LEGAL DECISION IN A WATER SUPPLY POLLUTION CASE [with DISCUSSION]

It was the privilege of the writer last year to read a short paper before the American Water Works Association on a case in court, concerning water pollution.1 The major points which were given to you were along the lines of what the writer had developed by means of experimental data as to what the effect of the wind was upon the surface currents of a lake. The main facts of the case were these: The City of Auburn, New York, with a population of about 36,000, takes its water supply from one of the finger lakes of central New York known as Owasco Lake, the drainage area of the same being about 200 square miles, and total length of the lake, 10 miles. The supply drawn for the city comes from the outlet end, and the inlet stream, comprising something like 60 per cent of the total drainage area, enters the lake about 10 miles from the intake crib. Four miles from the head of the lake is situated the village of Moravia. The Board of Education of that village caused to be constructed a sewer, which led from the High School building to the bank of Mill Creek, one of the tributaries to the inlet stream. This sewer carried the excreta from about three hundred students who attended the school. The public health law of the State of New York provides that a municipality or corporation furnishing water for domestic supply purposes can secure from the State a promulgation of certain rules and regulations which give to the municipality or corporation furnishing the supply certain police, or restrictive powers, which are supposed to give the water company an opportunity of protecting their water supply. Section 73 of the general public health law of the State of New York, however, provides, in general, that, when a water company desires certain pollution to be removed from the watershed, the