City of Birmingham v. Lake

BOULDIN, Justice.

The City of Birmingham, for the primary purpose of furnishing cheap water for industrial uses in the Birmingham District, installed an Industrial Waterworks System, at a cost of some $4,500,000, and now sells some 20,000,000 gallons per day to such industries, and 5,000,000 gallons per day to Birmingham Waterworks Company, a public service corporation, to be processed, and used for domestic purposes.

To provide a water supply, the city impounded the waters of Blackburn Fork of Black Warrior River, a non-navigable stream, creating Blackburn Lake some seven miles in length and…