The plaintiff below, Mrs. Virginia W. Houk,. filed an equitable petition against the Sanitary and Waterworks Commissioners of the City of Waycross and the Mayor and Council of that city, the main purpose of which was to enjoin the defendants from continuing the location of the mouth of the main sewer of the city at a designated point near her premises, or from extending it, as was contemplated, so that the sewage would be discharged directly upon her land. In this connection she alleged that the main sewer emptied into a small stream, within about six: hundred feet of her premises, which was wholly incapable of carrying off the vast quantity of sewage discharged into it, and as a result the atmosphere of the neighborhood was permeated with “ noxious gases, noisome odors, pestilential stenches, poisonous vapors,”' etc., which were dangerous to health and caused sickness among her tenants. She further alleged that her damages would be irreparable if this state of affairs was permitted to continue, or matters were made worse by the proposed extension of the sewer and the' discharge of its filth into a ditch which ran for half a mile through her lands. The commissioners demurred to the plaintiff’s petition on various grounds to the effect that, under the facts set forth, she was not entitled to the equitable relief sought. The mayor and council demurred on the ground that they were improperly joined as defendants, for the reason that, as shown by legislative acts referred to in plaintiff’s petition, the board of commissioners alone had control and'supervision of the sewerage system of the city, and its mayor and council therefore had “ no interest in the subject-matter in controversy.” Separate answers were also filed by these two defendants. The evidence introduced on the in
1. We have no hesitancyin holding that under the facts alleged in the plaintiff’s petition she was entitled to the equitable relief .sought. In Butler v. Thomasville, 74 Ga. 570, it was distinctly ruled that: “ When a municipal corporation is proceeding to lay .sewers and discharge filthy sewage upon the land of a property owner, which may probably cause injury to his health and sickness .in his family, and where the nuisance is continuing and likely to be permanent, and the consequences are not barely possible but to .a reasonable degree certain, a court of equity may interfere to arrest such nuisance before it is completed.” And in City of Atlanta v. Warnock, 91 Ga. 210,this court decided that there was no abuse -of discretion in granting a temporary injunction enjoining the city from continuing to maintain a nuisance already created. The nuiisance complained of in that case consisted of “ openings called manióles in a sewer located in a public street contiguous to the dwelling of a citizen, the manholes being allowed to emit poisonous gases in large quantities through perforated covers placed over them.” A general grant of power to establish in a city a sewerage system •does not carry with it any right on the part of a municipality to ■create and maintain a nuisance dangerous to life or health. Holmes v. Atlanta, ante, 761. Certainly, therefore, a flagrant abuse of power on the part of municipal authorities may, upon a proper petition •filed by one having a peculiar interest in the matter, be enjoined before irreparable injury ensues. The evidence relied on by the •plaintiff in the present case was such as to authorize the granting ■of the injunction prayed for.
2. It is insisted, however, that even if this be true as to the commissioners, the court erred in not holding that the mayor and council were improperly joined as defendants, for the reasons stated in the demurrer filed by them. Reliance is placed upon the decision of this court in Griffin v. Railroad, 72 Ga. 423, as authority for the proposition that: “ A demurrer only admits such facts as are well pleaded, and where the bill alleges facts as true which are contra-
Judgment affirmed.