Commonwealth v. Potter County Water Co.

Citations

• 212 Pa. 463
• 61 A. 1099
• 1905 Pa. LEXIS 640

Syllabus

<p>Corporation—Water companies—Quo warranto—Ouster—Impure water— Acts of June 14, 1836, P. L. 621, and April 29, 1874, sec. 34, P. L. 73.</p> <p>The remedy of quo warranto against a water company for supplying impure water, as provided by the Act of June 14, 1836, P. L. 621, is in no way affected or repealed by section 34 of the Act of April 29, 1874, P. L. 73, which provides a method of relief to an individual citizen who may make complaint of the impurity of water furnished.</p> <p>A judgment of ouster on a verdict for the commonwealth on quo warranto proceedings against a water company will be sustained where the evidence for the commonwealth, although contradicted, tends to show that the defendant’s line was connected with a mill pond into which the sewage of the town was discharged, and that during five years at periods of low water, and when fires occurred, water from the pond was pumped 'into the main service lines of the company, and that such water polluted the other water, and frequently rendered it injurious and unwholesome and unfit for drinking or cooking, and even for washing. In such a case it is immaterial that the company was under an agreement with the borough to maintain a connection with the mill pond.</p>