the 

case.

[Laws of 1895, chap. 76, p. 433.] 

AN ACT to protect waters used for domestic purposes.

Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives in general 

court convened:

SECTION 1. Whoever knowingly and wilfully poisons, defiles, pollutes, or in any way corrupts the waters or ice of any well, spring, 

brook, lake, pond, river, or reservoir used as the source of a public 

water or ice supply for domestic purposes, or knowingly corrupts the 

sources of the water of any water company or of any city or tovn supplying its inhabitants with water, or the tributaries of said sources of 

supply, in such a manner as to affect the purity of the water or ice so 

supplied at the point where the water or ice is taken for such domestic use, or puts the carcass of any dead animal or other offensive 

material into said waters or upon the ice thereof, shall be punished 

by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or by imprisonment not 

exceeding one year. The provisions of this section shall not apply to 

the deposit of any bark, sawdust, or any other waste of any kind 

arising from the business of cutting, hauling, driving, or storing logs, 

or the manufacture of lumber; and the use of any stream for the 

purposes of manufacturing and for the necessary drainage connected 

therewith, if more than four miles distant from the point wh°re the 

water is taken for such domestic purposes, shall not be deemec7 a violation of this section.

SEC. 2. No person shall cut or take ice from any lake, pond, or reservoir used as the source of a public water or ice supply for domestic 

purposes for man, unless he first shall comply in all respects with 

such reasonable rules and regulations in regard to the manner and 

place of cutting and taking such ice on said lake, pond, or reservoir 

as may be prescribed by the local board of control or officers of a 

water company who may have charge of the works of any city c r town 

supplying its inhabitants with water from said lake, pond, or reservoir. The supreme court shall have power to issue injunctions 

restraining any person from cutting or taking ice from suet lakes, 

ponds, or reservoirs until they have complied with the reasonable 

regulations made as aforesaid.
84 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

SEC. 3. Said local boards and officers may also make all reasonable 

rules and regulations in regard to fishing and the use of boats in and 

upon any such lake, pond, or reservoir, and in regard to racing or 

speeding horses upon the ice thereof, which they m<\y deem expedient. Any person who shall violate any of said rules and regulations after notice thereof shall be fined not exceeding twenty dollars, 

or imprisoned not exceeding six months.

SEC. 4. If any person shall bathe in such lake, pord, or reservoir 

within one-fourth mile of the point where said water is taken, he 

shall be fined not exceeding twenty dollars, or imprisoned not 

exceeding six months.

SEC. 5. Whoever shall wilfully injure any of the property of any 

water company or of any city or town, used by it in supplying water 

to its inhabitants, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one 

thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year; and 

such person shall also forfeit and pay to such water company, city, 

or town three times the amount of actual damages sustained, to be 

recovered in an action on the case.

SEC. 6. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are 

hereby repealed, but nothing in this act shall be construed to repeal 

any special act applying to cities and towns.

[Laws of 1897, chap. 85, p. 82.]

SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of boards of health of the cities and 

towns of'the State to examine and inspect the sources from which ice 

is cut^ or is proposed to be cut, for domestic use in such cities and 

towns, and to employ such means as may be necessary to determine 

whether the waters of such sources of ice supply have been polluted, 

or whether ice taken therefrom will be deleterious to the public 

health. r

SEC. 2. In each case where the waters of the sources of ice supplies 

shall be found so polluted that the ice taken therefrom will be 

unhealthy or unsafe for domestic use, the board of health of the city 

or town concerned in the same shall immediately notify such person 

or persons as may have taken, or who propose to take, ice from such 

polluted source for their own domestic use or for sale for domestic 

use, of the dangerous character of the waters inspected and that the 

taking of such ice for domestic use must cease.

SEC. 3. Whoever knowingly or wilfully shall cut or take any ice for 

domestic purposes from any waters which are polluted with sewage or 

other substance deleterious or dangerous to life or health, or from 

waters which a board of health has condemned, shall be fined not 

exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars or imprisoned not exceeding 

six months.
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW HAMPSHIRE. 85

[Acts of 1899, chap. 57.]

SECTION 1. Whenever any board of water commissioners, local 

board of health, or ten or more citizens of any town or city 1 <we reason to believe that a public water or ice supply is being contaminated 

or is in clanger of contamination, and that the local regulations are 

not sufficient or effective to prevent such pollution, they may petition 

the State board of health to investigate the case and to establish such 

regulations as the said board may deem necessary for the protection 

of the said supply against any pollution that in its judgment would 

endanger the public health.

SEC. 2. The State board of health shall, after due investigation, 

make such regulations as it may deem best to protect the said supply 

against any dangerous contamination, and the regulations so made 

shall be in force when a copy is filed with the town clerk and posted 

in two or more public places in said town, or published in some newspaper in the county, and it shall be the duty of the local board of 

health to enforce said regulations.

SEC. 3. Any person violating any regulation established by the 

State board of health shall be punished by a fine of twenty dollars 

for each offense, and a certified copy under oath of such regulation, 

made by the secretary of the State board of health or by the town 

clerk where the regulations are filed, shall be received as prima facie 

evidence of such regulations in any court of the State.

[Laws of 1905, chap. 12.]

AN ACT to protect the waters of Alton Bay from pollution by sawdust and other

waste.

SEC. 1. That no sawdust, shavings, or other waste product of sawmills, planing mills, or other manufactories shall be deposited, 

dumped, or placed in that part of Lake Winnipesaukee known as 

Alton Bay, nor shall any sawdust, shavings, or other waste products 

be allowed to escape into, or be deposited, dumped, or placed in any 

stream which runs or empties into said bay.

SEC. 2. Any person, or any officer of any corporation, violating the 

provisions of this act shall be fined not exceeding twenty-five dollars 

for each offense, and each day of a violation of the same shall be 

deemed a separate offense.

SEC. 3. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with thir act are 

hereby repealed.

SEC. Jr. This act shall take effect on April 1,1905.

Approved February 9, 1905.
86 LAWS FOBBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

[Laws of 1905, chap. 73.]

AN ACT to prohibit the deposit of sawdust and other sawmill refuse and other 

waste in Swift River and its tributaries in the town o* Tamworth.

SEC. 1. Any person who shall deposit, dump, place, or cause to be 

deposited, dumped, or placed any sawdust or other sawmill refuse, 

rubbish, or other waste in Swift River and its tributaries, in the 

town of Tamworth, shall be fined not less than ten dollars nor more 

than fifty dollars.

SEC. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Approved March 9,1905.

[Laws of 1905, chap. 74.1 

AN ACT to protect Mink Brook from pollution by sawdust and other waste.

SEC. 1. No person or corporation shall put or place, or cause or 

allow to be put or placed, any sawdust, shavings, edgings, chips, 

bark, or other waste from woodwork establishments into Mink Brook 

in the town of Hanover.

SEC. 2. Any person or corporation violating the provisions of this 

act shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten dollars for each 

offense, and every day that they violate the same shall be deemed a 

separate offense.

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect June 1,1905.

Approved March 9, 1905.

[Laws of 1905, chap. 88.]

AN ACT to protect Union River and its tributaries from pollution by sawdust

and other waste.

SEC. 1. No person or corporation shall put or place, or cause to be 

put or placed, any sawdust, shavings, edgings, chips, bark, or other 

waste from sawmills or other woodwork establishments into Union 

River, so called, or its tributaries, in the towns of Brookfield and 

Wakefield in Carroll County, and the town of Milton in Stratford 

County. Any person or corporation violating the provisions of this 

act shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for 

each offense.

SEC. 2. This act shall take effect on April 15, 1905.

Approved March 10,1905.

NEW JERSEY.

[General Statutes, p. 1109.]

AN ACT to prevent the pollution of the waters of any of the creeks, ponds, or 

brooks of this State. (Approved March 29, 187*7 .)

322. SECTION 1. That if any person or persons shall throw, cause or 

permit to be thrown, into the waters of any creek, pond, or brook of
GOODELL.] SEVEEE STATUTE KESTKICTIONS NEW JERSEY. 87

this State, the waters of which may be used for the cutting or harvesting of ice, any carcasses of any dead animal or any offal or offensive 

matter whatsoever, calculated to render said waters impure o" create 

noxious or offensive smells, or shall connect any water-closet with any 

sewer or other means whereby the contents thereof may be conveyed 

to and into any such creek, pond, or brook, shall be deemed guilty of 

a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine 

not exceeding one hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding 

thirty days, or both.

[2 General Statutes, p. 2215.]

AN ACT to enable towns and townships in this State to construct waterworks 

for the extinguishment of fires and supplying the inhabitants thereof with 

pure and wholesome water. (Approved March 9, 1893.)

419. SEC. 13. That if any person or persons shall willfully pollute 

or adulterate the waters in any reservoir erected under the privisions 

of this act, any person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not 

exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment at hard Irbor not 

exceeding three years, or both, at the discretion of the court before 

whom, such conviction shall be had.

[General Statutes, p. 1107.]

Supplement to an act to prevent the willful pollution of waters of ary of the 

creeks, ponds, or brooks of this State. (Approved February 27, 1P80.)

SECTION 1. (As amended by act passed March 14, 1893. General 

Statutes, p. HOT, sec. 311.) That if any person or persons shall throw, 

cause or permit to be thrown into any reservoir, or into the waters of 

any creek, pond, or brook of this State which runs through or along 

the border of any city, town, or borough of this State, or the waters of 

which are used to supply any aqueduct or reservoir for distribution 

for public use, any carcass of any dead animal, or any offal cv offensive matter whatsoever calculated to render said waters impure, or to 

create noxious or offensive smells, or shall connect any water-closet 

with any sewer, or other means whereby the contents thereof may be 

conveyed to and into any such creek, pond, or brook, or shall so deposit or cause or permit to be deposited any such carcass, offal, or 

other offensive matter that the washing or waste therefrom shall or 

may be conveyed to and into any such creek, pond, brook, or reservoir, 

such person or persons shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and 

on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one 

thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both.

309. SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of the owner or owners, occupant or occupants of any land whereon any such carcass, offal, or 

other offensive matter may be to cause the same to be buried forth-
88 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. . [No. 152.

with, so that all portions thereof shall be covered with solid earth to 

a depth of at least two feet below the surface of the ground, and not 

within a distance of two hundred feet from such creek, pond, or 

brook used as aforesaid; and any such owner or occupant who shall 

refuse or neglect for the space of two days to remove and bury as 

aforesaid, or cause to be removed and buried, any such carcass, offal, 

or offensive matter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on 

conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both.

[Laws of 1898, chap. 136, p. 233.]

AN ACT authorizing the appointment of commissioners to consider the subject 

of the pollution of rivers and streams within this State, to provide a plan for 

the prevention thereof, and for the relief of the persons and property affected 

thereby, and to provide for the expenses necessary for that purpose.

Be it enacted by the senateland general assembly of the State of 

New Jersey:

1. The governor of this State shall have power and authority to 

appoint and commission not less than three suitable persons commissioners to consider the subject of the pollution of any stream or river 

within this State, whose duty it shall be, after having duly investigated the cause, character, and extent of such pollution, if they shall 

deem it necessary and expedient, to prepare and perfect a plan for 

the prevention thereof and for the relief of the persons and property 

affected thereby, and to report their conclusions and present their 

plan to the legislature of this State, together with a bill providing 

therefor and for the expenses thereof.

2. Such commissioners, when so appointed, shall organize by the 

selection of one of their number as chairman and one to act as treasurer, and they are authorized to select a clerk and to employ such 

other agents and assistants as may be necessary. Tie salary and 

compensation of such commissioners shall be fixed by the governor, 

and shall not exceed one thousand dollars each, and they shall have 

power and authority to fix the compensation of their agents and 

assistants.

3. Such commissioners are authorized to raise and expend for the 

purposes of this act a sum not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars, 

which sum, or such part thereof as may be required and be necessary, 

they are hereby authorized to apportion among the several local 

municipalities which the said commissioners shall deem to be affected 

by such pollution, in proportion to the population of such municipalities as shown by the last State or National census, and the sum or 

sums so apportioned shall be certified by the said commissioners 

under their hands to the assessors or other taxing officers of the said 

several municipalities, and it shall be the duty of the proper taxing
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE BESTRICTIONS NEW JEESEY. 89

officer or officers in each of the said municipalities to whom such 

apportionment, is made to proceed to have the same lev: ed and 

assessed and collecterl in the same manner and at the same time asother taxes are levied and collected therein, and it shall be the duty 

of the collector or other equivalent officer of each of the said municipalities to pay over the said several sums of money, when so levied, 

assessed, and collected, to the said commissioners or to such person 

or persons as they may appoint to receive the same, and the said 

commissioners are authorized to use and disburse the same for the 

purposes of this act.

4. The commissioners appointed under the authority of this act 

shall have the power and authority to anticipate the collection and 

receipt of the sums of money hereby authorized to be raised by taxation, and may issue from time to time certificates of indebtedness, or 

other obligations, to be paid from the funds to be raised by taxation 

in the manner herein provided; and they are authorized to use the 

funds received from the sale or negotiation of such certificates or 

obligations authorized to be issued by this act.

5. Said commissioners are hereby required, at any time, on the 

order of the governor, to render to him a report and statement of 

their receipts- and expenditures under the authority of this act.

6. Vacancies caused by the death or resignation of any commissioner appointed under the authority of this act, or from other 

cause, shall be filled by the governor, and the governor may remove 

any of the persons so appointed and appoint another commissioner 

in his place.

7. This act shall take effect immediately. 

Approved April 2, 1898.

[Laws of 1899, chap. 41, p. 73.]

AN ACT to secure the purity of the public supplies of potable waters in this

State.

Be it enacted 'by the senate and general assembly of the State of 

New Jersey:

1. No sewage, drainage, domestic or factory refuse, excremental or 

other polluting matter of any kind whatsoever which, either by itself 

or in connection with other matter, will corrupt or impair, or tend to 

corrupt or impair, the quality of the water of any river, brook, stream, 

or any tributary or branch thereof, or of any lake, pond, well, spring, 

or other reservoir from which is taken, or may be taken, any public 

supply of water for domestic use in any city, town, borough, township, or other municipality of this State, or which will render, or 

tend to render, such water injurious to health, shall be placed in, or 

discharged into, the waters, or placed or deposited upon the ice, of
90 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

any such river, brook, stream, or any tributary or branch thereof, or 

of any lake, pond, well, spring, or other reservoir above the point 

from which any city, town, borough, township, or other municipality 

shall or may obtain its supply of water for domestic use, nor shall 

any such sewage, drainage, domestic or factory refuse, excremental or 

other polluting matter be placed or suffered to remain upon the banks 

of any such river, brook, stream, or of any tributary or branch 

thereof, or of any lake, pond, well, spring, or other reservoir above 

the point from which any city, town, borough, township, or other 

municipality shall or may obtain its supply of water for domestic use 

as aforesaid; and any person or persons, or private or public corporation, which shall offend against any of the provisions of this section 

shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars fcr each offense; 

and each week's continuance, after notice by the State or local board 

of health to abate or remove the same, shall constitute a separate 

offense: Provided, however, That this section shall not be held to 

apply to any city, town, borough, township, or other municipality of 

this State which, at the date of the passage of this act, has a public 

sewer or system of sewers, drain or system of drains, legally constructed under municipal or township authority, discharging its 

drainage or sewage into any such river, brook, stream, lake, pond, 

well, spring, or other reservoir: And provided further, That nothing 

in this section contained shall be construed to repeal, modify, or other 

wise affect any law or statute now conferring upon any local board of 

health the power or authority to institute any proceedings in any 

court of this State for the recovery of any penalty for, or obtaining 

any injunction against, the pollution of any of the waters of this 

State.

s

2. Any penalty incurred under any of the provisions of the first 

section of this act may be recovered, with costs, in a summary proceeding, either in the name of the board of health of the State of New 

Jersey or in the name of the local board of health of the township, 

city, borough, town, or other local municipal government within 

whose jurisdiction the penalty may have been incurred; it shall be 

the duty of any health inspector, or member of any local board of 

health, who shall know or be informed of any violation of any of the 

provisions of the first section of this act whereby any penalty may 

have been incurred, to make, and any other person having such knowledge may make, under oath or affirmation, a complaint against the 

person or persons or private or public corporation incurring such penalty, setting forth the facts of such violation, which complaint shall 

be filed in the office of the clerk of the district court, or with any 

justice of the peace of the county within which the offense may have 

been committed, or with any police justice or recorder of the township, city, or other municipality within which any local board bring-
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE EESTBICTIOKS *TEW JEfcSElf. 91

ing suit shall have jurisdiction; and the district court, justice of the 

peace, police justice, or recorder, with whom any complaint shall be 

filed as aforesaid, setting forth facts sufficient to show that the penalty 

prescribed by the first section of this act has been incurred, i? hereby 

authorized and required to issue process either in the nature of a summons or warrant, which process, when in the nature of a warrant, 

shall be returnable forthwith, and when in the nature of a summons 

shall be returnable in not less than five nor more than fifteen days. 

On the return of such process, or at any time to which the trial shall 

have been adjourned, the said court, justice of the peace, police justice, or recorder shall proceed to hear the testimony of witnesses and 

the proofs in the case, and to determine and give judgment in the 

matter without the filing of any pleadings, and, if judgment shall be 

given in favor of the plaintiff, execution shall forthwith issue against 

the goods and chattels of the defendant for the amount of the penalty, 

with costs; and all judgments so revered shall have the same force 

and effect as other judgments in civil actions before civil courts and 

officers, and may be docketed in like manner in the office of tl x ?, clerk 

of the court of common pleas; the officers to serve and execute any 

process or execution issued as aforesaid shall be the constables of the 

counties, which service and execution, in the case of any execution 

issued out of the district court, shall be made in the same manner and 

under the same liabilities as other executions issued out of said court 

are served and executed; the officers to serve and execute any process 

or execution issued by a justice of the peace, police justice, or recorder, 

shall be the constables of the county, which service and execution 

shall be made in the same manner and under the same liabilities as 

prescribed in cases of the service and execution of processes and executions by the act entitled "An act constituting courts for the trial 

of small causes,'1 and the supplements thereto; all moneys recovered 

in any such proceeding shall be paid to the plaintiff therein and 

applied by such plaintiff to any purpose for which it may be legally 

authorized to expend money.

3. The State board of health shall have the general supervision, 

with reference to their purity, of all rivers, brooks, stream^,, lakes, 

ponds, wells, springs, or other reservoirs in this State the waters of 

which are or may be used as the source or sources of public water 

supplies for domestic use, together with the waters feeding tie same, 

and shall have the authority from time to time, as they deem necessary or proper, to examine the same and to inquire what, if any, pollutions exist and their causes; and the said State board of health, in 

carrying oirtrthe provisions of this section, may from time to time, as 

they deem it necessary or proper, address inquiries in printed or 

written form to any local.board of health, municipal or township 

authority, corporation, or person or persons, which inquiries it shall
.92 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

be the duty of the persons or parties addressed to answer within such 

time as the said State board of health may in such inquiries prescribe.

4. If any person or persons, corporation or corporations, city, town, 

borough, township, or other municipality of this State, or any municipal or township authority, shall violate any of the provisions of the 

first section of this act, it shall be lawful for the said State board of 

health, instead of proceeding in a summary way to recover the penalty, prescribed in said section, to file a bill in the court of chancery, 

in the name of the State, on the relation of such board, for an injunction to prohibit the further violation of the said section, and every 

such action shall proceed in the court of chancery according to the 

rules and practice of bills filed in the name of the attorney-general 

on the relation of individuals, and cases of emergency shall have 

precedence over other litigation pending at the time in the court of 

chancery, and may be heard on final hearing within such time and on 

such notice as the chancellor shall direct.

5. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this 

act are hereby repealed.

6. This act shall take effect immediately. 

Approved March 17, 1899.

[Laws of 1899, chap. 210, p. 536.]

AN ACT to prevent the pollution of the waters of this State by the establishment 

of a State sewerage commission, and authorizing the cre°tion of sewerage 

districts and district sewerage boards, and prescribing, defining, and regulating 

the powers and duties of such commission and such boards.

