Mr. Sloman. Well, there probably was; but the Limekiln crosses below the city of Detroit, while this was above.
Just a thing or two more I would like to say in that connection. As I say, I was born and brought up here in the city of Detroit, and I will give way to no one in the matter of loyalty to the city of my birth, but Detroit is confronted with a problem that she must absolutely take care of, no matter what the cost is. It is merely a question of time when the water supply will be absolutely unfit for drinking purposes. We are drinking to-day chlorinated water. It was only a matter of a year or two ago when they cleaned out the reservoir of the waterworks, and I would hate to tell you what they found. There were two skeletons among the objects found there and a lot of very foul matter. The middle and wealthier classes are not drinking Detroit water; they are drinking well water, simply because if they use Detroit water they must drink this chlorinated water. The question is whether Detroit ought not to build in the future so as to conserve life rather than property or expense.
The city of Grand Rapids was confronted with a similar condition in 1913. Grand Rapids is a city of about 115,000 inhabitants. They undertook to discharge their sewage into the Grand River, and one of the towns below there filed a bill in the State court for an injunction to restrain the city from letting its sewage go into the river. I would like to call your attention to that case because it is full of facts; it is full of the testimony of the engineers.
Mr. Powell. The plaintiff’s appeal succeeded?
Mr. Sloman. Yes; the injunction was granted, and the city of Grand Rapids was given one year in which to take care of that sewage matter. When it comes to the question of what Detroit should do in the way of purifying its waters, I am not prepared to give any technical information—that is for the engineers—but I do wish to say to you that if you will examine this case you will find testimony of some of the ablest engineers in the State of Michigan as to what ought to be done. If I may be permitted, I would like to call attention to some features of that case.
Mr. Powell. Give the full citation of the case.
Mr. Sloman. The case is reported in One hundred and seventy-fifth Michigan, page 503. The title is Attorney General ex rel., Township of Wyoming v. City of Grand Rapids.
Mr. Powell. That suit was brought on behalf of the Commonwealth?
Mr. Sloman. It was brought on behalf of the village of Grandville, which felt the effects of the foul matter that was being deposited in the river. The court in that case said:
This is a proceeding by information in the nature of a bill in equity filed in the name of the attorney general upon the relation of the township of Wyoming, through its township board, its board of health, and its supervisor, and upon the relation of the village of Grandville in said township and certain riparian owners upon Grand River in said township against the city of Grand Rapids, its common council, its board of public works, and board of health, to declare and to abate and restrain the continuance of an alleged public nuisance. The nuisance is claimed to result from acts of the city of Grand Rapids in conveying through artificial means its sewage into the Grand River, which flows down the river and is cast upon the land below that city, and particularly upon those lands which are adjacent to and within the village of Grandville, and there created a public nuisance. It is also claimed that the emptying of sewage into the river so pollutes its waters as to constitute a nuisance in the waters themselves by reason of the odors therefrom and the contamination therefrom.