200 U.S. Argument for Complainant. The mere fact that the drainage canal, constructed by authority of Illinois and also under authority of an act of Congress, brought water from the Lake Michigan watershed into the watershed of the Mississippi does not, in the absence of proof of the deleterious effects of such water, render the canal an unlawful structure, the use whereof should be enjoined at the instance of another State in the Mississippi watershed. THE facts, which involved the right of the defendants to discharge the sewage of Chicago through an artificial channel into the Desplaines River which empties into a tributary of the Mississippi River, are stated in the opinion of the court. Mr. Herbert S. Hadley, Attorney General of the State of Missouri, Mr. Sam B. Jeffries and Mr. Charles W. Bates, with whom Mr. W. F. Woerner was on the brief, for the complainant: The substantial purpose of the complaint is to subject the construction and operation of the drainage channel from the Chicago River at Chicago, southwestwardly to the Desplaines River at Lockport, a point immediately above Joliet, to the court's supervision, upon the charge that the method of construction and operation creates and constitutes a continuing nuisance, dangerous to the health of the people of Missouri; and which if not restrained, results in the daily transportation, by artificial means, and through an unnatural channel, of large quantities of undefecated sewage, and of accumulated deposits in the harbor of Chicago, and in the bed of the Illinois River, which poison the water supply of the inhabitants of Missouri and injuriously affect that portion of the Mississippi River which lies within complainant's jurisdiction. No attack is made upon the canal or artificial channel as an unlawful structure, nor is any attempt made to prevent its use as a waterway. Complainant seeks relief against the pouring of undefecated and unpurified sewage and filth through it by the artificial arrangements into the Mississippi River to the detriment of complainant and its inhabitants. For the original bill see 180 U. S. 208, where defendants' demurrer was overruled. VOL. CC-32 Argument for Complainant. 200 U.S. The population of Chicago is about 2,000,000 and by its addition to the Mississippi watershed the urban population sewering into that river has been increased by seventy-five per cent. Lake Michigan is the natural basin for the sewage of Chicago. The expert evidence in this case shows that more polluting and infectious material is now contained in the water than prior to the opening of the canal. According to the science of bacteriology, it is practically impossible to discover in a contaminated water the disease producing organisms, so small are the organisms and so delicate the test to be made. It has, however, been observed, that where large quantities of bacilli coli communis have been found, it is a conclusive indication that the water is sewage polluted and, therefore, infected with disease producing organisms. The number of bacteria is important if the source of the polluting matter is known. However, bacteriologists when applying the science to the sanitary observations of water, disregard largely the number of bacteria and depend mostly upon the character of the pathogenic organisms found. Typhoid bacilli, the most dangerous perhaps of any of the water-borne diseases, has never been discovered in the waters of a running stream, save as to two or three reported instances, and from the present conditions of the science, their discovery is not a practical proposition. So it may be said that from the standpoint of bacteriology and chemistry as applied to sanitary observations, there is no direct means of proving the absolute presence of pathogenic bacteria in water. A water supply may be chemically without fault and yet contain many living disease producing organisms. The effect of the sewage of Chicago upon the waters of the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Illinois has been such as if a large and populous city had been established on January 17, 1900, upon the banks of the Mississippi River discharging its sewage into the waters of that river. The chemical analysis discloses that the water in the Illinois River at Grafton contains more infectious material, and material liable to 200 U.S. Argument for Complainant. contain infection, than it did prior to the opening of the drainage canal. It also discloses that the waters of the Mississippi River above Grafton and the Missouri River are freer from contaminating and infectious matter than the waters of the Illinois. This, of course, is but a natural condition. The sewage of two millions of people could not have the effect of improving conditions at any point on the Illinois River. As soon as the canal was opened the death rate from typhoid in St. Louis started upward and has continued on the increase ever since. Typhoid mortality per 100,000 population in St. Louis for the years 1900, 1901, 1902 and 1903 increased 77.7 per cent over the typhoid mortality per 100,000 population in 1896, 1897, 1898 and 1899. This enormous increase occurred with no change in the manner of treating the water. The increase has been gradual, both in winter and summer seasons, with no relaxation in the least except that the percentage of increase has been