Be it enacted l>y the senate and general assembly of the State of New 

Jersey:

1. It shall be the duty of the governor, within thirty days next succeeding the approval or passage of this act, to appoint, by and with 

the advice and consent of the senate, five citizens of this State, to 

compose and be known as u the State sewerage commission." In the 

original nomination of the members of said commission to the senate 

the governor shall designate one of them to serve for one year, and 

two for two years, and two for three years, and thereafter the members of said commission shall be appointed by the governor, by and 

with the advice and consent of the senate, for the term of three years 

and until their successors are duly appointed, confirmed, and qualified. Any vacancy occurring in said commission when the legislature 

is not in session shall be filled by appointment of the governor until 

the next regular session of the legislature, when such vacancy shall 

be filled in the manner hereinbefore provided, but any such lastmentioned appointment and confirmation by the senate shall be for 

the unexpired term only. Members of said commission, before enter-
QOODELL.] SEVEEE STATUTE KESTEICTIONS NEW JEESEY. 93

ing upon the duties of their office, shall make and subscribe r,n oath 

or affirmation (before some person authorized by the .laws of this 

State to administer the same) to truly, faithfully, and impartially 

perform and discharge the duties of their office according to law and 

file the same with the secretary of state. The terms of office of the 

members of said commission (except those appointed by the governor 

to fill vacancies as aforesaid) shall commence on the fiflst Monday of 

May next succeeding their appointment by the governor and confirmation by the senate. On the first Monday of May next succeeding 

the original appointment of said commission the members thereof 

shall meet at the statehouse in the city of Trenton and organize by 

the election of one of their number to be chairman of said commission and one to be treasurer thereof, which officers shall hold office at 

the pleasure of the commission. After having so met and organized 

subsequent meetings of the commission shall be held at such times 

and places as the commission may direct or as it may be called to 

meet by the chairman.

2. Said commission shall keep a record of all its proceedings and 

transactions, also full and accurate account of its receipts, disbursements, expenditures, assets, and liabilities, and shall annually report 

to the legislature its operations, proceedings, and transactions for the 

preceding year, with a statement or abstract of such receipts, disbursements, expenditures, assets, and liabilities.

3. The members of said commission shall each receive an annual 

salary of one thousand dollars, to be paid as other salaries of State 

officers are paid. . Said commission may have a secretary (not a 

member of the commission), to be appointed by the commission or a 

majority thereof, who shall hold his office at the pleasure of the commission or a majority thereof, and receive such salary as the commission or a majority thereof, with the approval of the governor, may 

fix; said commission or a majority thereof may also from time to 

time employ or appoint such experts, engineers, officers, agents, 

employes, workmen, and servants as it may deem necessary or proper 

to enable it to perform its duties and carry out the objects and purposes of this act; and said commission or a majority thereof may 

fix and determine the duties and compensation of said experts, engineers, officers, agents, employes, workmen, and servants, and remove 

or discharge the same or any of them at pleasure.

4. It shall be the duty of the secretary to keep a record of all the 

proceedings and transactions of the commission, to prepare the annual 

report to the legislature, and perform such other duties as th°! commission may require. It shall be the duty of the treasurer to take 

charge of the moneys received by the commission, to keep accurate 

accounts of the receipt and disbursement thereof? and to deposit and
94 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATEE POLLUTION. [No. 152.

pay out said moneys as the commission may direct and under such 

rules and regulations as it may from time to time establish. The 

treasurer may be required to give bond to the commission for the due 

and faithful performance of his duties as such treasurer, in such sum 

and with such sureties as the commission or a majority thereof may 

require and approve.

5. It shall be the duty of said commission to investigate the various methods of sewage disposal, either in, this countrv or elsewhere, 

in order that they may be able to make proper recommendations in 

regard thereto. They shall investigate all complaints of pollution of 

the waters of this State which shall be brought to tHir notice, and 

shall advise as to the best methods of sewage disposal in order to 

prevent such pollution.

6. It shall be unlawful for any person, corporation, or municipality 

to build any sewer or drain or sewerage system from which it is 

designed that any sewage or other harmful and deleterious matter, 

solid or liquid, shall flow into any of the waters of this State so as to 

pollute or render impure said waters, except under such conditions as 

shall be approved by the State sewerage commission: Pro vided, That 

the provisions of this section shall not be deemed to prohibit the use 

or extension of existing sewers, drains, or sewerage systems.

7. It shall be unlawful for any person, corporation, or municipality 

to build or cause to be built any plant for the treatment of sewage or 

other polluting substance from which the effluent is to flow into any 

of the waters of this State, except under such conditions as shall be 

approved by the State sewerage commission, to whom the plans shall 

be submitted before building.

8. On or before the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred, and thereafter whenever required by said commission, the mayor 

of every municipality and the chairman of every towrship committee 

of every township now having, using, owning, leasing, or controlling 

a sewerage plant or system shall furnish to said commission, on blanks 

to be provided by said commission, a statement showing the disposition made of the sewage of their respective municipalities or townships, and, as near as possible, the amount discharged each twentyfour hours, and such other information and data as may be called for 

by said blanks to be provided as aforesaid by said commission.

9. The words " waters of this State," as used in tl is act, shall be 

held and construed to mean and* include any and all waters of any 

pond, lake, creek, inlet, bay, estuary, river, or stream of this State.

10. To enable said commission to carry out and enforce the provisions of this act, the said commission may expend a sum not exceeding 

five thousand dollars, when duly appropriated.

11. And whereas, in order to prevent the pollution of the waters of 

this State, it is deemed necessary to establish a proper system or sys-
GOODELL.J SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW JERSEY. 95

terns of sewerage and drainage wherein may or may not be included 

a system or systems of sewage-disposal works for the scientific treatment and proper disposal of sewage and sewage matter and thQ, effluent thereof, and the establishment of any such system or systems 

may render proper or necessary the formation or creation of sewerage 

districts embracing portions or the whole of the territory of two or 

more of the municipalities of this State, within which districts such 

system may be constructed, maintained, and operated, and such 

municipalities may be unable, through lack of power and authority 

or otherwise, to agree upon the establishment of any such system or 

systems or upon the extent or limits of the territory of their respective municipalities to be included in any such district or districts and 

devoted to the uses and purposes of any such system or systems as 

aforesaid; therefore upon presentation to said the State sewerage 

commission of a petition in writing, setting forth that in order to prevent the pollution of the waters of this State, or any of them, it is 

proper or necessary that portions or the whole of the territory of two 

or more of the municipalities of this State should be erected into a 

sewerage district for the construction, maintaining, and operation 

within such district of a system of sewerage and drainage or a system 

of sewage-disposal works, or of both such systems, and naming each 

municipality,xthe w,hole or any portion of the territory whereof it is 

proposed shall be included in such district, and stating generally the 

boundaries and outlines of such proposed district 'with sufficient 

exactness to show approximately the quantity or extent of territory 

of each municipality to be embraced in such proposed district, and 

requesting said commission to create and establish such district for 

either or both of the purposes aforesaid; and if said petition be signed 

by the mayors or other chief executive officers of all of the municipalities named in said petition, any of whose territory is proposed to 

be included in said district, said signatures being respectively affixed 

to said petition by authority or direction of the respective governing 

bodies of such municipalities (full power and authority to authorize 

and direct the signing of any such petition being hereby conferred 

upon and vested in all such governing bodies), and the signing of 

said petition by such authority or direction being made to appear by 

affidavit or other due proof thereof, it shall be lawful for srid the 

State sewerage commission to appoint a time and place when and 

where it will attend and give public hearing of the matters cortained 

in said petition to all persons and parties interested thereir; said 

commission shall cause at least twenty days' notice to be given of the 

time and place of any such hearing by publishing the same in the 

newspaper or newspapers, il any, published within said proposed district, and if none be published therein, then in a newspaper or newspapers published in the neighborhood of said proposed district and
96 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

circulating therein; said notice may also, at the discretion of said 

commission, be published in a newspaper or newspapers published 

outside of said proposed district, whether or not any paper or papers 

be published within the same; said commission shall also, at least 

ten days prior to the day fixed for such hearing, cause notice of the 

time and place thereof to be mailed to or served upon the mayor or 

other chief executive officer of any and all municipalities named in 

said petition, any territory whereof is included in said proposed district ; and said commission may, if it deem proper so to do, require a 

copy of said petition to be mailed to or served upon such mayors or 

other chief executive officers such number of days prior to said hearing as it may direct; said hearing may be adjourned from time to 

time as said commission may decide; the sessions of said commission 

on said hearing, or any adjournment thereof, when sitting for the 

taking of testimony or hearing argument of counsel, shall be open 

and public, and witnesses may be examined under oath or affirmation, 

which any member of said commission or the secretary thereof is 

hereby authorized and empowered to administer; the secretary of said 

commission shall attend at all such hearings and keep minutes of the 

proceedings thereat; said commission may, if it deem proper so to do, 

employ a stenographer to take and transcribe the testimony produced 

before it at any such hearing; and said commission may require the 

persons or parties presenting to it any such petition as aforesaid to 

pay in advance or assume or guarantee to pay all or s^ich part of the 

costs, charges, and expenses to be made or incurred by reason of the 

filing of said petition and subsequent proceedings to be had thereupon or thereunder, as said commission may think proper.

12. If, after such hearing, said commission, or a majority thereof, 

shall deem it advisable to comply with the request of .said petition, 

and that a district for the purpose or purposes, or either of them 

therein stated, should be created and established, said commission 

shall adopt a resolution to that effect, defining the line its and boundaries of such district with certainty and .declaring the territory 

included within such limits and boundaries to be a sewerage district, 

within which a system of sewerage and drainage, or a system of 

sewage-disposal works, or both, may be constructed, maintained, and 

operated under the provisions of this act; the said districts shall be 

called and known as u sewerage districts," and the boards to construct, maintain, and operate the system or systems of sewerage or 

sewage-disposal works within such districts shall be called and known 

as " sewerage boards; " in and by said resolution, s?id commission 

shall assign to the district therein and thereby established a name 

and number, thus, " Sewerage district number ," and shall also 

specify the name by which the board thereafter to be elected in such
GOODELL.] SEVEEE STATUTE EESTEICTIOlsTS NEW JERSEY. 97

district shall be called and designated, thus, " Sewerage board of district number ," the number of any such district and that of the 

sewerage board therein to be always the same. The first sewerage 

district created and established under this act shall be " Sewerage 

district number one," the second number two, and so on in regular 

order, as the same may be respectively created. Said commission 

shall also cause a map to be prepared of said district so created and 

established, whereon and whereby shall be shown with accuracy the 

limits and boundaries of such district, of what municipalities the 

lands included in said district form a part, and what extent or quantity of territory of each municipality (whether the whole or a portion 

thereof) is included in said district. The original of said map shall 

be filed with said commission, and within ten days after the adoption 

of said resolution a copy thereof and of said map shall be filed in 

the office of the secretary of state and in the clerk's office of each 

county in which any of the lands included in said district may be 

situate; and from and after the filing of such resolution and maps as 

aforesaid the territory included in said district as stated and shown 

in and by said resolution and map shall be deemed to be and constitute a sewerage district by the name and number and for the purposes stated in said resolution.

13. The members of the several sewerage boards shall corsist of 

two members from each municipality, in whole or part, within the 

sewerage district, to be appointed by the governing body of each of 

such municipalities, and one member to be appointed by the State 

sewerage commission, all of whom shall be residents of the d;strict; 

provided that in case more than three municipalities shall be included 

in whole or part in any sewerage district there shall be but one member from each municipality in addition to the number appoirted by 

the State sewerage commission.

14. The members of any district sewerage board first appointed 

shall meet at such time and place as the State sewerage commission 

shall designate; each member of said board (and all members thereof 

afterwards appointed thereto) shall take and subscribe an oath or 

affirmation, before some person authorized to administer the same, to 

faithfully and truly perform his duty as member of such board to the 

best of his ability, and within two days after making thereof forward 

the same to the secretary of state; said board when met as aforesaid 

(the members thereof having each made and subscribed said oath or 

affirmation) shall organize by the election of one of their nunber as 

chairman, one as secretary, and one as treasurer; the members of said 

board shall serve for the term of three years each, and the terms of 

such members shall commence on the date of their first meeting as 

IEB 152 05 M 7
98 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

designated by the State sewerage commission; the chairman, secretary, and treasurer of said board shall, respectively, serve for the 

period of one year and until their successors are elected; a certificate 

or statement of such meeting and organization of said board shall, on 

the day of such meeting, be prepared and mailed to the secretary of 

state, to be filed in his office; meetings of said board subsequent to 

such first meeting for organization shall be held at such times and 

places as the board may decide or as it may be called to meet by the 

chairman.

15. From and after such meeting and organizatior of said board 

and the filing of such certificate as aforesaid, said board shall be 

deemed to be and shall be a body politic and corporate, under the 

same name and title as that designated and specified in the resolution 

of the State sewerage commission creating and defining the said sewerage district, to wit, " Sewerage board of district number ," and 

by such name and title said sewerage board shall have perpetual succession, with power to sue and be sued, and the right, power, and 

authority to acquire, hold, use, and dispose of all such property, real 

or personal, as may be proper or necessary for the objects, uses, and 

purposes for which said sewerage board was created, and with all 

other powers necessary or incident to bodies politic arrl corporate or 

that may be necessary or proper to carry out and effectuate the objects 

and purposes of this act and the objects and purposes for which said 

sewerage board was created.

16. Any such board incorporated as aforesaid shall have full power 

and authority within its respective district, under the supervision, 

direction, and control of the State sewerage commission as hereinbefore or hereinafter provided, to construct, maintain, and operate in 

said district a system of sewerage and drainage, or of sewage-disposal works, or both, with the necessary pipes, drains', conduits, fixtures, pumping works, and other appliances for the purpose of taking 

up sewage and all other offensive and deleterious matter and convey the same to some proper place or places of deposit or disposal to 

be selected by the said board, there to be deposited, treated, disinfected, or disposed of as to the said board may seem proper and as 

may be deemed most advantageous; and it shall be the duty of all 

persons and all corporate bodies and municipalities owning or controlling sewers or drains or having charge thereof within the limits 

of the district wherein intercepting or main sewers have been or may 

be constructed by the said board as herein provided, to cause the same 

to be connected therewith; and it shall be the duty of said board in 

constructing such main or intercepting sewers to have them so constructed that such connection can be made therewith at all necessary 

and proper points and places; all such connections shall be made in
OOODELL.I SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW JERSEY. 99

accordance with the rules and regulations from time to time a.dopted 

by the said board in relation thereto, and under the direction and 

supervision of its officers and agents.

IT. The said board shall have power and authority to purchase and 

acquire all lands, rights, or interest in lands which may be deemed 

necessary for the construction of sewers, drains, disposal pumping, 

and other works authorized by this act; and if in any case the said 

board shall be unable to agree with the owner or. owners of any lands, 

rights, or interests in lands deemed necessary by the said board in the 

construction of the works herein authorized, or when, by reason of 

the legal incapacity or absence of such owner or owners, no agreement can be made for the purchase thereof, the lands or rights in 

lands so desired shall be acquired in the manner provided by the 

general laws of this State relating to the condemnation of lands for 

public use.

18. Before determining upon the final plan or route for the building or construction of any work authorized by this act, the said board 

may, by its officers, agents, servants, and employes, enter at all times 

upon any lands or waters for the purpose of exploring, surveying, 

leveling, and laying out the route of any drain or sewer, locating 

any disposal, pumping, or other works, establishing grades and doing 

all necessary preliminary work, doing, however, no unnecessary damage or injury to private or other property.

19. The said board shall have power and authority to construct any 

sewer or drain, by it to be made or constructed under or over any 

water course, under, over, or across, or along any street, turnpike, 

road, railroad, highway or other way, and in or upon private or public lands under water, in such way and manner, however, as not 

unnecessarily to obstruct or impede travel or navigation, and may 

enter upon and dig up any road, street, highway, or private or public 

land, for the purpose of laying down sewers and drains upon or 

beneath the surface thereof, and for maintaining and repairing the 

same, and in general may do all other acts and things necessary, convenient, and proper for the purposes of this act; and whenever the 

said board shall dig up any road, street, or way, as aforesaid, it shall, 

as far as practicable, restore the same to as good condition and order 

as the same was when such digging commenced.

20. The said board shall have power and authority also to alter or 

change the course or direction of any water course, and, with the consent of the board or body having control of the streets and highways 

in any city, town, or municipality, to alter or change the location or 

grade of any highway, public street, or way crossed by any sewer or 

drain constructed or to be constructed under the provisions of this 

act, or in which such sewers or drains may be located.
100 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

21. The said board shall at all times keep full and accurate accounts 

of its receipts, expenditures, disbursements, assets, and liabilities, 

and shall annually make a report of its operations and doings, in 

which report it shall include an abstract of such receipts, expenditures, disbursements, assets, and liabilities, and publish the same in 

one or more newspapers, published in each of the counties in said 

district.

22. To provide for the payment of the costs and expenses incurred 

or to be incurred by the said board in making the constructions and 

executing the work and performing the duties imposed upon it by 

this act, it shall have power and authority from time to time to issue 

bonds in its corporate name, not to exceed in amount such costs and 

expenses, and not to exceed that part of such cost and expense 

incurred in the work of constructing sewers, drains disposal, and 

other works, including the cost of lands, rights and interests in lands, 

of which a separate account is to be kept by said board as hereinafter 

provided; such bonds shall be of the form and payable at such time, 

not exceeding thirty years from the date thereof, and at such place, 

either in currency or coin, as the said board may determine; they shall 

bear interest at a rate not exceeding five per centum per annum; in 

issuing such bonds the said board may, in its discretion, make the 

same or any part thereof, fall due at stated periods less than thirty 

years, or may reserve therein an option to redeem and pay the same or 

any part thereof at stated periods at any time between (he date thereof 

and the date at which they would otherwise fall due, and all such 

bonds may be negotiated, sold, or disposed of at not less than their 

par value, and the same or the proceeds thereof may be used by the 

said board for the purpose aforesaid.

23. The said board shall keep the costs and expenses of the construction of sewers, drains, disposal and other works, in which shall 

be included the cost of lands, rights, and interests in lands, separate 

from the costs and expenses of maintenance, operation, and repairs, 

and shall, after having prepared and adopted plans (which, however, 

the board or the State sewerage commission shall have the power to 

change or modify, if such change or modification shall be found necessary or desirable), make a.careful estimate of the cost and expense of 

such construction, and shall divide and apportion the same, according to their best judgment, to and between the severa] municipalities 

or parts thereof (if any) included within such sewerage districts ratably and proportionally to the benefits received or to be received by 

such municipalities or parts thereof from such construction, and shall 

furnish to the governing body of each and every municipality the 

whole or any part whereof is included in such sewerage district, a 

statement of such estimated cost and expense and of the division and
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW JERSEY. 101

apportionment thereof as aforesaid, and service of said statement 

upon the mayor or other chief executive officer or upon the clerk of 

any such municipality shall be deemed to be a service upon the municipality; if the governing body of any such municipality (wl °.ther a 

whole or only a part thereof is included in such sewerage district) 

shall be dissatisfied with such division and apportionment and shall 

within twenty days after service thereof as aforesaid express such dissatisfaction by a resolution adopted by a majority of such body, then 

it shall be lawful for such body, in the corporate name of such municipality, to make application to any justice of the supreme court of 

this State for the appointment of three disinterested persons, residents 

of this State, commission to review such division and, apportionment, and correct, amend, revise, alter, or confirm the same, as they 

or a majority of them shall deem just and proper, and it shall be the 

duty .of said justice to make such appointment; the commissioners so 

appointed (having respectively taken and subscribed an oath or affirmation before some person authorized to administer the same faithfully and impartially to perform the duties imposed upon them by«), 

shall forthwith, at such time and place as they or a majority of them 

may appoint, and upon such notice as the said justice in the order 

appointing said commissioners shall direct to be given, hear the parties interested in said matter and such proofs and witnesses as may 

be produced before them; said commissioners may adjourn said hearing from time to time as occasion may require; on any such hearing 

the parties, if they so choose, may be represented by counsel, and the 

witnesses may be examined under oath or affirmation, which any of 

said commissioners are hereby authorized to administer; s^id commissioners may designate one of their number to act as chairman and 

one to act as clerk or secretary; at the conclusion of such hearing, 

and within ten days thereafter, said commissioners, or a majority of 

them, shall correct, amend, revise, alter, or confirm such division and 

apportionment as they or a majority of them shall deem just and 

proper under the evidence and proofs produced before them and shall 

make and sign a statement or certificate thereof, which statement or 

certificate shall be final and conclusive and binding upon all parties; 

the application for the appointment of such commissioners, the order 

of the justice appointing them, the oath or affirmation of said commissioners, and their said statement or certificate shall, within two 

days after the making of such statement or certificate, be filed with 

the secretary of the sewerage board which made the division or apportionment reviewed by said commissioners; and such sewerage board, 

within five days after the filing of such statement or certificate as 

aforesaid, shall cause a certified copy thereof to be served in manner

a So in original.
102 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

aforesaid upon each of the municipalities that the original division 

and apportionment made by said sewerage board was served upon, 

which certified copy so served shall be in lieu and stead of that originally served and (as aforesaid) be final and conclusive and binding 

upon all parties; if, in any case, where only a part of a municipality 

is included in a sewerage district, the governing body of such municipality shall not within said twenty days after service upon it of any 

such original statement as aforesaid adopt a resolution expressing its 

dissatisfaction as aforesaid provided, then, and in every such case, it 

shall and may be lawful for one or more of the residents and taxpayers, or residents and nonresident taxpayers of said sewerage district, to join in such application as aforesaid to any justice of the 

supreme court for the appointment of commissioner?1 to review, as 

aforesaid, the said division and apportionment, and thereupon the 

said justice may, in his discretion, appoint such commissioners, and if 

such appointment be made, said commissioners shall proceed in the 

same manner, and the proceedings before them had shall be similar 

to those hereinbefore provided, and the statement o1" certificate of 

said commissioners made upon any such last-mentioned application 

shall be final and conclusive and binding upon all parties.

