The local authority was accused of discharging crude sewage into an intermittent partially tidal stream.
Held: Swinfen Eady J said: ‘The question then arises, is the culvert a sewer? The plaintiffs contend it is. The defendants dispute it. The mere pollution of a natural stream or watercourse by turning sewage into it does not convert it into a sewer. On the other hand, if the watercourse has become substantially a sewer, the fact that at certain periods of the year clean water flows into it will not in my opinion prevent it from being a sewer. The question is one of fact and degree in each case. See Falconar v. South Shields Corporation (1895) 11 TLR 223. In that case Lindley L.J. pointed out that the stream had changed its character completely and had become a sewer in the ordinary sense of the word, i.e., a channel for the reception and carrying away of sewage. It was a dirty, filthy sewer.’
Judges:
Swinfen Eady J
Citations:
[1911] 2 Ch 495
Cited by:
Cited – Raglan Housing Association Ltd v Southampton City Council and Southern Water Services Ltd CA 30-Jul-2007
The claimant sought damages in nuisance from the defendants saying that a channel for which they were responsible flooded causing damage. The defendant appealed a finding that the culvert had become a sewer. It had been a natural stream, but had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Utilities, Local Government
Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.260139