greater in the winter seasons than during the summer months. All parts of the city where the public water supply has been used have alike suffered. No local epidemic has occurred; in fact, nothing has been observed, after a very searching investigation, that can in any way be charged with the cause of the increase save the discharge of the sewage of Chicago into the canal in question and hastening its flow to St. Louis by means of the Illinois River. The evidence discloses the germs of tetanus (lock jaw) and anthrax to have been discovered in the waters of the Illinois River since the opening of the canal at Chicago. The enormous increase in deaths and cases of typhoid in. St. Louis caused by the discharge of sewage from the city of Chicago into the Mississippi has been a source of financial loss to complainant. It has been truthfully said that "The average city of 100,000 population wastes perhaps half a million dollars, per year on the luxury of having it." Not only is it a long, tedious and grave illness, often leaving life-long disabilities in its wake, but it is also one of the most expensive of ailments. Counting each death in the city of St. Louis caused by the Argument for Complainant. 200 U.S. sewage from Chicago as having a value of $5,000, the loss to complainant is no small matter. While if we take into consideration the cost and expense of treating and nursing those cases wherein a recovery is had, together with the loss of labor while ill, the loss to the community reaches a total of many hundred thousand dollars per annum. This is the financial loss. The sorrows of death, pains of sickness and mental distress cannot, from the standpoint of humanity, be measured in dollars and cents. The population residing upon the natural watershed of the Illinois River brands it as more heavily infected than that of either the Mississippi or the Missouri. Physical and atmospherical conditions also must not be overlooked. The population upon the watershed of the Mississippi River has already burdened it with an immense sewage disposal which burden will become greater as population increases. Much trouble will soon arise in this connection, making it impossible to secure suitable water without very expensive treatment and improvement plants. The discharge of the sewage from Chicago into the drainage basin of the Mississippi has not only hastened that condition, but if not restrained, will compel St. Louis to spend many million dollars in the construction of a filter plant in order to force its typhoid mortality back to conditions similar to 1896, 1897, 1898 and 1899. The danger and damage to complainant, the menace to its welfare, the loss of its reputation as a city of comparatively low typhoid mortality and the impediment to its financial and industrial growth caused by the injury sustained and the constantly increasing embarrassing conditions manifestly convict defendants of the injuries complained of, and unquestionably warrant the decree prayed for in this case. Much might be said of what may be expected in the future, as shown by the evidence in the case, if present conditions are permitted to become permanent. Ere long we may depend on Chicago having a population of more than 5,000,000. That city will then, so to speak, be brought nearer to St. Louis, 200 U. S. Argument for Complainant. in so far as its contaminating effect upon the water supply is concerned. The volume of the water passing through the canal will be necessarily increased, thus hastening the flow down the river. It is not necessary, however, to look to future developments for grounds of relief, the existing conditions are amply sufficient. The expert testimony of eminent scientists, chemists and bacteriologists shows that the principal water-borne diseases may be designated as cholera, typhoid, dysentery, anthrax and tetanus, and the result produced by bacilli coli communis when injected under the skin of a human being, or when lodged in the appendix producing appendicitis. Typhoid fever or bacilli typhosis is a common water-borne disease in this country. It is caused by crude sewage being discharged into the water supply. This fact is demonstrated by the effect of the establishment of filtration plants for the purpose of treating the water supplied for the cities of Hamburg, Germany; London, England, and Berlin, Germany, and a number of large cities in this country. That typhoid, cholera, dysentery, anthrax and tetanus are water-borne diseases was conceded by all witnesses. In fact sanitary science has come to realize with absolute assurance that the diseases above mentioned as a general thing are caused by inferior water, or water which has been subjected to sewage pollution. While it is practically impossible to discover or detect the physical presence of bacilli in running water, save or except as to bacilli coli communis, which are found in abundance in all streams in which sewage is emptied, all persons having knowledge of sanitary science, have settled beyond question that the diseases above mentioned are as a general proposition more readily communicated by means of inferior water supplied than in any other way. In the examinations of the water of the Illinois River bacillus of tetanus and of anthrax was discovered in the water of that river. This in connection with bacilli coli communis, |