24. The said sewerage board shall also, in the manner hereinbefore 

directed, serve upon or furnish to each of said municipalities after 

every issue and sale of bonds a statement of the amount of such 

bonds and the date of interest thereon and the proportion thereof 

allotted to each municipality (where such municipality is entirely 

within the sewerage district) or (where only a part of the municipality is included in the sewerage district) of the proportion of such 

division and apportionment allotted to the part of the municipality 

in said sewerage district; and it shall be the duty c f each of said 

municipalities, and of its proper officers, in the next annual tax levy 

made in such municipality and in each succeeding year thereafter to 

include and raise by taxation the amount required to pay the interest on the proportion of such bonded indebtedness allotted to such 

municipality or part thereof, as the case may be, and if such municipality be entirely within such sewerage district then it shall be the 

duty of such municipalities to cause to be levied and assessed therein 

a sum equal to the amount of interest so apportioned and allotted to 

such municipality together with such additional sum, to be divided 

and apportioned and allotted to and between said municipalities or 

parts thereof as aforesaid as may be necessary to establish and maintain a sinking fund sufficient to pay the principal of tH bonds issued 

by the said sewerage board under authority of this act when the same 

fall due. If only a part of the municipality be included in the sewerage district, then it shall be the duty of such municipality and its
GOODBLL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW JERSEY. 103

proper officers, instead of levying and assessing the same upon the 

whole municipality, to cause, in manner aforesaid, the sum or sums 

that may, as aforesaid, be apportioned and allotted to such part of 

the municipality as is included in the sewerage district to be levied 

and assessed in and upon such part of the municipality as is included 

in the sewerage district, in the same manner as other taxes may be 

levied and assessed therein; and it shall be the duty of all taxing 

officers and all collecting officers in the said municipalities to levy, 

assess, and collect the said amount or sums so to be raised in such 

municipalities or parts thereof, as the case may be; and it shall also 

be the duty of the collector of taxes in each of the said municipalities, or other proper officer, to pay to the sewerage board thereunto 

entitled the money so levied, assessed, and collected. After each 

census, State or national, a new allotment shall be made of the sinking fund or redemption fund in the manner herein provided.

25. As soon as the work of construction by this act authorized (or 

the cost and expense of which a preliminary estimate shall have been 

made as herein provided) has been completed the said board shall 

proceed at once to ascertain the actual cost and expense of such work, 

and shall furnish to each of the said municipalities or municipal 

divisions a statement of such cost and expense.

26. The cost of maintenance, operation, and repairs, together with 

the cost of supervision, and all other expenses of every Hnd not 

included in the cost and expense of construction, shall be annually 

estimated by the said board and divided and apportioned between the 

said several municipalities or parts thereof upon the same basis as 

herein provided for the division of the cost and expense of construction; and that the same, when so divided and apportioned, shall be 

levied, assessed, collected, and paid annually in the same manner provided for the levying, assessment, and collection of the cost and 

expense of construction: Provided, however, That if at the end of any 

year when such cost and expense shall have been accurately ascertained such estimate shall be found to have been more or less than the 

proper proportion of any such municipality, then the surplus- or deficiency, as the case may be, shall be deducted from or added to the 

sum to be levied, assessed, and collected for the succeeding year.

27. The said board shall, immediately after receiving from the said 

municipalities, or either of them, or from the collector or treasurer 

of any such municipality, any moneys on account of the apportionment made, as hereinbefore provided, or as soon thereafter as practicable, cause the same to be invested in securities, the character of 

which shall be the same as required by law for savings banks of this 

State, except so much thereof as may be required to pay interest due 

or to fall due during the current year; and all such funds, and the
104 LAWS FOEBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

securities in which the same or any part thereof sh?,ll be invested, 

and the interest received therefrom, shall be held, used, and applied 

by the said board as a sinking fund to meet and pay the interest and 

principal on the bonds issued by the said board under the authority 

of this act, and for no other purpose whatever, until all such bonds 

and all arrears of interest thereon are fully paid. It shall be the 

duty of said sewerage board to include in its annual report the amount 

of money received by it for the purposes aforesaid, the sources from 

which such money was received, and the investment of the same; and 

the said board shall keep a record and account of all bonds issued 

by it, when the same fall due, the time and place of payment, and 

the rate of interest thereon, and of the amount received on the sale 

or disposition thereof, and shall also keep an account of all moneys 

invested, held, and used as a sinking fund, and of the securities in 

which the same may be invested. The books, records, accounts, 

papers, and documents of the said board shall be open to the inspection of any person appointed by the governing body of any municipality within said district to inspect the same: Provided, however, 

That in case the said board shall issue bonds which shall fall due and 

become payable at stated periods less than thirty years or shall retain 

in any such issue the option to redeem bonds prior to the date at which 

they would otherwise fall due as hereinbefore provided, then it stiall 

be lawful for the said board to make application of the moneys 

received by it from the several municipalities and of the funds temporarily invested by the said board so received for the purpose of paying off and discharging the said obligations according to their tenor 

and effect.

28. During the year preceding the year in which t\ n bonds issued 

under the authority of this act shall fall due the srid board shall 

cause a careful computation to be made of the moneys that will be 

available for the payment of the same, and if it shall be found that 

any deficiency will exist in the fund that will be available therefor, 

after the application of moneys received and the use of all securities 

held, such deficiency shall be apportioned and allotted to the said 

municipalities in the same manner and upon the same basis as the 

original apportionment, and shall be added to the amount so levied, 

assessed, collected, and paid by the said municipalities, respectively, 

in the succeeding year; and if any excess shall be found to exist in 

such fund the surplus shall be credited to each of the said municipalities in the same proportion and deducted from future estimates 

of the respective shares or proportions of such municipalities of the 

cost and expense of maintenance, operation, and repairs.

29. In and about the performance and discharge of the duties 

imposed upon it by this act any such sewerage board as aforesaid,
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW JERSEY. 105

or a majority thereof, may employ such experts, engineers, contractors, officers, agents, employes, clerks, workmen, and servants as it 

may deem necessary .or proper to enable it to perform its duties and 

carry out the objects and purposes of this act; and said borrd, or a 

majority thereof, may fix and determine the duties and ccmpensation of such experts, engineers, contractors, officers, agents, employees, 

clerks, workmen, and servants, and remove or discharge the same, 

or any of them, at pleasure.

30. The secretary of any such sewerage board shall keep a record 

of all the proceedings and transactions of said board; under the direction of said board he shall prepare the estimate, division, and apportionment provided for in section twenty-six hereof; he shall prepare 

the annual report of said board and perform such other duties as the 

board may from time to time require. The secretary shall receive an 

annual salary, to be fixed by the board, or a majority thereof, but he 

shall not receive any per diem allowance.

31. The treasurer of any such sewerage board shall have charge and 

custody of all moneys and securities received or owned or held by said 

board; he shall keep accurate record and account of the receipt, disbursement, and disposition of all such moneys and securities, and 

invest, deposit, dispose of, disburse, and pay out the same at such 

times and in suph manner as the board may direct, and under such 

rules and regulations as it may .from time to time establish. The 

treasurer shall give bond to such board for the due and faithful performance of his duties as such treasurer in such sum and with such 

sureties as the board, or a majority thereof, may require. T" e treasurer shall receive an annual salary, to be fixed and determined by the 

board, or a majority thereof, but he shall not receive any per diem 

allowance.

32. The members of any such board, except the secretary and treasurer thereof, when actually engaged in and about the busines^ of said 

board, shall receive a per diem compensation of five dollars; said per 

diem compensation, and the salaries to be paid the secretary and treasurer, shall be included in said estimate hereinbefore mentioned.

33. Any such sewerage board is authorized and empowered to rent 

an office or offices as may be required for the due transaction and 

carrying out of its work and duties, and to properly equip and furnish such office or offices, the expense thereof to be included in said 

estimate mentioned in section twenty-six hereof.

34. This act shall take effect immediately. 

Approved March 24, 1899.
106 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152. 

[Laws of 1902, p. 195, chap. 49.]

AN ACT authorizing the appointment and defining the powers and duties of 

commissioners in sewage and drainage districts cre.ated for the purpose of 

relieving the streams and rivers therein from pollution, and to provide a plan 

for the prevention thereof, and providing for the raising, expenditure, and 

payment of moneys necessary for this purpose.

Be it enacted by the senate and general assembly of the State of 

New Jersey:

1. Upon the creation and incorporation by the legislature of any 

sewerage and drainage district for the purpose mentioned in the title 

of this act it shall be the duty of the governor of this State forthwith 

to appoint therein and therefor five able and discreet men, residents 

within such district (having regard in making such appointments to 

locality, so that each section of the district may be represented, as 

far as practicable), who, when so appointed, commissioned, and 

sworn, shall constitute a board of commissioners, to be known as the 

 district sewerage and drainage commissioners (inserting in 

each case in the blank space the name of the district designated in 

the act of incorporation), and the persons so appointed shall receive 

as compensation for their services an annual salary of twenty-five 

hundred dollars, payable in equal monthly installment?. In making 

the first appointments under this act the members of the said board 

shall be appointed as follows: One for a term of one year, one for a 

term of two years, one for a term of three years, one for a term of 

four years, and one for a term of five years, and thereafter one shall 

be appointed each year for a term of five years. Any vacancy occurring, in the said board by death, resignation, or otherwise, shall be 

filled in the same manner as the original appointment for the balance 

of the term. Each of the said commissioners so appointed shall, 

before they enter upon the duties of their office, take ani subscribe an 

oath that they will faithfully and impartially execute and perform 

the duties imposed upon them by law, and cause the same to be filed in 

the office of the secretary of state of this State. The governor of this 

State shall have power to remove such commissioners from office for 

cause during their term of office and, upon removal, to f 11 the vacancy 

thus occasioned for the imexpired term in the manner herein provided for filling vacancies.

2. The said board shall, as soon as may be after appointment, and 

annually thereafter on the first Tuesday in May in each year, organize 

by the choice of one of its members as chairman, and may elect a 

clerk, who may or may not be a member of the said board, and may 

from time to time appoint such agents, officers, and servants and 

employ such engineers and assistants as it may deem necessary to
COOUELL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW JERSEY. 107

carry out the purposes of this act, and may determine their duties 

and compensation and remove the same at its pleasure.

3. The said board of commissioners, when duly organized, shall be 

deemed to be and shall become a body corporate, with power to sue 

and be sued and with the right to acquire, hold, use, and dispose of 

all such property as may be necessary for the uses and purposes for 

which the said board was created and with all other necessary powers 

incident to corporate bodies.

4. When duly organized, the said commissioners shall at once, with 

the aid and assistance of such engineers and other agents as tl ey may 

deem proper, proceed to investigate methods and plans for relieving 

the streams and rivers within the said district from pollution and for 

preventing the pollution of the same, and to determine the apportionment of the capacity of sewer provided for each municipality in any 

intercepting sewer, sewers, or disposal works: Provided, That before 

a final determination as to the plan or method to be adopted for the 

purpose, an opportunity shall be given the governing body of each 

municipality to be heard in relation thereto, and after said hearing, 

as soon as the said commissioners have adopted a plan or method for 

this purpose, they shall report the same to the respective municipalities of the district and to the legislature of this State, together with 

a bill providing therefor and for the expenses thereof.

5. Before determining upon the final plan or route for the building 

or construction of any work investigated under this act the said 

board may, by its officers, agents, servants, and employees, enter at all 

times upon any lands or waters for the purpose of exploring, surveying, leveling, and laying out the route of any drain or sewer, locating 

any disposal, pumping, or other works, establishing grades, and doing 

all necessary preliminary work in the way of designating locations, 

doing, however, no unnecessary damage or injury to private or other 

property.

6. The said board shall at all times keep full and accurate account 

of its receipts and expenditures, disbursements, assets, and liabilities, 

and shall annually cause a detailed statement thereof to be published 

in one or more newspapers published or circulating in the respective 

municipalities in said district.

7. To provide for the payment of the cost and-expense incurred or 

to be incurred by the said board in investigating and performing the 

duties imposed upon it by this act, one-half of said cost of a expense 

shall be paid out of the State treasury on certificate of the governor 

to the comptroller, who shall draw his warrant on the State treasurer 

in favor of the said board for the amount thereof, the same to be

"So in original.
108 LAWS FOKBIDDING INLAND-WATEK POLLUTION. [No. 152.

ascertained on a duly verified statement of such expenses being filed 

with the governor and in the office of the secretary of state; as to the 

balance of the said costs and expense incurred or to be incurred 

under this act, the said board shall have power and authority:

I. To issue from time to time, for the said one-half of the costs and 

expenses, temporary certificates, to run for a period not to exceed 

two years, the aggregate issue of said certificates nof to exceed the 

sum of twenty-five thousand dollars; such certificates, when issued, 

shall be deemed and considered the indebtedness of the sewerage and 

drainage district, and shall constitute a charge upon persons and 

property therein, and shall be retired and paid in the manner hereinafter provided.

II. The said board shall have power and authority to order and 

cause a tax to be levied, assessed, and collected upon persons and property within the said sewerage and drainage district, the proceeds of 

which to be used in payment of the said certificates p.nd the interest 

due *nd to grow thereon; the amount to be assessed and collected 

in the respective municipalities composing such districts shall be 

determined by the said board, and shall be apportioned according to 

the ^taxable ratables of the last preceding year as returned by the 

taxi«g officers in said district, and a certificate by the said board 

shall be filed with the taxing officers of such municipalities composing the said sewerage district, and it shall be the duty of the taxing 

officers within the said municipalities included in the said sewerage 

and drainage district, to levy, assess, and collect and pay over to the 

said commissioners any tax ordered by them to be assessed by virtue 

of the provisions of this act.

8. It shall be the duty of the said board annually to make and file 

with the secretary of state of this State a report showing the amount 

of money received by it for the purposes aforesaid, sources from 

which money was received, and the expenditure of the same; and it 

shall be the duty of the said board to keep an account of all certificates issued by it, when the same fall due, the time and place of payment, the rate of interest thereon, and of the amount received on the 

sale or disposition thereof; and the books, records, accounts, papers, 

and documents of the said board shall be open for tl °i inspection of 

the governor of this State, or any person or persons whom he may 

appoint to inspect the same.

9. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act with 

dispatch the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars is hereby appropriated by the State out of any moneys now in the Sts.te treasury not 

otherwise appropriated, and the governor is hereby authorized and 

empowered to give an order on the comptroller for advanced payments to the said board on account of the State's share of such expenses to be incurred.
GOODBLL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW JERSEY. 109

10. When the said board of commissioners are appointed and 

organized under this act it shall have absolute control of and supervision over the prevention of pollution throughout the said sewerage or 

drainage district for which the said commissioners were appointed, 

exclusive of any other body or board in this State now having control 

of the same: Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall 

in any way affect or delay or interfere with any action or proceedings 

which may have heretofore been taken by the State sewerage, commission for the purpose of preventing pollution in said sewerage district, 

or that may hereafter be taken by said State sewerage commission for 

the enforcement thereof.

11. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this 

act be, and the same are hereby, repealed, and this act shall tal~e effect 

immediately.

Approved March 27, 1902.

[Act passed by the special session of the legislature convened April 21, 1903. Laws of

1903, p. 777.]

AN ACT to relieve from pollution the rivers and streams within the Passaic 

Valley sewerage district, established and defined by an act of the legislature 

entitled "An act to create a sewerage district to be called the Passaic Valley 

sewerage district," approved March twenty-seventh, one thousand nine hundred and two, and for this purpose establishing therefor a district board of 

commissioners, defining its powers and duties, and providing for the appointment, terms of office, duties, and compensation of such commissioners, and 

further providing for the raising, collecting, and expenditure of the recessary 

moneys.

Whereas the legislature of this State has created and defined a sewerage district, embracing a large number of municipalities an^ parts 

of municipalities, in the counties of Passaic, Bergen, Hudson, and 

Essex, under the name of the Passaic Valley sewerage district; and

Whereas the Passaic River and many streams flowing into it within 

said sewerage district are polluted by sewage and other deleterious 

matter to the extent that the health of the people residing in said 

district is seriously endangered; and

Whereas immediate relief therefrom is imperative; and

Whereas the governor of this State, by sanction of the legislature, 

has appointed five commissioners for said district with power, among 

other things, to investigate methods and plans for relieving the 

streams and rivers within said district from pollution, and for preventing the pollution of the same; and

Whereas said commissioners have adopted an effectual plan or 

method for relieving the streams and rivers within said district from 

pollution, and for preventing- the pollution of the same, and have 

reported said plan or method to the legislature; and

Whereas in order to carry into effect such plan or method, with
110 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

such modifications or additions thereto as shall hereafter be approved 

by said commissioners, it is necessary that further and greater power 

be given to said commissioners:

Be it enacted by the senate and general assembly of the State of 

New Jersey:

1. The commissioners heretofore appointed by the governor of this 

State in and for the Passaic Valley sewerage district shall continue 

in their respective offices for the terms for which they were severally 

appointed, and said terms are hereby extended to the first Tuesday 

of May succeeding the date when their terms under said appointments 

would respectively expire; and hereafter one commissioner shall be 

appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the 

senate, in each year for a term of five years, beginning on the first 

Tuesday of May next following the date of his appointment. Any 

vacancy occurring in the office of commissioner by death, resignation, 

or otherwise shall be filled by the governor, but for the unexpired 

term only. Each of the said commissioners hereafter appointed, before he enters upon the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe an 

oath that he will faithfully and impartially execute and perform the 

duties imposed upon him by law, and cause the same to be filed in 

the office of the secretary of state of this State. The commissioners 

shall each receive for services under this act an annual salary of 

twenty-five hundred dollars, payable in equal monthly installments, 

and the said commissioners shall henceforth receive no other compensation than that provided under this act. The governor of this 

State shall have power to remove any commissioner from office for 

cause during his term of office, and upon removal to fill the vacancy 

thus occasioned for the unexpired term. In making appointments, 

either for full terms or to fill vacancies, regard shall be had by the 

governor both to ability and fitness, and also to locality, so that each 

section of the district may be represented as far as practicable. No 

commissioner shall be directly or indirectly interested in any contract 

awarded under the provisions of this act, nor in furnishing materials 

or supplies therefor to any contractor, nor in furnishing security for 

the performance of any contract. If at any time it shall appear to 

the satisfaction of the governor of this State that any commissioner is 

or has been so interested, or is or has been a stockholder in any corporation furnishing material or supplies to any contractor for work 

done or to be done under the provisions of this act, o*- that he is the 

owner of any lands or water or water rights taken or to be taken or 

used in or for the construction of any work under the provisions of 

this act, or a stockholder in any corporation owning or leasing any 

such lands or waters or water rights, it shall be the duty of the governor to remove such commissioner from office forthwith, and all contracts made by such sewerage commissioners wherein ariy such
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW JERSEY. Ill

commissioner shall have been interested, directly or indirectly, as 

aforesaid, or otherwise, shall thereupon become and be null an d void, 

and no further payments on account thereof shall be made by said' 

sewerage commissioners.

