Right of eminent domain to waterworks companies.

Any corporation organized under the laws of this state, either general or special, for the purpose of supplying any city, town, village, or the inhabitants thereof, or any community with water for domestic or sanitary purposes, or for fire protection, shall have the right, through its officers or agents, to enter upon any land, public or private, necessary to the business contemplated in its charter, and may appropriate the same; or may take from any land most convenient to its works, any timber, stone, earth, water or material which may be necessary for the construction, operation, keeping in repair or preservation of such works, upon making due compensation according to law to private owners; and should such waterworks company derive its supply of water, or any part thereof, from any lake, pond or stream of water, whether surface of subterranean, it may, upon making compensation as above specified, to private owners, appropriate any land lying contiguous to such pond, lake or stream, necessary for the preservation or protection of said water from diversion or contamination.