Cameron County Water Improvement Dist. No. 1 v. Cameron County Water Improvement Dist. No. 15

• Decision Date: 12 May 1937
• Docket Number: No. 10190.,10190.
• Citation: 106 S.W.2d 362
• Parties: CAMERON COUNTY WATER IMPROVEMENT DIST. NO. 1 et al. v. CAMERON COUNTY WATER IMPROVEMENT DIST. NO. 15.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

106 S.W.2d 362

CAMERON COUNTY WATER IMPROVEMENT DIST. NO. 1 et al. v. CAMERON COUNTY WATER IMPROVEMENT DIST. NO. 15.

No. 10190.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. San Antonio.

May 12, 1937.

Rehearing Denied June 16, 1937.

Appeal from District Court, 103d District, Cameron County; A. M. Kent, Judge.

Suit by the Cameron County Water Improvement District Number Fifteen against the Cameron County Water Improvement District Number One and another. From a judgment granting plaintiff a permanent injunction, defendants appeal.

Affirmed.

W. B. Lewis, of Harlingen, and John H. Mitchell, of La Feria, for appellants.

Brown & Criss, of Harlingen, for appellee.

SMITH, Chief Justice.

Cameron County Water Improvement District No. 1 and Cameron County Water Control and Improvement District No. 3 were created prior to 1923, under familiar constitutional and statutory provisions, and have been operating ever since. In 1923 District No. 1 constructed a drain ditch, which drained the surface or flood waters from the territory embraced in Districts 1 and 3, and carried those waters into the Arroyo Colorado, through which they emptied into the sea. Those waters, thus captured and controlled, were used in irrigating the lands embraced in those two districts, comprising some 20,000 acres.

In 1929 Cameron County Water Improvement District No. 15 was created and procured a permit issued by the State Board of Water Engineers to appropriate the public waters from what was termed the "watershed" embracing the 20,000 acres comprising Districts 1 and 3. In short, it appears that by that permit District 15 was given the use of the waters theretofore and then being impounded into said drain ditch by District 1, which ditch ran along the north line of said District 15. As the elevation of District 15 was above the level of the drain ditch, it was necessary to raise the water to put it on said district, which was done by this process: A check, or dam, was put in the ditch, and the water thus raised was diverted into a concrete lateral, whence it was pumped into a reservoir, which supplied the new district with water for irrigation purposes. This use does not interfere with the irrigation of Districts 1 and 3 from the same sources.

It developed, according to the contention of Districts 1 and 3, that said processes slowed the passage of water through the drain ditch, resulting in seepage into and impairment of the lands of Districts 1 and 3. To avoid this alleged injury, and...