2. The said commissioners shall, on the first Tuesday in May of 

each year, at the hour of two o'clock in the afternoon, organize by 

the choice of one of their members as chairman of the board, and 

they may elect a treasurer, who may or may not be a member of the 

board, and a clerk, who may or may not be a member of the board, 

and may also from time to time appoint such other officers, attorneys, 

agents, employees, and servants, and such engineers and assistants as 

they may deem necessary to carry out the purposes of this ect, and 

may prescribe the duties and fix the compensation of all officers, 

attorneys, agents, employees, servants, engineers, and assistants; and 

all appointees of said commissioners may be removed at their pleasure. The organization of said board and the appointment of officers, 

agents, clerks, servants, engineers, and assistants heretofore made by 

the said board shall have the same effect as if made under this1 act.

3. The said commissioners heretofore appointed and their successors in office are and shall continue to be a body politic and corporate, 

with perpetual succession under the name of " Passaie Valley sewerage commissioners," with power to sue and be sued, with power to 

adopt and use a corporate seal, and the right, power, and arthority 

to acquire, hold, use, and dispose of all such property, real and personal, as may be proper or necessary, and with all other powers proper 

or necessary to carry out and effectuate the purposes for which said 

board is created.

4. The board of Passaie Valley sewerage commissioners, incorporated as aforesaid, is hereby given full power and authority to make, 

construct, maintain, and operate intercepting, main, trunk, and outlet sewers with the necessary pipes, conduits, pumping works, and 

other appliances for the purpose of taking up, within the said Passaie Valley sewerage district, sewage and other offensive ard deleterious matter which would or might otherwise pollute the streams 

and rivers in said district and convey the same to some proper place 

or places of deposit, discharge, or outfall in the New York Bay, 

within the State of New Jersey, to be selected by the said sewerage 

commissioners, there to be discharged, which place or places of 

deposit, discharge, or outfall shall be at least one and one-quarter 

miles, measured at right angles, in an easterly direction, from the 

exterior line for solid filling in the New York Bay, as now established 

by the riparian commissioners of this State, and in a tidal chr.nnel of 

not less than forty feet in depth at mean low water; and the said 

sewerage commissioners shall also have power to establish within said 

sewerage district, when necessary, sewage disposal works and works
112 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

for the treatment, disinfecting, and disposal of sewage: Provided, 

however, That no sewage disposal work and works for the treatment, 

'disinfecting, and disposal of sewage shall be erected, established, or 

maintained within the distance of five miles from the outfall of said 

trunk sewer herein provided for: Provided, however, That nothing 

herein contained shall in any way be construed to allow or permit 

said sewerage commission to establish or build more than one sewage 

disposal works or more than one plant or works for the treatment, disinfecting or disposal of sewage; no contract of any kind shall be 

awarded at any one time for more than one million dollars: Provided, 

however, That this provision shall not apply to the sale of bonds. All 

work done and materials purchased in the prosecution of said work 

or works, the cost of which shall exceed five thousand dollars, shall be 

be by contract awarded, after due advertisement, to the lowest responsible bidder, and all contractors shall be required to give bonds satisfactory in security and amount to the said board; and no contract 

involving an expenditure of more than twenty-five thousand dollars 

shall be awarded until after the same shall have been submitted to 

and approved by the governor: Provided, That no contract for any 

of the work herein required to be performed by contract shall be 

awarded except on the express stipulation that so far as practicable 

all said work shall be performed by union labor, and preference 

shall be given to citizens of the State of New Jersey.

5. It shall be the duty of all persons, corporations, and municipalities owning or controlling the sewers or drains within the limits of 

said sewerage district, which discharge directly or indirectly into the 

streams or rivers within the said sewerage district any sewage or 

deleterious matter, to cause the same to be connected with and to be 

discharged into the sewers constructed by the said sewerage commissioners when the same shall have been constructed, and at the places 

which shall have been designated for that purpose by the said sewerage commissioners; all sewers and drains hereafter constructed by 

any person, corporation, or municipality within the said sewerage 

district conveying or discharging sewage or other deleterious matter, 

which might otherwise discharge into or be discharged into the streams 

or rivers within the said sewerage district, directly or indirectly, shall 

be so constructed that the outfall or discharge therefrom shall be delivered into the drains or sewers provided by the said sewerage commissioners at the points and places designated by the said commissioners; and it shall be the duty of the said sewerage commissioners, in 

constructing said intercepting or main sewers, to have them so constructed that connection therewith can be made at necessary or proper 

points; and all such connections shall be made in accordance with the 

rules and regulations from time to time adopted by the said sewerage
GOODELL.] SEVEEE STATUTE EESTEICTIONS NEW JEESEY. 113

commissioners in relation thereto, and under the direction and supervision of their officers and agents, and all such connections shall be 

the property of such sewerage commissioners; the main, intercepting 

or trunk sewer to be constructed by the said sewerage commissioners 

shall commence at or near the Valley of Kocks, in the city of Paterson, and shall extend to the point of discharge or outfall in the New 

York Bay, within the limits of the State of New Jersey; before any 

moneys expended or obligations are incurred for the construction of 

any trunk or outlet sewer which shall discharge into New York Bay, 

the said board shall carefully investigate whether said discharge is 

likely to pollute the waters of said bay within the jurisdiction of the 

State of New York to such an extent or in such a degree as to cause a 

nuisance to persons or property within said State, and shall present 

the result of their investigation to the governor with their opinion 

thereon and their reasons for their opinion; and thereupon the same 

shall be considered by the governor and the attorney-general, and no 

work shall be done or further proceedings taken unless the attorneygeneral shall, in writing, advise that no cause of action either for 

damages or an injunction will arise in favor of the State of New York 

or any of its inhabitants by reason of such discharge of sev;age into 

the waters of New York Bay, and the governor shall, by order, in 

writing, advise said board that, in his judgment, it is safe and prudent 

to proceed with its work, due regard being had to all the risks and 

dangers of injunctive litigation.

6. The said sewerage commissioners shall have power and authority 

to purchase and acquire lands and rights or interests in lane's within 

and without the said sewerage district which may be deemed necessary for the construction of sewers, drains, disposal, pumping or other 

works authorized by this act, but no ventilating plant, sewage disposal works, or works for the treatment, disinfecting, or disposal of 

sewage shall be erected or maintained outside of said sewerage district; and if in any case the said sewerage commissioners shall be 

unable to agree with the owner or owners of any lands or rights or 

interests in lands deemed necessary by said sewerage commissioners 

in the construction and prosecution of the work hereby authorized, 

or when by reason of legal incapacity or absence of such owner or 

owners no agreement can be made for the purchase thereof, the lands 

or rights or interests in lands so deemed necessary for the purposes of 

this act shall be acquired by condemnation by the said sewenge commissioners in the manner provided by the general laws of this State 

relating to the condemnation of lands for public uses: Provided, That 

no private property shall be taken for the purposes of this act wj^put 

compensation therefor shall have first been made or tencliPfCf $! ^-e 

owner or owners thereof, or, in lieu thereof, paid to the clerk of the 

IKB 152 05 M 8
-114 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATEE POLLUTION. [No. 152.

county in which the lands taken are located for the use of the person 

or persons entitled to receive the same; and in case such payment or 

tender to the owner or owners, or payment into court, is made by the 

said sewerage commissioners upon the award of commissioners, the 

said sewerage commissioners shall be entitled to take immediate possession of the property so condemned, notwithstanding any appeal, 

and the acceptance by the owner or owners of the lards or rights so 

condemned of any award of commissioners shall not interfere with or 

prevent the taking of any appeal provided by law.

7. The said board of sewerage commissioners shall have power to 

construct any sewer or drain by it to be made or constructed under or 

over any water course, under or over or across or along any street, 

turnpike, railway, canal, highway, or other way, and m or upon private or public Jands, and in or upon lands of this State and under 

waters of this State, in such manner, however, as not unnecessarily to 

obstruct or impede travel or navigation, and may enter upon and dig 

up any street, road, highway, or private or public lands either within 

or without the said sewerage district for the purpose of constructing 

or laying sewers or drains upon or beneath the surface thereof, and 

for maintaining and operating the same, and in general may do all 

other acts or things necessary, convenient, and proper to carry out 

the purposes of this act; but no part of said sewer where laid under 

the waters of this State beyond the exterior lines for solid filling, as 

established by the riparian commissioners of this State, shall in said 

Newark Bay be above an elevation of thirty feet b^low mean low 

water, or shall in said New York Bay be above an elevation of thirtyfive feet below mean low water; and the said board of sewerage commissioners shall have power, for the purpose of carrying such sewage 

or other matter to the place of deposit or discharge in New York Bay. 

to construct sewers within territory outside of the said sewerage district, and with its sewers, pipes, and drains to pass through or partly 

through the territory of municipalities outside of said sewerage district; and whenever the said board shall dig up any road, street, or 

highway as aforesaid, it shall, as far as possible, restore the same to 

as good condition and order as the same was when such digging commenced: Provided, however, That when such streets, roads, or highways lie outside of such sewerage district, the laying down of sewers 

or drains under or across said streets, roads, or highways shall be 

subject to such police regulations of the governing bodies of such 

municipalities as are applicable and enforceable in the construction 

of sewers or drains for such municipality.

8. The said sewerage commissioners shall have power and authority 

to alter or change the course or direction of any water course, and, 

with the consent of the township committee of any township and of 

the board or body having control of the streets or highways in any
GOODKLL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW JERSEY. 115

city, town, or other municipality, to alter or change the grade or location of any highway, public street, or way crossed by any sewer or 

drain to be constructed under the provisions of this act.

9. The said board of sewerage commissioners may, by its officers, 

agents, servants, and employees, enter at all times upon any lands or 

waters within or without the said sewerage district for the purpose of 

exploring, surveying, leveling, and laying out the route of any drain 

or sewer, locating any disposal, pumping, or other works, establishing 

grades, and doing all necessary preliminary work; doing, however, no 

unnecessary damage or injury to private property.

10. The said board of sewerage commissioners shall at all times 

keep full and accurate accounts of its receipts, expenditures, disbursements, and liabilities, and shall annually cause a detailed statement 

thereof to be published and a copy thereof mailed to the secretary of 

state of this State and to the clerk of each of the municipalities in the 

district. The fiscal year of said sewerage commissioners shall end on 

the first Tuesday of May in each year, and said report so to be published shall be a report for the previous fiscal year, and shall be made 

as soon after the end of each fiscal year as conveniently may be; and 

the mayor or chief officer of any city or other municipality included 

within said drainage district shall be given full access to all the 

books, accounts, and vouchers of the said board, at all reasonable 

times, for the purpose of examination and report in the interest of 

such municipalities, respectively, and of the taxpayers therein.

11. To provide for the payment of costs and expenses incurred or 

to be incurred by the said sewerage commissioners for the purchase 

of lands, rights, or interests in lands or other property or rights, and 

in the construction of said disposal works, pumping stations, sewers, 

drains, and all other works by them to be constructed, and for engineering, administrative, and other expenses connected therewith, 

including interest during construction, said board of sewerage commissioners shall have power from time to time to issue its corporate 

bonds in an amount not to exceed nine million dollars and not to 

exceed the total estimated cost and expenses of the whole work; such 

bonds shall be in the form and payable at a time not exceeding fifty 

years from the date thereof and at such places, and either in currency or coin, as the said sewerage commissioners may determine; 

such bonds shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding four per centum 

per annum, payable semiannually; all such bonds shall be signed by 

the chairman of the said board of sewerage commissioners and countersigned by the treasurer, and shall be sealed with its corporate seal, 

attested by the clerk; in issuing such bonds the board of sewerage 

commissioners may, in its discretion, make the same or any part 

thereof fall due at stated periods less than fifty years from the date 

of issue, and may reserve in said bonds an option to redeem or pay
116 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

the same or any part thereof at stated periods at any time between 

the date thereof and the date at which they would otherwise fall due; 

the said bonds may be either coupon or registered bonds or partly 

coupon and partly registered bonds, and all such bonds may be 

negotiated, sold, and disposed of at not less than their par value, and 

the same or the proceeds thereof may be used by th?, said sewerage 

commissioners for the purposes aforesaid; the said bot.rd of seweragecommissioners shall keep the cost and expenses of the construction of 

its plant in which shall be included the cost of lands, rights, or interests in lands, and the cost of all other property and rights, and the 

cost of construction of all works, including engineering expenses, 

administrative expenses, and legal expenses, and including interest 

during the course of construction separate from tl N «, cost and expenses of maintenance, operation, and repairs; all sales of bonds shall 

be made after public notice and advertisement calling for bids and 

shall be made to the highest responsible bidders. .

12. The said board of sewerage commissioners may, in anticipation 

of the issuing of bonds, and from time to time as it may need money, 

borrow such sum or sums of money, not exceeding s,t any one time 

one-fifth of the estimated cost of the whole work, and may issue its 

certificates of indebtedness, promissory notes, or other obligations 

therefor, retiring the same from time to time as the bonds hereinbefore authorized to be issued are sold. In order that the said bonds 

issued for the purchase of land, rights in land, and for the construction of the works, plant and extensions, betterments and improvements thereof may be paid and retired at maturity, the sewerage 

commissioners shall provide a proper and suitable sinking fund not 

exceeding in amount to be raised in any one year one per centum of 

the face value of the bonds issued, which sum shall be raised annually, beginning with the fifth year after the issuing of said bonds, at 

the time and in the manner herein provided for the raising of the 

moneys necessary to pay the interest on said bonds. The money so 

raised for sinking-fund purposes shall be kept in a separate account 

by the treasurer of the board of sewerage commissioners, and shall, 

under its direction, be used or invested from time to time in the purchase or retirement of its own bonds, or in the purchase of securities 

in which savings banks and savings institutions of this State are 

authorized to invest.

13. All indebtedness of the said board of sewerage commissioners 

incurred for the purchase of lands, rights, or interests in land or 

other property, and in the construction of its works or plant, or 

otherwise lawfully incurred, pursuant to the provisions of this act, 

whether such indebtedness is represented by bonds, certificates of 

indebtedness, promissory notes, or other form of indebtedness, with 

interest accrued or to accrue thereon, shall be a charge upon all per-
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW JERSEY. 117

sons and property in the municipal or taxing districts lying in whole 

or in part within said sewerage district as fully as the legislature of 

this State shall have power to authorize tlie same; and all bonds, 

certificates of indebtedness, promissory notes, and other obligations 

issued by the said board of sewerage commissioners shall be free 

from all State, county, municipal, and other taxes, and the property, 

real and personal, of the said board of sewerage commissioners held 

by it under authority of this act, wherever situated, shall in like manner be free from taxation.

14. The said sewerage commissioners shall, on or before the fifteenth day of June in each year, ascertain and determine the amount 

of money necessary to be raised for the payment of interest upon 

bonds and other indebtedness and for sinking-fund charges for the 

current fiscal year, and shall apportion the same among the respective 

municipalities and taxing districts lying in whole or in part within 

said sewerage district, in such proportion as the taxable ratables 

within so much of said municipality or taxing district as is embraced 

within said sewerage district bears to the total amount of taxable 

ratables within the whole of said sewerage district, as returned and 

certified by the respective taxing boards and taxing oincers of the 

said municipalities or taxing districts for the preceding year: Provided, hoioever, That all ratables in said district for this purpose be 

assessed at their true value; and it shall be the duty of each assessor, 

taxing board, or taxing officer for the several municipalities and taxing districts lying in whole or in part within said sewerage district 

for this purpose, to examine, compute, determine, and certify to the 

said sewerage board annually, and by the first day of April of each 

year, the amount of taxable property or ratables assessed in the last 

preceding year to or upon persons and property within so much of 

the several municipalities and taxing districts as lie within the said 

sewerage district, and the books of each of the said assessors, taxing 

boards, and taxing oincers shall at all times be open for examination 

by the board of sewerage commissioners, its oincers and agents, for 

the purpose of examining, checking, and, if necessary, correcting 

said certificates.

15. The said board of sewerage commissioners shall, on or before 

the fifteenth day of June in each year, ascertain and determine as 

near as may be the amount of money necessary to be raised for operating, maintaining, and repairing its works and plant for the current 

fiscal year, and shall apportion the money so estimated to be necessary among the several municipalities or taxing districts lying in 

whole or in part within said sewerage district according to the 

amount of sewage by them respectively delivered to or discharged 

into any sewers or other receptacles provided or constructed by the 

said sewerage commissioners for the reception thereof. Before such 

apportionment is finally made and adopted by the sewerage commis-
118 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

sioners for any year and on the fourth Tuesday of May, at two o'clock 

in the afternoon, the said sewerage commission shall sit at its principal office for the purpose of hearing such municipalities as desire 

to be heard upon the apportionment of the estimated amount of 

money required for the operation, maintenance, arid repair of said 

works and plant, but the apportionment when made by the said sewerage commissioners shall be final and conclusive; in case, however, 

the estimate of moneys necessary to be raised in any year for operating, maintaining, and repairing the works and plant of the sewerage 

commissioners shall, at the end of the year, be found to have been too 

low, the deficiency shall be made good by adding the srme to the estimated amount required for operating, maintaining, and repairing 

the said works for the next succeeding year; and if said estimate 

shall be found to have been excessive, then such excess shall be deducted from the estimate for the next succeeding year.

16. The said board of sewerage commissioners shall, on or before 

the twentieth day of June in each year, order and cause a tax to be 

levied and assessed upon all persons and property witHn each of the 

municipal and taxing districts lying in whole or in part within said 

sewerage district, for the purpose of raising the money necessary to 

pay interest upon its bonds and other indebtedness and necessary 

sinking-fund charges and for the sum or sums of money estimated as 

necessary to provide for the proper maintenance and operation of its 

works and plant, and for &ll the other expenses of the said sewerage 

commissioners, and to this end it shall, on or before the twentieth day 

of June in each year, certify to the tax assessor, taxing board, or taxing officer of each of said municipalities or taxing districts lying in 

whole or in part within said sewerage district, the amount of tax 

required to be levied, assessed, and raised in each of their respective 

municipalities and taxing districts for said purposes; and the said 

assessors, taxing boards, and taxing officers shall assess said sums so 

directed to be assessed (and certified to them) upon all the persons 

and property within their respective municipalities or taxing districts 

liable to be assessed for State or county taxes, and the said tax shall 

be levied, assessed, and collected by the same officers at the same 

time and in the same manner and with the same effect as State or 

county taxes are required to be levied, assessed, and collected within 

said municipalities or taxing districts; and the taxes so levied upon 

real estate in said municipalities and taxing districts shall be and 

remain a first and paramount lien thereon until paid.

17. Out of the first moneys collected in any year in any municipality or taxing district, and not required by law to be paid to the 

county collector for State or county purposes, it shall be the duty of 

the disbursing officer or officers of such municipality or taxing dis-
GOODELL.] 'SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW JERSEY. 119

trict to pay to the treasurer of the sewerage commissioners the sum 

or sums of money directed by said sewerage commissioners to be 

assessed, levied, and collected in such municipality or taxing district.

18. The said board of sewerage commissioners may, from time to 

time, in anticipation of the collection of moneys directed by it to be 

assessed, levied, and collected within the municipalities or taxing 

districts lying in whole or in part within its sewerage district, borrow 

such sum or sums of money as may be necessary for the payment of 

interest upon bonds or other indebtedness, and for the payment of 

sinking-fund charges, and for the payment of its officers, agents, 

employees, and for all other necessary or proper expenses in maintaining and operating its works and plant, and the payment of the 

moneys so borrowed shall be secured by a lien upon said taxes as 

levied and assessed, or so directed to be levied and assessed, and said 

taxes when collected shall be applied to the payment of the moneys 

so borrowed; all loans made in pursuance of this section shall be 

after public notice and advertisement, and shall be made or taken 

from the person or persons offering the most favorable terms.

