596 LEGAL DEPARTMENT. 



CORRUPTION OF WATER. 



Every owner of land through which a stream of water flows has a 

 right to the use of the water in its natural state, and is liable if he 

 renders the water unwholesome, or unfit for purposes for which it is 

 used, unless he has acquired by grant, or otherwise, an adverse right 

 against the lower or adjoining owner. 



Erecting cess-pool or depositing manure, or obnoxious substance 

 near the stream would be such a wrong. 



An action for damages is not the only remedy for the unlawful pol- 

 lution of a stream. The party thus wrongfully interfering may be 

 restrained by an order of any court having jurisdiction. 



EASEMENT OF DRIP. 



When a land owner places a house on the line of his lot, and eaves 

 project upon his neighbor's land, as to throw the water from the roof 

 thereon, it is an encroachment upon the neighbor's lot to the extent at 

 least of the projection. One adjoining owner cannot legally subject the 

 lands of the other adjoining owner to the drip from eaves of his building. 



LAND BOUNDED ON NAVIGABLE AND UNNAVI- 

 GABLE WATERS. 



The owners of land bounded on navigable rivers where the tide ebbs 

 and flows has a title to high-water mark. The land lying between high 

 and low-water mark belongs to the State as trustee of the public, but 

 in many of the States the deeds read to low-water mark. This point 

 is settled by the law in the various States, and is not common to all, 

 but as to streams not navigable which run by the side of a man's farm, 

 the owner has title to the center of the stream. If the same person be 

 owner of the land on both sides of the stream, he owns the whole stream 

 to the extent of the length of his land upon it. But if by freshets the 

 stream suddenly changes, the owner over whose lands the new channel is 

 made, is entitled to the old boundary line as it existed before the freshet. 



SURFACE WATER AND DRAINAGE. 



The water which flows upon the surface of the land, not gathered in 

 ponds or streams of running water, is usually designated " surface 

 water." It is somewhat difficult to distinguish between surface water, 



