Department of Public Works v. City of San Diego

This is an original proceeding seeking a writ of mandate to compel the owner and the lessee of a certain dam to do certain work thereon. The action is brought by the Department of Public Works of the State of California and the state engineer, under a claim of authority vested in them by what is popularly known as the “Dam Act of 1929” (Stats. 1929, p. 1505).

The petition alleges that the respondent company is the owner and the respondent city is the lessee of what is known as the “Lake Hodges Dam”, situated about twenty-five miles northerly from San Diego; that this dam is a concrete multiple arch dam of the Eastwood type, having a height of 115 feet and a storage capacity of 37,500 acre-feet of water; that when completed in 1918 the dam was approved by the then state engineer, but that since that time the science of designing and constructing dams of this type has made a very rapid and extensive advancement, in the light of which increased knowledge a lack in the design and construction of the buttresses of this dam is now apparent ; that on October 1, 1925, the respondent company leased the dam to the respondent city with an option to purchase the same; that during 1928 and…