19. If in any case the streams and rivers within the said sewerage 

district are or may be polluted by sewage or other deleterious matter 

discharged therein, directly or indirectly, from any municipality or 

any part of a municipality lying without the said sewerage district, it 

shall and may be lawful for the said board of commissioners to enter 

into contract with such municipality for the disposal of all such sewage and deleterious matter, and every such municipality is hereby 

authorized to enter into such contract with the said board, and the 

said board may, in the constructions made by it under the authority 

of this act, make provisions for such disposal; such contracts may be 

made upon such terms and for such lengths of time and for such 

annual or semiannual payments as shall be mutually agreed upon, 

and the municipalities and taxing districts so contracting shall have 

the power to raise annually, by taxation, the moneys necessary to 

make the payments required to be made under such contracts, or to 

use for this purpose any moneys not otherwise appropriated; and the 

moneys received by the said commissioners under such contracts shall 

be applied by them as follows: Two-thirds thereof to the payment of 

interest upon bonds issued by the said board, and one-third thereof 

to the payment of the expense of operation, maintenance, and repair 

of work.

20. The said sewerage commissioners shall have within said sewerage district powers exclusive of all other boards to protect tl Q rivers 

and streams thereof from pollution and to prevent the pollution of 

the same, and to this end the said sewerage commissioners may prohibit the deposit or discharge into the rivers or streams within said 

sewerage district of any sewage or other matter or thing which may
120 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WAfER POLLlJ'flOtf. [No. 152.

pollute the same; they may also in like manner prohibit or prevent 

the emptying into any tributary of said rivers or streams, by any 

municipality or part of a municipality lying within the said sewerage 

district, of any sewage or other matter or thing which vdll directly or 

indirectly cause the rivers or streams within said sewerage district to 

be polluted; and the said board of sewerage commissioners may at 

any time, when it has reason to believe that any river or stream 

within its district is being polluted by any such municipality or part 

of a municipality by deposit or discharge into said rivers, streams, or 

their tributaries of any sewage or other matter or thing which will 

pollute the same, or when such deposit or discharge is threatened, to 

apply by bill or petition to the court of chancery of this State for 

injunction to prevent the said pollution or threatened pollution of said 

rivers or streams or their tributaries, and the court of chancery shall 

have power to hear and dispose of said petition or bills in a summary 

manner, and to grant any and all relief necessary to prevent said 

pollution or threatened pollution or the continuation of any pollution 

of said rivers, streams, or their tributaries.

21. The said board of sewerage commissioners shall have power 

from time to time to adopt all such reasonable rules and regulations 

for its own government and the government of its officers and agents, 

and also for the use, protection, and management of its works, property, and plant, and for the protection of the rivers and streams 

within its district from pollution, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act and the laws of this State.

22. The chairman shall preside at all meetings of the sewerage 

commissioners, and shall, with the treasurer, sign all bonds, promissory notes, certificates of indebtedness, and other obligations of the 

board; he shall also countersign all checks; in the absence of the 

chairman, or iir case he is incapacitated by illness or other cause, the 

sewerage commissioners shall have power to elect an acting chairman, who for the time being shall have all the powers and perform 

all the duties of the chairman; the treasurer shall give bond in such 

sum as the sewerage commissioners may determine, and shall be the 

receiving and disbursing officer of the said sewerage commissioners, 

and all moneys required by law to be paid to said sewerage commissioners shall be paid to the treasurer thereof, and shall be by him 

deposited in such bank or banks of deposit or trust company or trust 

companies in this State as shall be determined upon by the said 

sewerage commissioners; all disbursements shall be by check, signed 

by the treasurer and countersigned by the chairman; the clerk shall 

have charge of the seal of the corporation and shall p.ffix it to such 

instruments as he shall be directed by the said board, and he shall 

attest the same; he shall keep full minutes of all the meetings of the 

board and of its committees and shall perform all such other duties
GOODELL.] SEVEBE STATUTE RESTEICTIONS NEW YORK. 121

as he may be directed by the said board of commissioners to perform; 

no deposit of moneys in the charge of the said board shall be made 

in, any bank or trust company except upon the condition that the 

said board shall receive interest at the rate of not less than two per 

centum per annum upon the said deposits.

23. In case for any reason any section or any provision of this act 

shall be questioned in any court and shall be held to be urconstitutional or invalid, the same shall not be held to affect any other section or provision of this act.

24. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby 

repealed; and this act shall take effect immediately.0 

Approved April 22,1903.

NEW YORK.

[Revised Statutes, 3d ed. (C. F. Birdseye), vol. 2, pp. 2822 ff., Article V: Prblic health

law.]

POTABLE WATERS.

SEC. 70. Rules and regulations of State board. The Str.te board 

of health may make rules and regulations for the protect on from 

contamination of any or all public supplies of potable wr.ters and

a This act was declared unconstitutional by the court of errors and appeals of New 

Jersey in March, 1905. Van Cleve v. Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners, 60 Atlantic Rep., 214. It is retained here, however, because the ground upon which it was held 

unconstitutional affects only the mode of raising the necessary funds for carrying out 

the work.

It was subjected to an attack by the city of Paterson and by a property owner who 

had been assessed for public sewers in the city of Paterson. Argument was conducted 

by several of the ablest counsel in the State on each side and the act wa" sustained 

upon all grounds in the supreme court, but by a divided court. In the court of errors 

and appeals the action of the supreme court was reversed, and the act declared to be 

unconstitutional upon the ground that it contained an unlawful delegation te the sewerage commissioners of the power of taxation. The court says, per Garrison, J., " To 

relieve a river from pollution and to construct and maintain for this purpose sewers to 

the seaboard or to other point of output and to carry away through such sewers all 

that would otherwise pollute such river is clearly within the power of the central legislative body."

The act under examination authorized the commissioners to raise by taxation any 

amount in their discretion, subject only to the limit of nine million dollars ($9,000,000 > 

in the matter of construction, but without any limit in the matter of mainterance. The 

taxation was laid upon a taxation area that was not coterminous with the sewerage district established by the legislature; and neither the taxation area nor the sewerage district is a political division of the State nor invested with any governmental function. 

The court held that the fundamental law of New Jersey required, " that the district to 

be taxed shall be coterminous with a district to which some right of local self-government is given." The act is, therefore, held invalid. The court then proceeds as follows: 

" Having stated the considerations that lead me to the conclusion that the act before us 

is invalid, because of its fiscal provision, I shall, to avoid misapprehensior - add that 

nothing in this opinion is intended to imply a lack of power in the legislature to 

effectuate the object expressed in this act by means that are in harmony with the fundamental principles of taxation illustrated by the decisions I have cited. If, for instance, 

as was suggested by the arguments before us, powers adequate to the execution of the 

legislative scheme of drainage were conferred upon the entire area to be taxed and 

duties respecting the exercise of such powers constitutionally imposed in such manner as 

indicated and that their exercise was compulsory, a question not touched uTon in this 

opinion would be presented."
122 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

their sources within the State. If any such rule or regulation relates 

to a temporary source or act of contamination, any person violating 

such rule or regulation shall be liable to prosecution for misdemeanor 

for every such violation, and on conviction shall be punished by a 

fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. If any such rule or regulation relates to a 

permanent source or act of contamination, said board may impose 

penalties for the violation thereof or the noncompliance therewith 

not exceeding two hundred dollars for avery such vio^tion or noncompliance. Every such rule or regulation shall be published at least 

once in each week for six consecutive weeks in at leas* one newspaper of the county where the waters to which it relates are located. 

The cost of such publication shall be paid by the corporation or 

municipality benefited by the protection of the water supply to which 

the rule or regulation published relates. The affidavit of the printer, 

publisher, or proprietor of the newspaper in which such rule or regulation is published may be filed with the rule or regulation published 

in the county clerk's office of such county, and such affidavit and rule 

and regulation shall be conclusive evidence of such publication and 

of all the facts therein stated in all courts and places.

SEC. 71. Inspection .of water supply. The officer or board having 

by law the management and control of the potable water supply of 

any municipality, or the corporation furnishing such supply, may 

make such inspection of the sources of such water supply as such 

officer, board, or corporation deems it advisable, and to ascertain 

whether the rules or regulations of the State board are complied with. 

If any such inspection discloses a violation of any such rule or regulation relating to a permanent source or act of contamination, such 

officer, board, or corporation shall cause a copy of the rile or regulation violated to be served upon the person violating the same with a 

notice of such violation. If the person served does not immediately 

comply with the rule or regulation violated, such officer, board, or 

corporation shall notify the State board of the violation, which shall 

immediately examine into such violation, and if such person is found 

by the State board to have actually violated such rule or regulation, 

the secretary of the State board shall order the local board of health 

of such municipality to convene and enforce obedience to such rule 

or regulation. If the local board fails to enforce such order within 

ten days after its receipt, the corporation furnishing such water supply, or the municipality deriving its water supply from the waters to 

which such rule or regulation relates, may maintain an action in a 

court of record, which shall be tried in the county where the cause of 

action arose against such person, for the recovery of the penalties 

incurred by such violation, and for an injunction restraining him 

from the continued violation of such rule or regulation.
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW YORK. 123

SEC. 7la. Rules and regulations legalized. All rules and regulations heretofore duly made and published for the sanitary protection 

of public water supplies, pursuant to chap. 543 of the laws of 1885 

and chap. 661 of the laws of 1893, as amended, are hereby legalized, 

ratified, confirmed, and continued in force until new rules and regulations become' operative.

SEC. 7lb. Construction of act. This act shall not be construed to 

repeal or affect any of the provisions of chap. 378 of laws of 1897, or 

its amendments.

SEC. 72. Sewerage. When the State board of health shall, for the 

protection of a water supply from contamination, make orders or regulations the execution of which will require or make necessary the 

construction and maintenance of any system of sewerage, or a change 

thereof, in or for any village or hamlet, whether incorporated or unincorporated, or the execution of which will require the providing of 

some public means of removal or purification of sewage, the municipality or corporation owning the waterworks benefited thereby shall, 

at its own expense, construct and maintain such system of sewerage, 

or change thereof, and provide such means of removal and purification of sewage and such works or means of sewage disposal a? shall be 

approved by the State board of health. When the execution of any 

such regulations of the State board of health will occasion or require 

the removal of any building or buildings the municipality or corporation owning the waterworks benefited thereby shall, at its own expense, remove such buildings and pay to the owner thereof all the 

damages occasioned by such removal.

When the execution of any such regulation will injuriously affect 

any manufacturing or industrial enterprise which is not a public 

nuisance, such municipality or corporation shall pay all damages 

occasioned by the enforcement thereof. Until such construction or 

change of such system or systems of sewerage, and the providing of 

such means of removal or purification of sewage, and such works or 

means or sewage disposal and the removal of any building, are so 

made by the municipality or corporation owning the waterworks to 

be benefited thereby at its own expense there shall be no action or 

proceeding taken by such municipality or corporation against any 

person or corporation for the violation of any regulation of the State 

board of health under this article, and no person or corporation shall 

be considered to have violated or refused to obey any suet rule or 

regulation. The owner of any building the removal of whicl is occasioned or required, or which has been removed by any rule or regulation of the State board of health made under the provision? of this 

article, and all persons whose rights of property are injuriously affected by the enforcement of any such rule or regulation, shall have a 

cause of action against the municipality or corporation owning the
124 LAWS FOKBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

waterworks benefited by the enforcement of such rule or regulation 

for all damages occasioned or sustained by such removal or enforcement, And an action therefor may be brought against such munkipcility or corporation in any court of record in the county in which the 

premises or property affected is situated and shall be tried therein; or 

such damages may be determined by a special proceeding in the supreme court or the county court of the county in which the property is 

situated. Such special proceedings shall be commenced by petition 

and notice to be seryed by such owner upon the municipality or corporation in the same manner as for the commencement of condemnation proceedings. Such municipality or corporation n^ay make and 

serve an answer to such petition as in condemnation proceedings. 

The petition and answer shall set forth the claims of the respective 

parties, and the provisions of the condemnation law shall be applicable to the subsequent proceedings upon the petition and answer, if 

any. Either party may, before the service of the petition or answer, 

respectively, offer to take or pay a certain sum, and no costs shall be 

awarded against either party unless the judgment is more unfavorable to him than his offer.

SEC. T2a. Actions l)y municipalities. Any incorporated city or village in the State of New York which has made such provision for the 

disposal of its sewage as not to pollute or contaminate therewith any 

river, stream, lake, or other body of water may have and maintain an 

action in the supreme court to prevent the discharge of any sewage or 

substance deleterious to health, or which shall injure the potable 

qualities of the water in any river, stream, lake, or ether body of 

water from which such incorporated city or village shall take or 

receive its water supply; provided, that such river, stream, lake, or 

other body of water is^ wholly or in part within the boundaries of the 

county in which such plaintiff is located.

SEC. T2b. Duty of supreme court. Whenever such action shall be 

brought under the provisions of this act, it shall be thQ, duty of the 

supreme court, upon proof of the existence of facts justifying the 

bringing and maintenance of such action under the pro^sions of this 

act, to render a judgment in which shall be incorporated a mandatory 

injunction requiring the person, body, board, corporation, municipality, village, county, or town being a defendant to said action which 

directly or indirectly, or by its servants, agents, or officers, shall discharge or dispose of its sewage or any other substance deleterious to 

health, which shall injure the potable qualities of the water in such 

wise as that the same shall enter into any river, stream, lake, or other 

body of water from which such plaintiff shall take or receive its water 

supply, within such reasonable time as may be prescribed by the 

court, to take such action as shall prevent such discharge, or the dis-
GOODBLL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW YORK. 125

posal of such sewage or other substance into such waters, or the pollutiou^faereof, with such further directions in the premises as may He 

proJUtr and desirable to effect such purpose; provided, that such riiw; 

streiSKi, lake, or other body of water is wholly or in part within the 

boufidaries of the county in which such plaintiff is located.

S®e. 72c. Examination by State board of health. But no such 

actie» shall be brought as provided for in section 2 (i. e., 72b) of ttas 

act until the State board of health has examined and determiiwtl 

whether the sewage does pollute or contaminate the river, stream, 

lake, or other body of water into which said sewage is discharged. 

The expense of such examination by said board shall be a charge 

upon and paid by the municipality in whose interest and on whose 

behalf such examination is made.

SEC. T2d. Approval of plans. In case the State board of health 

shall find upon examination that the discharge of said sewage does 

pollute or contaminate said waters, or any of them, in sucr manner 

as to be of menace or danger to the health of those using said waters, 

the plans for the removal or disposal of the sewage ordered to be prepared by the court as provided in section 2 (i. e., T2b) shall be submitted to the State board of health for its approval.

[Laws of 1901, vol. 3, p. 214, charter of New York City.]

SEC. 481. It shall not be lawful for any person to throw or deposit, 

or cause to be thrown or deposited, in any lake, pond, or stream, or 

in any aqueduct from or through which any part of the water supply 

of the city of New York shall be drawn, or either of the reservoirs, 

any dead animal or other offensive matter or anything whatever. 

Any person offending against the provisions of this section shall be 

deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall 

be punished by fine or imprisonment, or both, in the discretion of the 

court, such fine not to exceed the sum of one hundred dollars and 

such imprisonment not to exceed a period of three months, such 

imprisonment to be in the jail of the county in which the offense 

shall have been committed.

SEC. 482. If any person shall willfully do or cause to be done any 

act whereby any work, materials, or property whatever, erected or 

used, or hereafter to be erected or used, within the city or elsewhere 

by the said city, or by any person acting under their authority, for 

the purpose of procuring or keeping a supply of water, shall in any 

manner be injured, or shall erect or place any nuisance on the banks 

of any river, lake, or stream from which the water supply of said city 

shall be drawn, or shall throw anything into the aqueduct or into 

any reservoir, or pipe, such person on conviction thereof shall be 

deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.
126 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

Section 483 authorizes the commissioner of water supply, gas, and 

electricity to carry out the provisions of this act and to prevent contamination.

Section 484 authorizes proceedings to acquire title of lands necessary for this purpose.

By laws of 1893, chapter 661, section 73, the discharge of sewage 

or other matter deleterious to public health or destructive to fish into 

Wallkill Creek, in the counties of Ulster and Orange, is prohibited, 

and section 74 of the same act contains a similar protection for the 

Susquehanna River or any of its tributaries between the Rock Bottom dam in such river at the city of Binghamton and a point one 

mile east of the bridge that crosses such river at Conklin.

Law of 1893 was amended by an act passed in 1903, adding the following sections:

[Laws of 1903, chap. 468; became a law May 7, 1903. with the approval of the governor; 

passed, a majority being present.]

AN ACT to amend the public health law relative to the discharge of sewage and 

other refuse or waste matter into the waters of this r+ate.

The people of the State of New York, represented in senate and 

assembly, do enact as follows:

SEC. 1. Public health law amended. Article 5 of chapter 661 of the 

laws of 1893, entitled "An act in relation to the public health, constituting chapter 25 of the general laws,1 ' as amended by chapter 251 

of the laws of 1899, is hereby amended by adding at tl-°i end thereof 

the following new sections:

SEC. 75. Discharge of sewage and other refuse matter in certain 

waters prohibited. No person, corporation, or municipality shall 

place or cause to be placed, or discharged or cause to be discharged, 

into any of the waters of this State, unless the same si all have been 

permitted by the State commissioner of health, any sevage, garbage, 

offal, dead animal, dead fish, dead bird or part thereof, or any decomposable or putrescible matter of any kind, or any substance, chemical 

or otherwise, containing the same in quantities injurious to the public 

health, or any refuse or waste matter, either solid or liquid, in quantities injurious to the public health, from any shop, factory, mill, or 

industrial establishment, unless express permission to do so shall 

have been first given in writing by the State commissioner of health, 

as provided in this article, except as hereinafter provided. But this 

act shall not prevent the discharge of sewage from any public sewer 

system owned and maintained by a municipality, or the discharge of 

refuse or waste matter from any shop, factory, mill, or industrial 

establishment, provided such sewer system was in operation and was 

discharging sewage, or such shop, factory, mill, or industrial establishment was in operation and discharging refuse or waste matter,
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE EESTKICTIONS NEW YORK. 127

into any of the waters of this State at or prior to the time of the passage of this act, nor to any extension or modification of such shop, 

factory, mill, or industrial establishment, or reconstruction thereof, 

provided the refuse or waste matter discharged therefrom is not 

materially changed or increased; but this exception shall not permit 

tiny increase in the discharge of such sewage, nor shall it permit the 

discharge of sewage from a sewer system which shall be extended, 

modified, or reconstructed subsequent to the passage of this act.

SEC. 76. Permission to discharge sewage. Upon application duly 

made to the State commissioner of health by the public authorities 

having by law the charge of the sewer system of any municipality, 

the State commissioner of health shall have power to consider the 

case of a sewer system otherwise prohibited by this act from discharging sewage into any of the waters of the State, and whenever in 

his opinion the general interests of the public health would be subserved thereby he may issue a permit for the discharge of sewage 

from any such sewer system into any of the waters of the Str.te, and 

may stipulate in the permit modifications, regulations, and conditions on which such discharge may be permitted. Such permit before 

being operative shall be recorded in the county clerk's office of the 

county wherein the outlet of the said sewer system is located, and a 

copy of the permit shall be transmitted by the State commissioner of 

health to the board of health of the municipality wherein the outlet 

of said sewer system is located.

SEC. 77. Permission to discharge refuse or waste matter from 

industrial establishments. Upon application duly made to tte State 

commissioner of health by the proprietor, lessee, or tenant of any 

shop, factory, mill, or industrial establishment from which the discharge or refuse or waste matter into any of the waters of the State 

is otherwise prohibited by this act, the State commissioner of health 

shall have power to consider the case of the said shop, factory, mill, 

or industrial establishment, and whenever the public health and 

purity of the waters shall warrant it he shall issue a permit for the 

discharge of refuse or waste matter from such shop, factory, mill, or 

industrial establishment into any of the waters of the State, and may 

stipulate in the permit s.uch modifications, regulations, and conditions 

as the public health may require. Such permit, before being operative, shall be recorded in the county clerk's office of the county where 

such shop, factory, mill, or industrial establishment is located, and a 

copy of such permit shall be transmitted by the State commissioner 

of health to the board of health of the municipality wher°in the 

outlet discharging refuse or waste matter from such shop, factory, 

 mill, or industrial establishment shall be located.

