Straight v. Hover

Citations

• 79 Ohio St. (N.S.) 263

Syllabus

<p>Contamination of stream — Lower proprietor of lands entitled to damages- — Upper owner of lands operates for petroleum — Salt water discharged into stream — Operation conducted with care and in only practicable mode.</p> <p>1. It is the right of the lower proprietor of lands upon a running stream to receive the water from upper proprietors free from contamination by artificial means, and for substantial injuries which result from an invasion of that right he may maintain an action without regard to the motive which prompts the invasion.</p> <p>2. An upper owner of lands upon such stream who operates them for underlying petroleum by pumping it and the salt water with which it 'is commingled into tanks and, after the petroleum rises, withdrawing the salt water from beneath and discharging it by gravity into the stream is liable in compensatory damages for such substantial injuries as may be sustained by a lower proprietor in consequence of the water in the stream being thereby rendered unfit for the use of live stock and destructive of the grass with which it comes in contact, although such operation is conducted with care and in the only known practicable mode of developing the mineral resources of his lands.</p>