City of Walla Walla v. Conkey

The respondent, City of Walla Walla, commenced a declaratory judgment action, naming as defendants the numerous appellants and others 1 who own prop erty near Mill Creek, some 3 miles west of Walla Walla, and whose property is in close proximity to respondent’s sewage treatment plants. Many of the appellants use the waters from Mill Creek and an irrigation ditch known as “Gose Ditch” for farm irrigation purposes. The city has for years been depositing sewage from its treatment plants into Mill Creek and Gose Ditch.

The properties of appellants were benefited by a 1927 decree of the Superior…