SEC. 77a. Plans to l>e submitted. Before any conduit or discharge 

pipe or other means of discharging or casting any refuse or waste
128 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

matter from any shop, factory, mill, or industrial establishment not 

constructed or in process of construction when this act takes effect 

shall be put in or constructed for the purpose of discharging any 

refuse or waste matter therefrom into any waters in this State, the 

plan or plans therefor, together with a statement of the purpose for 

which the same is to be used, shall be submitted to the commissioner. 

If the same is not detrimental to the public health 1 Q, shall issue a 

permit therefor to the applicant. No such conduit, discharge pipe, 

or other means of discharging or casting any refuse cr waste matter 

from any such shop, factory, mill, or establishment into any of the 

waters of this State shall be put in or constructed before such permit 

is granted, and if put in or constructed the person putting in or con» 

structing or maintaining the same shall forfeit to the people of the 

State five dollars a day for each day the same is used or maintained 

for such purpose, to be collected in an action brought by the eommis=- 

sioner. He may also maintain an action in the name of the people to 

restrain a violation of this section.

SEC. 78. Revocation of permit. Every such permit for the discharge of sewage from a sewer system or for the discharge of refuse 

or waste matter from a shop, factory, mill, or industrial establishment shall, when necessary to conserve the public health, be revocable 

or subject to modification or change by the State commissioner of 

health on due notice after an investigation and hearing and an opportunity for all interested therein to be heard thereon being served on 

the public authorities of the municipality owning aid maintaining 

the sewage system, or on the proprietor, lessee, or tenant of the shop, 

factory, mill, or industrial establishment. The length of the time 

after receipt of the notice within which the discharge of sewage or 

of refuse or waste matter shall be discontinued may be stated in the 

permit, but in no case shall it exceed two years in the case of a sewer 

system nor one year in the case of a shop, factory, mill, or industrial 

establishment, and if the length of time is not specified in the permit 

it shall be one year in the case of a sewer system and six months in 

the case of a shop, factory, mill, or industrial establishment. On 

the expiration of the period of time prescribed after the service of a 

notice of revocation, modification, or change from the State commissioner of health, the right to discharge sewage or refuse or waste 

matter into any of the waters of the State shall cease and terminate, 

and the prohibition of this act against such discharge shall be in full 

force as though no permit had been granted, but a new permit may 

thereafter again be granted as hereinbefore provided.

SEC. 79. Reports of 'municipal authorities to local boards of health. 

It shall be the duty of the public authorities having by law charge of 

the sewer system of every municipality in the State, fre m which sewer
GOODELL.J SEVEEE STATUTE RESTBICTIONS NEW YOBK. 129

system sewage was being discharged into any of the waters of the 

State at the time of the passage of this act, to file with the board of 

health of the municipality within which any sewer outlet of the said 

sewer system is located and within sixty days after the passage of 

this act a report of each sewer system having an outlet within the 

municipality, which report shall comprise such facts and information 

as the State commissioner of health may require and on blrnks or 

forms to be furnished by him on application. The board of health 

of each municipality being satisfied as to the correctness anrl completeness of each report submitted to it shall within thirty days after 

its receipt certify the same and transmit it to the State commissioner 

of health. Such report when satisfactory to the State commissioner 

of health shall be filed by him in his office and shall constitute the 

evidence of exemption from the prohibition of this act. No sewer 

system shall be exempt from the prohibition of this act against the 

discharge of sewage into the waters of the State for which a satisfactory report shall not be filed in the office of the State commissioner 

of health in accordance with this section.

SEC. 79a. Reports of proprietors of industrial establishments. It 

shall be the duty of the proprietor of every shop, factory, mill, and 

industrial establishment in the State from which refuse or waste matter was being discharged into any of the waters of the State at the 

time of the passage of this act to file with the State commissioner of 

health within sixty day* after the passage of this act a report of eacii 

shop, factory, mill, and industrial establishment from which refuse 

or waste matter was being discharged through an outlet within the 

municipality at the time of the passage of this act, which report shall 

comprise such facts and information in regard to the size, location, 

and character of shop, factory, mill, or industrial establishment, the 

machinery in use therein, and the character and quantity of goods 

produced as the State commissioner of health may require and on 

blanks or forms to be furnished by him on application. Such report 

shall be filed by him in his office, and shall constitute the evidence of 

exemption of the shop, factory, mill, or industrial establishment from 

the prohibition of this act. No shop, factory, mill, or industrial establishment shall be exempt from the prohibition of this act against the 

discharge of refuse or waste matter into the waters of the State, for 

which a report shall not be made as required by the State commissioner of health in accordance with this section.

SEC. 79b. Record of permits,- inspection of local boards of health. 

Each board of health shall preserve in its office, and in a form to be 

prescribed by the State commissioner of health, a permanent record 

of each permit issued by the State commissioner of health granting

IEB 152 05 M 9
130 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

the right to discharge sewage or refuse or waste matter into any of 

the waters of the State within that municipality and of each revocation of a permit; and also a permanent record of each report received 

by the board of health concerning each sewer system and each shop, 

factory, mill, or industrial establishment which at the time of the passage of this act was discharging sewage or refuse or wrste matter into 

any of the waters of the State within that municipality. Each local 

board of health shall make and maintain such inspection as will at all 

times enable it to determine whether this act is being complied with 

in respect to the discharge of sewage, refuse, or waste matter or other 

materials prohibited by this act into any of the waters of the State 

within that municipality. For the purpose of such inspection every 

member of such board of health, or its health officers, or any person 

duly authorized by it, shall have the right to make all necessary 

examinations of any premises, building, shop, factory, mill, industrial 

establishment, process, or sewage system.

SEC. 79c. Violations," service of notice,' actions by local boards. 

The local board of health of each municipality shall promptly ascertain every violation of or noncompliance with any of the provisions 

of this act or of the permits for the discharge of sewage or refuse or 

waste material into any of the waters of the State herein provided 

which may occur within that municipality. The board of health 

shall, on the discovery of every violation of or noncompliance with 

any of the provisions of this act or of any permit duly issued, serve a 

written notice on the person or corporation responsible for the violation or noncompliance, together with a copy of this act and of the 

permit, if any, violated or noiicomplied with, specifying the particular provision being violated or iioncomplied with, and stipulating the 

length of time within which the violation or noncompliance must 

cease. If at the expiration of the stipulated length of time the violation or noncompliance shall still continue, the board of health shall 

at once report the violation and noncompliance to the State commissioner of health, who shall at once give a hearing to and take the 

proof of the persons charged with such violation or noncompliance 

and investigate the matter, and if he finds a violation or noncompliance to exist he shall at once certify the fact to the board of 

health of the municipality, which shall immediately bring an action 

in a court of record, which action shall be tried in the county wherein 

the cause of action arose against the person or corporation responsible for the violation or the noncompliance for the recovery of the 

penalties incurred and for an injunction against the continuation of 

the violation or the noncompliance.

SEC. 79d. Penalties. The penalty for the discharge of sewage 

from any public sewer system into any of the waters of the State
GOODBLL.] SEVEEE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS NEW YORK. 131

without a duly issued permit for which a permit is required by this 

act shall be five hundred dollars, and a further penalty of fifty 

dollars per day for each day the offence is maintained. T Q- penalty for the discharge of sewage from any public sewer system 

into any of the waters of the State without filing a report fo^ which 

a report is required to be filed with the board of health of the municipality shall be fifty dollars. The penalty for the discharge of 

refuse or waste matter from any shop, factory, mill, or industrial 

establishment for which a permit is required by this act without such 

permit shall be one hundred dollars and ten dollars a day for each 

day the offence is maintained. The penalty for the discharge of 

refuse or waste matter from any shop, mill, factory, or industrial 

establishment without filing a report where a report is required by 

this act to be filed shall be twenty-five dollars and five dollars per day 

for each day the offence is maintained. The penalty for discharging 

into any of the waters of the State any other matter prohibited by 

this act besides that specified above shall be twenty-five dollars and 

five dollars per day for each day the offence is maintained.

SEC. 2. Common-law rights not affected. Nothing in this ret shall 

be construed to diminish or otherwise to modify the common-law 

rights of riparian owners in the quality of waters of streams covered 

by such rights, nor in the case of actions brought against ths pollution of waters to limit their remedy to indemnities.

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

[Laws of 1905, chap. 454.]

AN ACT regulating the sanitary condition of bathing establishments, and amending 

section two hundred and twelve of chapter twenty-five of the general put lie health 

laws, as amended by the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-three; being renumbered by the laws of nineteen hundred, chapter six hundred and sixty-seven ; number 

of section being originally two hundred and two.

SECTION 1. Section two hundred and twelve of chapter twe'ity-five 

of the general public health laws, as amended by the laws of eighteen 

hundred and ninety-three, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

§ 212. Regulating the sanitary condition of bathing establishments 

and the preservation of life at bathing places. It shall be unlawful 

for any person to maintain, either as owner or lessee, any bathing 

establishment of any kind, in this state, for the accommodation of 

persons, for pay, or any consideration, at a point less than five hundred feet from any sewer connection emptying therein, or thereat, so 

as to pollute in any way, the waters used by those using or hiring 

bathing houses at such bathing establishments; it shall be the duty 

of such owner Or lessee to provide separate toilet rooms, witl waterclosete properly provided with sanitary plumbing, constructed in-a 

manner approved by the local board of health and in such a way as 

not to contaminate the waters used by the bathers; it shall also be
132 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

the duty of such owner or lessee to thoroughly wash and disinfect, or 

cause to be thoroughly washed and disinfected, in a manner approved 

by the local board of health, all bathing suits that have been hired or 

used, before rehiring or permitting the use of the sam^ again. Any 

person or persons violating any of the provisions of this section shall 

forfeit and pay a penalty of not less than fifty dollars nor more 

than two hundred dollars to be recovered by the sheriff of the 

county in which such violation is committed, except in the city of 

New York, when the penalty shall be sued for in th«, name of the 

department of health of the city of New York and collected by it. 

It shall be the duty of the sheriffs and constables of thQ, several counties of this State abutting upon the seashore, to see that in their 

respective counties the provisions of this section are enforced, and to 

bring suit for the recovery of the penalty therein provided, unless 

some other person had already brought suit for the same. A separate penalty may be recovered for each day that any person subject 

to the provisions of this section may violate any of the provisions of 

the same; but no penalty shall be recovered for any other violation 

thereof than shall have occurred during the days when the owner or 

lessee, or other person or persons, maintaining the said bathing establishments, shall have kept the same open for the use of the public, or 

for such persons as may be the guests of any hotel that such bathing 

establishments may be connected with. The owner of a bathing 

house shall not be subject to the provisions of this section when it is 

used, occupied or maintained by a lessee for hire, but such lessee 

shall be deemed the keeper or proprietor or person or persons maintaining such bathing establishment thereof. Nothing in this section 

shall be construed, in any to affect any bathing establishments, in any 

city or municipality, at which there is maintained at public expense a 

life-saving guard.

§ 2. This act shall take effect the first day of June, nineteen hundred and five.

Approved, May 16, 1905.

PENNSYLVANIA.

[Pepper and Lewis Digest, Supplement, p. 98.]

BURIAL. SEC. 7. Pollution of water by use of land for burial purposes prohibited. That it shall be unlawful to use for the burial of 

the dead any land the drainage from which passes into any stream 

furnishing the whole or any portion of the water supply of any city, 

except beyond the distance of one mile from such city: Provided, however, That the prohibitions of this act shall not be enforceable against 

any land now devoted to burial purposes in which there shall have 

heretofore been burials-and sales of burial lots.

NUISANCES. Same, col. 253.
UOODBLL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS PENNSYLVANIA. 133

SEC. 27. Penalty for pollution of water used for drinking purposes. Any person who shall wilfully enter upon the enclosed land 

of any company incorporated under the laws of this Commonwealth 

for the purpose of supplying water to the public for drinking purposes, on which land is erected any dam, reservoir, pond, or other 

artificial means for storing water, and pollute or attempt to pollute 

the water on such land, shall be deemed, and the same ir hereby 

declared to be, a misdemeanor, and may be prosecuted and convicted 

as such under the laws of this Commonwealth, and on conviction 

thereof in the court of quarter sessions of the proper county shall be 

fined not exceeding fifty dollars, and imprisoned not exceeding sixty 

days.

SEC. 28. Offender to be arrested on view. That any duly constituted watchman of any such water company, or any cons-table or 

policeman, is hereby authorized and empowered, upon his own view 

of any such trespass, to make arrests and bring before any alderman 

or magistrate of the proper county offenders found violating the provisions of this act.

[Laws of 1905, No. 182.]

AN ACT to preserve the purity of the waters of the State, for the protection

of the public health.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, &c., That the term " waters of the State," 

wherever used in this act, shall include all streams and springs, and 

all bodies of surface and of ground water, whether natural or artificial, within the boundaries of the State.

SEC. 2. Every municipal corporation, private corporation, company, and individual supplying or authorized to supply water to the 

public, within the State, shall, within sixty days after the passage of 

this act, file with the commissioner of health a certified copy of the 

plans and surveys of the waterworks, with a description of the 

source from which the supply of water is derived; and no additional 

source of supply shall thereafter be used without a written permit 

from the commissioner of health, as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 3. No municipal corporation, private corporation, company, 

or individual shall construct waterworks for the supply of water to 

the public within the State, or extend the same, without a written 

permit, to be obtained from the commissioner of health, if, in his 

judgment, the proposed source of supply appears to be not prejudicial 

to the public health. The application for such permit must be accompanied by a certified copy of the plans and surveys for such waterworks, or extension thereof, with a description of the source from 

which it is proposed to derive the supply; and no additional source 

of supply shall subsequently be used for any such waterworks with-
134 LAWS FOKBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

out a similar permit from the commissioner of health. When application shall be made for a permit under either of the above provisions 

of this section, it shall be the duty of the commissioner to proceed to 

examine the application without delay, and, as soon as possible, he 

shall make a decision, in writing; and, within thirty days after such 

decision, the corporation, company, or individual making such application may appeal to any court of common pleas of the county, and 

said court shall, without delay, hear the appeal, and shall make an 

order approving, setting aside, or modifying such dee;sion, or fixing 

the terms upon which said permit shall be granted. The penalty for 

failure to file copies of plans, surveys, and descriptions of existing 

waterworks within the time hereinbefore fixed, and for the construction or extension of waterworks, or. the use of an additional source 

of supply without a permit from the commissioner of health, shall 

be five hundred dollars, and further penalty of fifty dollars per day 

for each day that the works are in operation contrary to the provisions of this act, recoverable by the Commonwealth, at the suit of 

the commissioner of health, as debts of like amount jvre recoverable 

by law.

SEC. 4. No person, corporation, or municipality shall place, or permit to be placed, or discharge, or permit to flow into any of the 

waters of the State, any sewage, except as hereinafter provided. But 

this act shall not apply to waters pumped or flowing from coal mines 

or tanneries, nor prevent the discharge of sewage from any public 

sewer system, owned and maintained by a munieiprlity, provided 

such sewer system was in operation and was discharging sewage into 

any waters of the State at the time of the passage of this act. But 

this exception shall not permit the discharge of sewage from the 

sewer system which shall be extended subsequent to the passage of 

this act.

For the purpose of this act, sewage shall be defined as1 any substance 

that contains any of the waste products, or excrementitious or other 

discharges from the bodies of human beings or animals.

SEC. 5. Upon application duly made to the commissioner of health, 

by the public authorities having by law the charge of the sewer system 'of any municipality, the governor of the State, the attorney-general, and the commissioner of health shall consider the case of such 

a sewer system, otherwise prohibited by this act from discharging 

sewage into any of the waters of the State, and, whenever it is their 

unanimous opinion that the general interests of the public health 

would be subserved thereby, the commissioner of her 1th may issue 

a permit for the discharge of sewage from any such sewer system 

into any of the waters of the State, and may stipulate in the permit 

the conditions on which such discharge may be permitted. Such per-
OOODBLL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS PENNSYLVANIA. 135

mit, before being operative, shall be recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds for the county wherein the outlet of the said sewer 

system is located. Every such permit for the discharge of sewage 

from a sewer system shall be revokable, or subject to modification and 

change, by the commissioner of health, on due notice, after an investigation and hearing, and an opportunity for all interested therein to 

be heard thereon being served on the public authorities of tl e municipality owning, maintaining, or using the sewage system. TV 9, length 

of time after receipt of the notice within which the discharge of 

sewage shall be discontinued may be stated in the permit, but in no 

case shall it be less than one year or exceed two years, and if the 

length of time is not specified in the permit it shall be one year. On 

the expiration of the period of time prescribed, after the service of a 

notice of revocation, modification, or change, from the commissioner 

of health, the right to discharge sewage into any of the waters of the 

State shall cease and terminate; and the prohibition of this act 

against such discharge shall be in full force, as though no permit had 

been granted, but a new permit may thereafter again be granted, as 

hereinbefore provided.

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the public authorities having by 

law charge of the sewer system of every municipality in the State 

from which sewage was being discharged into any of the waters of 

the State at the time of the passage of this act, to file with the 

commissioner of health, within four months after the passage of 

this act, a report of such sewer system, which shall comprise such 

facts and information as the commissioner of health may require. 

No sewer system shall be exempt from the provisions of this act 

against the discharge of sewage into the waters of the State for 

which a satisfactory report shall not be filed with the commissioner 

of health in accordance with this section.

SEC. 7. The penalty for the discharge of sewage from any public 

sewer system into any of the waters of the State without a duly 

issued permit in any case in which a permit is required by this act 

shall be five hundred dollars, and a further penalty of fifty dollars 

per day for each day the offense is maintained, recoverable by the 

Commonwealth at the suit of the commissioner of health as debts of 

like amount are recoverable by law. The penalty for the discharge 

of sewage from any public sewer system into any of the waters of 

the State without filing a report, in any case in which a report is 

required to be filed, shall be fifty dollars, recoverable by a like suit.

SEC. 8. All individuals, private corporations, and companies that, 

at the time of the passage of this act, are discharging sewage into 

any of the waters of the State may continue to discharge such sewage unless, in the opinion of the commissioner of health, the discharge
136 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

of such sewage may become injurious to the public health. If at 

any time the commissioner of health considers that tl ?, discharge of 

such sewage into any of the waters of the State may become injurious 

to the public health he may order the discharge of such sewage 

discontinued.

SEC. 9. Every individual, private corporation, or company shall 

discontinue the discharge, of sewage into any of the waters of the 

State within ten days after having been so ordered by the commissioner of health.

SEC. 10. Any individual, private corporation, or company that 

shall discharge sewage, or permit the same to flow, into the waters 

of the State contrary to the provisions of this act shall .be deemed 

guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall upon conviction b? punished by 

a fine of twenty-five dollars for each offense and a further fine of 

five dollars per day for each day the offense is maintained, or by 

imprisonment not exceeding one month, or both, at the discretion of 

the court.

SEC. 11. Any order or decision, under this act, of the commissioner 

of health, or that of the governor, attorney-general, and commissioner of health, shall be subject to an appeal to any court of common pleas of the county wherein the outlet of such sewer or sewer 

system, otherwise prohibited by this act, is situated; and said court 

shall have power to hear said appeal, and may affirm or set aside 

said order or decision, or modify the same, or otherwise fix the terms 

upon which permission shall be granted. But the ord°ir or decision 

appealed from shall not be superseded by the appeal, b'lt shall stand 

until the order of the court, as above.

Approved the 22d day of April, A. D. 1905.

[Laws of 1905, No. 223.]

AN ACT authorizing and empowering cities, owning and operating waterworks 

systems, to enter, by any of its employes, upon private lands through which 

may pass any stream or streams of water supplying such citi-^s, for the purpose of patrolling the drainage area, and making investigations or inquiries 

pertaining to the condition of the stream or streams, sanitary or otherwise.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, &c., That any city owning and operating a 

waterworks system is hereby authorized and empowered to enter, by 

any of its employes, upon private lands through which may pass 

any stream or streams of water supplying such city, for the purpose 

of patrolling the drainage area of such stream or streams, and making 

investigations or inquiries pertaining to the condition of the stream or 

streams, sanitary or otherwise; Provided, however, That any injury 

or damage done to the property so entered upon shall be paid by such 

city.

