City of South Pasadena v. City of San Gabriel

South Pasadena and San Gabriel are both cities of the sixth class. While their respective corporate limits are not contiguous, the two municipalities lie near each other. South Pasadena operates a municipally owned water system by means of which it furnishes water for domestic and other uses to property lying in a certain part of its domain, and as the sources of this water supply had become insufficient to discharge the duty imposed upon them, the city bought a tract or lot of land in San Gabriel, with the purpose of drilling a well upon it, conveying the water developed therefrom into the territory of South Pasadena, thus' augmenting the water supply of that portion of the municipality served by it. The parcel of land thus acquired in San Gabriel overlies the water plane of San Gabriel Valley, within which latter both cities are situated. For the purposes of this opinion the lot is sufficiently identified by reference to it as lot A. The property was acquired by South Pasadena in June, 1929.

On March 25, 1930, South Pasadena filed with the city clerk of San Gabriel a communication addressed to the city council of the latter municipality. So far as it is material to the present…

The supply of water for the rapidly increasing population of the highly favored section of territory that embraces both of the litigating cities is of the highest importance and should be given the most serious consideration. The site of the proposed well is very close to the boundary of San Gabriel and piping across this territory would be no more than a trivial and temporary inconvenience to anybody. The city lot owned by South Pasadena, the site of the proposed well, is, and so are all of the surrounding lots, much larger than the ordinary city residential lot. It is proposed to place all power current cables and all structures beneath the surface of the ground and it is apparent that the site would yield readily to beautification through parking, striking examples of which may be found in this county. The sinking of the well and all of the construction work would scarcely be more noisy or otherwise objectionable than the erection of a first-class residence. The evidence and the ordinary knowledge extant on the science of electrical pumping show that the operating noise would be unnoticeable a few yards from the pump. The periodical removal of sand by means of a temporary…