Approved the 2d day of May, A. D. 1905.
GOODELL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS VERMONT. 137

VERMONT.

[Statutes, 1894, p. 842, Preservation of public health.]

SEC. 4695. If any person puts or causes to be put a dead animal or 

animal substance into or upon the. bank of a lake, pond, running 

stream, or spring of water so that it is drawn or washed into the same, 

and suffers it to remain therein, he shall be fined not more than twenty 

dollars and not less than five dollars.

[Laws of 1898, No. 150, p. 115.]

AN ACT in amendment of act No. 137 of the acts of 1894, relating to pollution of 

the waters of Missisquoi River.

It w hereby enacted by the general assembly of the State of Vermont:

SECTION 1, number 137, of the public acts of 1894, is* hereby 

amended so as to read as follpws: "A person owning or operating a 

mill who shall by himself or his agent deposit or suffer to be deposited 

any sawdust, shavings, or any mill refuse in the waters of the Missisquoi Eiver above Enosburgh Falls, or in any of the tributaries of said 

Missisquoi River above Enosburgh Falls, shall be fined not less than 

twenty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, in the discretion 

of the court, for each offence/1

SEC. 2. This act shall take effect from March 1st, 1899. Approved 

November 16th, 1898.

[Laws of 1902. No. 115, p. 144.]

AN ACT to prevent the pollution of the sources of water supply, as amended by

No. 141, Laws of 1904.

It is hereby enacted by the general assembly of the State of Vermont:

SECTION 1. The State board of health shall have the general oversight and care of all waters, streams, and ponds used by any cities, 

towns, villages, or public institutions, or by any water or ice companies in this State as sources of water supply, and of all springs, 

streams, and water courses tributary thereto. It shall have power to 

call for, and when it calls for it shall be provided with maps, plans, 

and documents suitable for such purposes, at the expense of snch city, 

town, village, public institution, water or ice company, and shall keep 

records of all its transactions relative thereto.

Said board shall have authority to prohibit any town, city, village, 

public institution, individual or water or ice company from using 

water or ice from any given source whenever in its opinion the same 

is so contaminated, unwholesome and impure that the use thereof 

endangers the public health. And the court of chancery shall have
188 LAWS FOKBIDDING INLAND-WATEE POLLUTION. [No. 152.

jurisdiction and power, upon application therefor by the State board 

of health, to enforce by proper order and decree any order, rule or 

regulation which said board may make under and by virtue of this 

section.

SEC. 2. Said board may cause examinations of such waters to be 

made to ascertain the purity and fitness for domestic use, or their 

liability to impair the interests of the public or of persons lawfully 

using them or to imperil the public health. It may make rules and 

regulations to prevent the pollution and to secure the sanitary protection of all such waters as are used as sources of water supply.

SEC. 3. The publication of an order, rule, or regulation made by : 

the board under the provisions of sec. 2 or sec. 6 hereof, in the newspaper of any town or village in which such order, rule, or regulation 

is to take effect, or if no newspaper is published in snch city, town, 1 

or village, the posting of a copy of such order, rule, ov regulation in 

three public places in such city, town,, or village, shall be legal notice 

to all persons, and an affidavit of such publication or posting by the 

persons causing such to be published or posted, filed, and recorded 

with a copy of the notice in the office of the clerk of snch city, town, 

or village shall be admitted as evidence of the time at which and the 

place and manner in which the notice was given.

SEC. 4. Said board shall include in its biennial report to the general assembly its doings for the preceding biennial term, and shall 

recommend measures for the prevention of the pollution of such 

waters and for the removal of polluting substances in order to protect and develop the rights and property of the State therein, and to 

protect the public health, and shall recommend any legislation or 

plans for systems of main sewers necessary for the preservation of 

the public health and for the purification and prevention of.>pollution 

of the ponds, streams, and waters of the State. It shall'also give 

notice to the State's attorney for the county wherein any violation of 

the law relative to the pollution of the water supplies occurs. It 

shall have the power to employ such expert assistants as it considers 

necessary.

SEC. 5. Cities, towns, villages, and persons shall submit to said 

board for its advice their proposed systems of public vrater supply or 

for the disposal of drainage or sewage. Said board shall consult 

with and advise the authorities of the cities, towns, villages, and 

persons having or about to have systems of public water supply, 

drainage, or sewage, as to the most appropriate sources of water 

supply, and the best methods of assuring its purity or as to the best 

methods of disposing of their drainage or sewage, with reference 

to the existing and future needs of other cities, towns, villages, or 

persons which may be affected thereby. It shall also consult with 

and advise persons engaged or intending to engage in any manu-
GOODBLL.] SEVERE STATUTE RESTRICTIONS VERMONT. 139

facturing or other business whose drainage or sewage may tend to 

pollute any water or source of water supply as to the best method 

of preventing such pollution, and it may conduct experiments to 

determine the best methods of purification or disposal of drainage 

or sewage. No person shall be required to bear the expense of such 

consultation, advice, or experiments. In this section the term 

" drainage " means the rainfall, surface, and subsoil water only, and 

" sewage " means domestic and manufacturing filth and refuse.

SEC. 6. Upon petition to said board by the mayor of a city, the 

selectmen of a town, the trustee or bailiff of a village, the managing 

board or officer of any public institution, or by a board of water commissioners, or the president of a water or ice company, stating that 

manure, excrement, garbage, or any other matter is polluting c T* tending to pollute the water of any stream, pond, spring, or water course 

used by such city, town, village, institution, or company as a source 

of water supply, the board shall appoint a time and place within the 

county where the nuisance or pollution is alleged to exist, for hearing, and after notice thereof to parties interested and a hearing, if in 

its judgment the public health so requires, shall, by an order served 

upon the party, company, or premises so polluted, prohibit the deposit, 

keeping, or discharge of any such cause of pollution, and shall order 

him to desist therefrom and to remove any such cause of pollution; 

but the board shall not prohibit the cultivation or use of soil in the 

ordinary methods of agriculture if no human excrement is used 

therefor.

Said board shall not prohibit the use of any structure which was in 

existence at the time of the passage of this act upon a complaint 

made by the board of water conimissio»»ers of any city, town, or village, or by any water or ice company, unless such board of water 

commissioners or company files with the State board a vote of its city 

council, selectmen, trustees, or bailiffs, or company, respectively, 

that such- city, town, village, or company will, at its own expense, 

make such change in said structure or its location as said board shall 

deem expedient. Such vote shall be binding on such city, town, 

village, or company. All damages caused by such change shall be 

paid by such city, town, village, or company, and if the parties can 

not agree thereon such city, town, village, or company shall tender 

to the parties sustaining damages such a sum of money as in their 

judgment is a reasonable compensation for the damages sustained. 

Whoever is aggrieved by an order under the provisions of the preceding section, or with the sum so tendered as damages, may appeal 

therefrom in the manner provided in Vermont statutes, sec. 3314 to 

8317, inclusive, relating to highways. But the notice therein provided for shall be served on the party or parties who are petitioners 

in fact under section 6 of this act, and also upon the State board of
140 TAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.

health. If the appeal be only from the compensatior for damages, 

the order of the board shall be complied with during th0; pendency of 

such appeal unless otherwise authorized by said board.

SEC. 7. The court of chancery shall have jurisdiction and power, 

upon application thereto by the State board of health or any party 

interested, to enforce its orders, or the orders, rules, and regulations 

of said board of health, and to restrain the use or occupation of the 

premises or such portion thereof as said board may specify, on which 

said material is deposited or kept or such other cause of pollution exists, until the orders, rules, and regulations of said board have been 

complied with.

SEC. 8. Said board of health may by itself, its servants and agents, 

t-nter any building, structure, or premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether sources of pollution or danger to the water supply 

there exist, and whether the rules, regulations, and orders aforesaid 

are obeyed.

SEC. 9. Whoever violates any rule, regulation, or ord^r made under 

the provisions of section 2 or section 6 of this act shall be punished 

for each offense by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars to 

the use of the State, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, 

or by both such fine and imprisonment.

SEC. 10. Xo sewage, drainage, refuse, or polluting matter of such 

kind and amount as either by itself or in connection with other matter 

will corrupt or impair the quality of the water of any pond or stream 

used as a source of ice or water supply by a city, town, village, public 

institution, or water company for domestic use, or render it injurious 

to health, shall be discharged into any such streams, ponds, or upon 

their banks. :

SEC. 12.° The court of chancery, upon the application of ,a mayor of 

a city, the selectmen of a town, the trustees or bailiffs of an incorporated village, the managing board or officer of a public institution, 

or a water or ice company interested, shall have jurisdiction)in equity 

to enjoin the violation of the provisions of section 10.

SEC. 13. Whoever wilfully deposits excrement or foul or decaying 

matter in water which is used for the purpose of domestic water supply or on the shore thereof within five rods of the water shall be punished .by a fine of not more than fifty dollars or by imprisonment for 

not more than thirty days; and a constable of a town c** police officer 

of a city or village in which such water is wholly or partially situated 

may act within the limits of his city or town, and any executive officer 

or agent of a water board, board of water commissioners, public institution, or water company furnishing water or ice for domestic purposes, acting-upon the premises of such board, institution, or company,

0 Section 11 repealed.
GOODELL.] RIGHTS OF RIPARIAN OWNERS. 141

and not more than five rods from the water, may without a warrant 

4ji3?est any person found in the act of violating the provisions of this 

iseefeton and detain him until complaint may be made against him 

therefor. But the provisions of this section shall not interfere with 

the sewerage of a city, town, village, or public institution, or: prevent 

the enriching of land for agriculture by the owner or occupant'thereof.

SEC. 14. Each member of the State board of health shall receive 

four dollars per day and actual expenses while in the discharge of the 

duties imposed by this act. The State auditor is directed to draw his 

order on the State treasurer every six months for such suns as are 

necessary to meet the expenses of said board under the provisions of 

this act.

Approved December 12, 1902.

GENERAL RULES.

The foregoing compendium of common and statute law may be 

summarized and stated in a few general rules, which will perhaps be 

useful to property owners and also to officers charged with the duty 

of protecting health and property rights in waters.

In the nature of the case these rules can be only general, and many 

exigencies will appear in which more particular instructions must be 

obtained from the consultation of text-books and decisions or from 

the advice of counsel.

I. RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF RIPARIAN OWNERS.

Every riparian owner has the right 

1. To use the waters of streams, navigable or otherwise, wlich flow 

across or along his property for the ordinary purposes incidental to 

domestic life and agriculture, including grazing.

2. To 'use such waters for water power and for all kinds of manufacturing purposes which do not sensibly diminish the quantity which 

flows on for the use of lower proprietors nor change the quality of 

the waters to any appreciable extent, nor interfere with the use of 

the stream, if navigable by the public.

3. To have such waters flow to him from the premises of higher 

proprietors not unreasonably diminished nor diverted nor rendered 

impure by the farming or domestic uses to which the waters are subjected by higher proprietors.

4. To have such waters flow to him not sensibly changed in quality 

by any manufacturing or other uses to which they may have been 

put by higher proprietors.

5. To have such waters flow to him in their natural bed, unpolluted 

by any deposits of filth or any other substance in the bed or channel
142 LAWS FORBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. [No. 152.v

previously traversed by them. But 3, 4, and 5 do not apply to 

riparian owners in those States in which the doctrine of prior appropriation is the law. (See pp. 21-23.)

Conveisely, it is the duty of every riparian owner 

1. To so guard his use of the waters of streams wlich flow across 

or along his property for domestic and agricultural purposes as not 

unreasonably to divert nor diminish nor render impure such waters.

2. To refrain from every use in manufacturing which will divert or 

sensibly diminish the quantity of the waters which flow onward to 

the lower proprietors or render them appreciably different in quality.

3. To refrain from depositing any filth or other substance in the 

bed of such streams in such a manner or to such an extent as will 

cause the waters to flow to the lower proprietors out of their natural 

bed or will in anywise pollute them or render them impure.

Where the doctrine of prior appropriation is in force the appropriator must confine his use of the appropriated wate** to the use for 

which he has appropriated it and take only so much rs is reasonably 

necessary to accomplish that purpose. He may not poUute the stream 

wantonly, nor by using it for purposes not included in his appropriation. Subject to these restrictions, the prior appropriator has the 

right to divert from the stream and use as much of the water as is 

necessary to accomplish the purpose for which it was rppropriated.

II. RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.

Considered as corporate entities, municipal corporations have such 

rights and powers only as are conferred upon them by statute, either 

expressly or by necessary implication.

When, under due authority, they become the owners of lakes, reservoirs, and natural streams, they have the same rights to pure water, 

and are charged with the same duties as are other riparian proprietors.

If authorized to construct a system of sewers draining into a 

stream, such authority does not exempt them (except in the State of 

Indiana) from the duty not to pollute the stream to the damage of 

lower proprietors.

The rights of property owners, specified in 3, 4, and 5 above are 

property rights and can not be taken away from owners for public 

use except upon payment therefor of an amount determined by constitutional condemnation proceedings authorized by statute.

Therefore, until municipal corporations have, by such proceedings, 

acquired the rights of all lower proprietors and paid for them, they 

are required in all cases to refrain from the pollution of streams to 

the same extent as private owners.
GOODELL.] PKOGRESS OF LEGISLATION. 143 

III. RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE PUBLIC.

By u the public " is meant that indefinite number of individuals, 

whether larger or smaller, who occupy as a common habitrtion a 

neighborhood, village, town, State, or country. Rights and duties 

which affect inhabitants of the neighborhood, village, town, State, or 

country as a whole, or a considerable but indefinite number of them, 

are called " public " rights and duties.

The public, in this sense, aside from the right to use navigable 

waters for commerce, has the right to enjoy the natural waters and 

the air which passes over them, so far as life and health are affected 

by these elements, in a condition so near that in which nature left 

them that their use will not destroy nor threaten life nor injure 

health.

And, reciprocally, the public, and each member of it, is charged 

with the duty not to pollute the natural waters upon which the community depends for life and health in any manner that will render 

the continued use of the waters, or of the air which passes over them, 

destructive of or injurious to the life or health of the community.

PUBLIC RIGHTS AND DUTIES ENFORCED BY STATUTP.

The rights and duties attempted to be expressed under III have 

received some recognition by the courts apart from statutory enactments. They have been enforced chiefly, however, through legislation. These rights and duties have received full recognition, and an 

active effort has been made to provide an efficient sanction fo^ their 

enforcement by the legislatures of all the States included in Class II 

and .Class 1,11, as hereinbefore stated. These classes include thirtyeight of the; States and Territories.

These statutes, not being in derogation of common-law rights, have 

been construed as remedial statutes and not unconstitutional, although 

in some cases they may seem to interfere with prescriptive rights. 

No one can acquire by prescription a right-to do an act which menaces public health or destroys public comfort.

PROGRESS OF LEGISLATION.

It will have been noticed that public opinion, as expressed in public 

laws, is steadily progressing in the direction of a full, complete, and 

comprehensive enforcement of all the rights and duties of riparian 

owners, of municipal corporations, and of the public, as summarized 

above. Each advance in statutory regulation is an advance in that 

direction, and more especially in the direction of regulating and 

enforcing public rights and municipal rights and duties.
144 LAWS FOBBIDDING INLAND-WATER POLLUTION. fNo. 152.

Private owners, from time immemorial, have been active in protecting their riparian rights as against other private owners. But the 

effect of pollution upon public health has not, until ?- comparatively 

recent period, been brought prominently into notice. The pollution 

of streams by cities and private persons has, accordingly, not received 

the attention which it deserved. This state of affairs is now rapidly 

passing away. Courts have shown themselves fully alive to the 

existence and validity of public rights in that respect, and the legislatures in Class III, comprising the States of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Vermont, and Pennsylvania, which has come into this class by legislation 

enacted in 1905, have made enactments calculated so to control such 

pollution as eventually to prevent all danger to public health.
INDEX.

A.

Acqnackanonk Water Co. v. Watson, cited

on mine contamination ........ 15

reference to ............................ 18

Alabama, common^law cases in.......... 9,25,29

statute laws of ......................... 33-34

Altoona, Good v., decision in............... 26

Andrews, Chief Justice, opinion of, quoted

on sewage pollution............ 27-28

Angel, Pennsylvania Railroad Co. p., opinion in, quoted on interference 

with private property.......... 18

Appropriation, prior, doctrine of, in arid

and mining States.............. 21-23

Arid and mining States, riparian rights in.. 21-23

Arizona, common-law case in.............. 21

doctrine of prior appropriation in ..... 21

Arkansas, common-Jaw case in............. 9

statute laws of.......................... 34

Ashes, deposition of, in streams, etc., prohibition of and penalty for....... 57

Attorney-General v. Leeds, opinion in,

quoted on previous pollution .. 17

Attorney-General v. Steward, opinion in,

quoted on previous pollution... 16

B.

Baldwin, Judge, opinion of, quoted on sewage pollution.................... 2^-29

Bankier, Young v., cited on mine contamination .......................... 15

Barnyard refuse, contamination by, prohibition of and penalty for....... 37,

46,65,66,67-68,70

Bathing in stream, etc., used for water supply, prohibition of and penalty 

for............ 46,57,64,66-67,74,81,84

Bathing establishments, law regulating.. 131-132

Beach v. Sterling Iron and Zinc Co., decision in.......................... 11-20

reference to ............................ 31

Birmingham, Mayor, etc., of, v. Land, opinion in........................... 29

Blizzard v. The Borough of Danville, decision in.......................... 27

Boards of health. See Health, boards of.

Boiling Spring Co., Holsman v. See Holsman v. Boiling Spring Co.

Bones, deposition of, in streams, etc., prohibition of and penalty for..... 57

Borough of Danville, The, Blizzard r., decision iu........................ 27

Brinsop Coal Co., Pennington P., cited on

mine contamination ........... 15

IRR 152 05 M- -10

Page. 

Butcher's Ice and Coal Co. v. Philadelphia,

decision in..................... 26

Butler r. Village of White Plains, decision

in .............................. 29-30

C.

Cairns, Lord, cited on mine contariination ............................ 16

California, common-law cases in...... 9,22,23,25

doctrine of prior appropriation in...... 22,23

statute laws of.......................... 46-47

Cases on discharge of sewage............... 24-31

on public nuisances.................... 23

on rights of public...................... 23

municipalities................... 24,25-31

riparian owners .................... 9-23

Cemetery, maintenance of, near streams, 

etc., prohibition of and penalty 

for.................... 39,53,74-75,132

Chadwick, Magor v., cited on mine contamination ..................... 15

Chelmsford, Lord, opinion of, quoted on

previous pollution.............. 17

Chemicals, deposition of, in streams, etc.,

prohibition of and penalty for . 72

Chicago, sewage from, suit concerning disposal of......................... 20-21

City, Harris v., decision in.................. 26

City of Danbury, Morgan v., opinion in,

quoted on sewage pollution .... 28-29

City of Gloversville, Sammons t>., decision

in............................... 29

Clowes v. Staffordshire Waterworks, cited

on right to give damages....... 15

Coal mines, contamination from. See Mines.

Coal tar, etc., contamination by, prohibition of and penalty for... 46-47,54,61

Colorado, common-law cases in.......... 9,21,23

doctrine of prior appropriation in...... 21,23

statute laws of.......................... 48

Columbus, The, etc., Co. v. Tucker, decision in, cited ................... 14

Columbus Co. i'. Taylor, cited on natural

use .-.-..........-........--...- 16

Commissioners on stream pollution, New

Jersey, powers,etc.,of.. 88-89,106-121

Common law. See Law, common.

Connecticut, common-law cases in.... 9,25,27-29 

statute laws of ......................... 74-76

Contamination of water. See Water, pollution of.

Council, city or village, powers of ...... 37,43,49

Crossley v. Lightowler, opinion in, quoted

on previous pollution .......... 17

145
146 INDEX.

D.

Page.

Damages, right to sue for .................. 8

Danbury, Morgan v., opinion in............ 28-29

Danville, Borough of, Blizzard v., decision

in............................... 27

Decisions. See Cases.

Delaware, statute laws of................... 35

Diversion of water supply, prohibition of

and penalty for................. 63

Dixon, Judge, opinion of, quoted on interference with private property.. 18 

Dodge, Judge, opinion of, quoted on sewage

pollution....................... 31

Domestic purposes, right of reasonable use

of water for .................... 8

E.

England, common-law cases in... 10,15-16,17,25 

Ennor, Hodgkinson v., cited on mine contamination ..................... 15

Excrement, contamination by, prohibition

of and penalty for.............. 58,

62,63,65,66-67,69,70,80,81,89-90,140 

Explosives, deposition of, in streams, etc.,

restriction of ................ 36,72,73

F.

Factory refuse, contamination by, prohibition of and penalty for......... 37,

38,45,50,53,54,61,66-67,89-90 

discharge of, in streams, etc., when allowed ........................ 126-128

Farming, right of reasonable use of water

for.............................. 8

Fish, etc., poisoning of, prohibition of and

penalty for..................... 36,

38,40,45,54,55,58,72,73

Fletcher v. Rylands, cited on mine contamination ......................... 16

Florida, statute laws of .................... 35

Fond du Lac, Hughes v., opinion in, quoted 

on rights of municipal corporation ............................ 31

G.

Garbage, etc., burning of .................. 57,69

Gardner ('. Newburgh, decision in, quotation from....................... 14

Garrison, Judge, opinion of, quoted on sewerage commission.............. 121

Gas tar, etc., contamination by, prohibition

of......................... 39,40,61,63

Georgia, common-law cases in ............. 9,25

statute laws of.......................... 35

Gloversville, Sammons v., decision in...... 29

Goldsmid v. Tunbridge Wells Commissioners, opinion in, quoted on effect 

of nuisance..................... 19-20

Good v. Altoona,decision in................ 26

Great Britain, common-law eases in. 10,15-16,17,25

Grey, Attorney-General, v. Paterson, discussion of.......................... 30-31

opinion in, quoted on sewage disposal.. 30

H. 

Hagen, Valparaiso v., decision in........ 25,26,31

Harper v. Milwaukee, opinion in, quoted on

rights of municipal corporation. 31

Page. 

Harris v. City, decision in .................. 26

Health, boards of, powers of................ 34,

42-43,47,50,58,59,68,74,77-79,82,83, 84,

85,90,91-92,121-125,129-130,132,137-141

Higgins v. The Water Co., cited ............ 18

Hodgkinson v. Ennor, ci^ed on mine contamination ..................... 15

Holsman v. Boiling Spring Co., cited on mine

contaminatior ................. 14

opinion in, quoted on protection of riparian right....................... 17

reference to ............................ 18

Hughes v. Fond du Lac, opinion in, quoted 

on rights of nrunicipal corporation............................. 31

I. 

Ice, cutting of, restriction of................ 83,84

Ice pond, driving on, rest-iction of ........ 81

Idaho, common-law cases in ............... 21

doctrine of prior appropriation in...... 21

statute laws of.......................... 35

Illinois, common-law cases in.............. 25

statute laws of.......................... 48-49

Illinois et al., Missouri v., case of........... 20-21

Indiana, common-law cases in........... 9,25,31

statute laws of.......................... 49-51

Indictment as remedy for injury........... 8

Injunction as remedy for injury....... 8,18,76,80

cases bearing on............... 15-16,18,29-31

Iowa, common-law cases in ................ 9,25

statute laws of.......................... 36

J. 

Jurisdictions of act and its results, different. 9,10

K.

Kansas, common-law cases in.............. 26

statute laws of.......................... 36

Kent, Chancellor, opinio^ of, quoted on

riparian rights ................. 14

Kentucky, statute laws of.................. 36

L.

Lancaster City, Owens v., decision in...... 26,27

Land, Mayor, etc., of Binringham «., opinion in, quoted on sewage pollution . .......................... 29

Law, common, decisions et................ 7-31

decisions at, classification of........... 7-8

principles of............................ 7-31

classification of..................... 7-8

remedies at............................. 8

Laws, statute, classes of.................... 32

lack of uniformity in................... 32

restrictions of, general................. 45-73

partial ............................. 33-45

severe............................. 73-141

text of, by classes and by States ...... 33-141

See also under State names. 

Leeds, Attorney-General v., opinion in,

quoted on previous pollation .. 17 

Lightowler, Crossley v., opinion in, quoted

on previous po'lution .......... 17

Lister, Meigs v., opinion ir quoted on previous pollution................. 16-17

Lords, House of, decision of................ 15

Louisiana, statute laws of.................. 36
INDEX. 147

Page. 

Lowell, Middlesex Co. v., decision in...... 29

Lumbering waste, deposition of, in streams,

etc., when allowed............. 83

M. 

McClellan, Chief Justice, opinion of, quoted

on sewage pollution............ 29

Macnaghten, Lord, opinion of, quoted on

mine contamination ........... 16-16

Magor v. Chadwick, cited on mine contamination .......................... 15

Maine, common-law case in................ 9

statute laws of.......................... 51-52

Maryland, common-law cases in........... 9

statute laws of.......................... 52-53

Massachusetts, common-law cases in..... 9,26,29

statute laws of.......................... 77-81

Mayor, etc., of Birmingham v. Land, opinion

in, quoted on sewage pollution.. 29 

Meigs v. Lister, opinion in, quoted on previous pollution................. 16-17

Merrifleld v. Worcester, cited on natural use. 16 

decision in.............................. 26,29

Michigan, statute laws of................... 36-38

Middlesex Co. v. Lowell, decision in....... 29

Milling refuse, contamination .by, prohibition of and penalty for ......... 44,

45,85,86,137

Milwaukee, Harper v., opinion in, quoted 

on rights of municipal corporation. ............................ 31

Mines, contamination of streams by, decisions on......................... 10-20

Mining refuse, pollution by ........ 9,10-20,55,66

Minnesota, common-law case in............ 10

statute laws of.......................... 81-82

Mississippi, common-law case in ........... 10

statute laws of.......................... 38

Missouri, common-law case in.............. 10

statute laws of.......................... 53-54

Missouri v. Illinois et al., case of........... 20-21

Montana, common-law cases in ............ 21

doctrine of prior appropriation in...... 21

Morgan v. City of Danbury, opinion in,

quoted on sewage pollution .... 28-29

Municipalities, as riparian owners........ 24-142

rights of................................ 8,

24-31,34,38,39,55,61,81,90,94,112- 

113, 124, 126, 127, 134, 141, 142-143

N. 

Nason, Professor, testimony of, on mine

water........................... 19

Natural use. See Use, natural.

Nebraska, statute laws of................... 38-39

Nevada, common-law cases in.............. 21

doctrine of prior appropriation in...... 21

statute laws of.......................... 54-55

New Britain, Nolan v., opinion in, quoted on

sewage pollution ............... 27-28

New Hampshire, common-law case in ..... 10,26

statute laws of.......................... 82-86

New Jersey, commissioners on stream pollu- ' 

tion in.................. 88-89,106-121

common-law cases in....... 10,11-20,26,30-31

sewerage commission in............... 92-105

statute laws of......................... 86-121

Page. 

New Mexico, common-law cases in ........ 22

doctrine of prior appropriation in...... 22

statute laws of.......................... 66-57

New York, common-law cases in........ 26,29-30

statute laws of........................ 121-132

Newburgh, Gardner »., decision in, quotation from....................... 14

Nolan v. New Britain, opinion in, q-ioted

on sewage pollution.................... 27-28

North Carolina, statute laws of............. 58-59

North Dakota, common-law cases in....... 22

doctrine of prior appropriation in...... 22

statute laws of.......................... 39

Nuisance, commission of, near waterworks,

prohibition of and penalty for.. 34,74

public, from water pollution........... 23,27

O. 

Obstructions to navigation, deposition of, in

streams, etc., prohibition cf.... 36,38

Ohio, common-law cases in ............. 10,14,16

statute laws of.......................... 60-62

Oil, etc., contamination by, prohibition of

and penalty for........ 48,54,61,66-67

Oklahoma, statute laws of.................. 39-40

Oregon, common-law cases in.............. 22,23

doctrine of prior appropriation in...... 22,23

statute 1 a ws of.......................... 62-63

Owens v. Lancaster City, decision in....... 26,27

Owners, riparian, rights of.... 8-23,3C-31,141-142

below tide water, rights of............. 30

Oysters, etc., deposition of, in streams etc.,

prohibition of and penalty for.. 52

P.

Paper, deposition of, in streams, etc., prohibition of and penalty for....... 57

Parliament, powers of...................... 18

Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners, 

Van Cleve v., decision in, reference to......................... 121

Paterson, Grey, Attorney-General, v. See 

Grey, Attorney-General, y. Faterson.

Pennington v. Brinsop Coal Co., cited on

mine contamination ........... 15

Pennsylvania, common-law cases in....... 10,

11,14,17,18,26,27-28 

statute laws of........................ 132-136

Pennsylvania Coal Co., Sanderson v. See 

Sanderson v. Pennsylvania Coal 

Co.

Pennsylvania Railroad Co. v. Angel, opinion in, quoted on interference 

with private property .....;.... 18

Philadelphia, Butcher'sice and Coal Co. «.,

decision in ..................... 26

Pitney, Vice-Chancellor, opinion of........ 11-20

Poison, deposition of, in streams, etc., prohibition of and penalty for..... 35, 

36,40,44,51,54,55,58,64, 70,83

Polluting articles, deposition of, in streams,

etc., statutory restrictions of.. 32-141 

for special articles not universally prohibited, see under their names.

Pollution, right of, impossibility of prescribing ........................ 9
148 INDEX.

Page.

Pollution of water. See Water, pollution of. 

Prior appropriation. See Appropriation. 

Privy vaults, laws concerning.............. 39,

46,48,49,53,60,66-67,69, 70,87 

Property, private, interference with, provision of Constitution concerning. IK 

Public, as riparian owner .................. 23

rights of............................. 8,23,143

R.

Refuse. .See Factory refuse; Milling refuse;

Mining refuse.

Remedies at common law for water pollution ............................ H

Restrictions, statutory, classification of .... 32

general, by States ...................... 45-73

partial, by States ....................... 33-45

severe, by States ...................... 73-111

Rhode Island, common-law cases in ....... 10

statute laws of......................... 10-43

"Rights of municipal corporations to drain

sewers," etc., cited ............. 2!)

Rights, prescriptive, cases bearing on,

cited ........................ 16,27-28

discussion of....................... 16,141-143

Riparian owners. See Owners, riparian. 

Rylaiids, Pletcher v., cited on mine contamination ..................... 16

St. Helen's Smelting Co. v. Tipping, cited

on previous pollution........... 17

Sammons v. City of Gloversville, decision in. 29 

Sanderson v. Pennsylvania Coal Co., decision in........................ 10-11

discussion of............................ 14

reference to ......................... 14,15,17

Sawdust, etc., deposition of, in streams, 

etc.,.prohibition of and penalty 

for..... 44,45.54,55,71, 72, 73,85,86,137

Sewage, definition of....................... 28

discharge of, cases 011 .................. 24-31

decisions concerning......... 17,25,26-31

limitation of statutory authority

for.............................. 24

restrictions on ............... 42,52,58,62,

66,75,81,89-90,94,112-113,126,134,140 

rights of municipalities............ 24-31,

38, 39, 55, 81, 90,94,112-113, 

124,126,127,134,141,142-143 

Sewerage commission, New Jersey, powers,

etc., of......................... 92-105

Sheep washing, contamination by, prohibition of and penalty for..... 65

Slaughterhouse, maintenance of, near 

streams, etc., prohibition of and 

penalty for ......... 39,43, 44,67-68,70

South Carolina, common-law case in...'.... 10

South Dakota, statute laws of .............. 63

Stable, etc., maintenance of, near streams, 

etc., prohibition of and penalty 

for..................... 39,46,65,67-68

Staffordshire Waterworks, Clowes v., cited

on right to give damages....... 15

States, control of water pollution confined

to............................... 32

Page.

States, laws of, classification of ............ 32

laws of, lack of uniformity in .......... 32

text of............................. 33-141

tee also under State nanres. 

Statutory restrictions. See Restrictions. 

Sterling Iron and Zinc Co., Beach r. See 

Beach p. Sterling Iron and Zinc 

Co. 

Steward, Attorney-General v., opinion in,

quoted on previous pollution... 16 

Streams, banks of, deposition of offensive 

matter on, prohibition of and 

penalty for ..................... 39,

43,46,58,66-67,80,81,140 

use of, as sewers, right,'- of municipalities in .................... 24-31,38,39

Suit, private, as remedy for injury......... 8

Supreme Court of the United States, common-law case in................ 20-21

T.

Taylor, Columbus Co. r., cited on natural

use ............................. 16

Tennessee, statute laws of.................. 64

Texas, cases bearing on prior appropriation

in .............................. 22

statute laws of........................... 64

Tin cans, deposition of, in streams, etc.,

prohibition of and penalty for.. 57 

Tipping, St. Helen's Smelt'ng Co. r., cited

on previous pollution .......... 17

Tucker, Columbus, etc., Co p., decision in,

cited ........................... 14

Tunbridge Wells Commissioners, Goldsmid

v., opinion in, ctuoted on effect

of nuisance..................... 19-20

Turner, Lord Justice, opinion of, quoted

on effect of nuisance ........... 19-20

U.

Use, natural, discussion of................. 16

reasonable, right of .................... 8,22

reasonableness of, determination of.... 8

Utah, statute laws of ....................... 65

Valparaisi > p. Hagen, decis4 ori in......... 25,26,31

Van Cleve P. Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners, decision in, reference to......................... 121

Vermont, common-law cases in............ 10

statute laws of........................ 137-141

Village of White Plains, B itler p., decision

in .............................. 29-30

Virginia, statute laws of.................... 65-67

W.

Washington, common-law cases in......... 22

doctrine of prior appropriation in...... 22

statute laws of.......................... 67-69

Water, appropriation of, limitation of riparian owner's rirht of........... 8,142

total, prohibition of................ 8

ownership of, qualification of.......... 8

pollution of, by drainage from mines.. 10-20 

causing public nuisance...... ^..... 9,23
INDEX. 149

Water, pollution of, from sewage .......... 24-31

pollution of, jurisdiction over.......... 32

liability of municipality for....... 24-31

liability of riparian owner for...... 8,142

relation of prior appropriation 

to................................. 22-23

statutory restrictions on........... 32-141

prior appropriation of, doctrine of..... 21-23

reasonable use of, determination of.... 8

rights of public in...................... 23

rights of riparian owners to ...... 7,8,141-142

limitations on................... 8,21,142

rule of law concerning............. 8

supply of, inspection of ................ 122

use of, for farming and domestic purposes ........................... 8, HI

for other than farming or domestic

purposes, limitations on.... 8,141-142

riparian owner's right to......... 7,8,141

Water Co., The, Biggins v., cited........... 18

Water companies, laws concerning ..... 59,83-84

* Page. 

Watson, Acquackanonk Water Co. v. See 

Acquackanonk Water Co. v. 

Watson. 

Waukesha, Winchell v., opinion in, ouoted

on sewage pollution............ 31

West Virginia, statute laws of.............. 69

White Plains, Village of, Butler v., decision in.................................... 29-30

Winchell > . Waukesha, opinion in, quoted

on sewage pollution............ 31

Wisconsin, common-law cases in........... 10,31

statute laws of.......................... 43-45

Worcester, Merrifleld r. See Merrifleld v.

Worcester. 

Wyoming, common-law cases in............ 10,22

doctrine of prior appropriation ri...... 22

statute laws of.......................... 70-73

Young c. Bankier, cited on mine contamination. ......................... 15

o

PUBLICATIONS OF UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

[Water-Supply Paper No. 152.]

The serial publications of the United States Geological Survey consist of (1) 

Annual Reports, (2) Monographs, (3) Professional Papers, (4) Bulletins, (5) 

Mineral Resources, (6) V\ ater-Supply and Irrigation Papers, (7) Topographic Atlas 

of United States folios and separate sheets thereof, (8) Geologic Atlas of United 

States folios thereof. The classes numbered 2, 7, and 8 are sold at cost of publication; the others are distributed free. A circular giving complete lists msy be had 

on application.

Most of the above publications may be obtained or consulted in the following ways:

1. A limited number are delivered to the Director of the Survey, from whom they 

may be obtained, free of charge (except classes 2, 7, and 8), on application.

2. A certain number are allotted to every member of Congress, from whom they 

may be obtained, free of charge, on application.

3. Other copies are deposited with the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, 

D. C., from whom they may be had at practically cost.

4. Copies of all Government publications are furnished to the principi.1 public 

libraries in the large cities throughout the United States, where they may be consulted by those interested.

The Professional Papers, Bulletins, and Water-Supply Papers treat of a variety of 

subjects, and the total number issued is large. They have therefore been classified 

into the following series: A, Economic geology; B, Descriptive geology; C, Systematic geology and paleontology; D, Petrography and mineralogy; E, Chemistry and 

physics; F, Geography; G, Miscellaneous; H, Forestry; I, Irrigation; J, Water 

storage; K, Pumping water; L, Quality of water; M, General hydrographi^ investigations; N, Water power; O, Underground waters; P, Hydrographic progress reports. 

This paper is the twelfth in Series L, the complete lists of which follow. (PP= 

Professional Paper, B=Bulletin, WS=Water-Supply Paper.)

SERIES L QUALITY OF WATER.

WS 3. Sewage irrigation, by G. W. Rafter. 1897. 100 pp., 4 pis. (Out of stock.)

WS 22. Sewage irrigation, Pt. II, by G. W, Rafter. 1899. 100pp., 7 pis. (Out of stock.)

WS 72. Sewage pollution near New York City, by M. O. Leighton. 1902. 75 pp., 8 pis.

WS 76. Flow of rivers near New York City, by H. A. Pressey. 1903. 108 pp., 13 pis.

WS 79. Normal aod polluted waters in northeastern United States, by M.O. Leighton. 1903. 192pp.,

15 pis. 

WS 103. Review of the laws forbidding pollution of inland waters in the United States, by E. B.

Goodell. 1904. 120pp. 

WS 108. Quality of water in the Susquehanna River drainage basin, by M. O. Leighton, with an

introductory chapter on physiographic features, by GL B. fiolUster. 1904. 76 pp , 4 pis. 

WS 113. Strawboard and oil wastes, by R. L. Sackett and Isaiah. Bowman. 1905. 62 pp., 4 pis. 

WS 121. Preliminary report on the pollution of Lake Champlaio, by M. O. Leighton. 1905. 119 pp.,

13 pis. 

WS 144. The normal distribution of chlorine in the natural waters of New York and New England,

by D. D. Jackson. 1905. 31 pp., 5 pis.

WS 151. Field assay of water, by M. O. Leighton. 1905. 77 pp., 4 pis. 

WS 152. A review of the laws forbidding pollution of inland waters in the United Stages, second

edition, by E. B. Goodell. 1905. 149 pp.

Correspondence should be addressed to

THE DIRECTOR,

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

OCTOBER, 1905.

LIBRARY CATALOGUE SLIPS.

[Mount each slip upon a separate card, placing the subject at the top of the 

second slip. The name of the series should not be repeated on the series 

card, but the additional numbers should be added, as received, to the 

first entry.]

Goodell, Edwin B[urpee] 1850-

... A review of the laws forbidding pollution of 

inland waters in the United States. 2d ed. By Bdwin 

B. Goodell. Washington, Gov't print, off., 1905.

149, iii p. 23cm. (U. S. Geological survey. Water-supply and irrigation 

paper no. 152)

Subject series: L^ Quality of water, 12.

First ed. published as Water-supply and irrigation paper no. 103.

1. Water, Pollution of. 2. Water^Laws and legislation.

Goodell, Edwin B[urpee] 1850-

... A review of the laws forbidding pollution of 

inland waters in the United States. 2d ed. By Bdwin 

B. Goodell. Washington, Gov't print, off., 1905.

149, iii p. 23cm. (U. S. Geological survey. Water-supply and irrigation 

paper no. 152)

Subject series: L, Quality of water, 12.

First ed. published as Water-supply and irrigation paper no. 103.

1. Water, Pollution of. 2. Water Laws and legislation.

U. S. Geological survey.

Water-supply and irrigation papers.

| no. 152. Goodell, E. B. A review of the laws forbidding 

pollution of inland waters, ad ed. 1905.

U. S. Dept. of the Interior.

see also 

U. S. Geological survey.