TITLE 42

IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE — WATER RIGHTS AND RECLAMATION

CHAPTER 52

GROUND WATER DISTRICTS

42-5224.  Powers and duties of board of directors. The board shall, in addition to any other powers and duties provided in this chapter, and provided that nothing in this chapter shall abrogate or impair the right of any person to take any action necessary to acquire, protect, challenge or defend any water right, have the following powers and duties:

(1)  To acquire, and/or construct, operate, control or use by appropriation, grant, purchase, bequest, devise, contract or lease works or facilities, water rights, water permits or licenses, well-drilling permits, wells, pipelines, ditches and any other real and personal property (including easements and rights-of-way) or contract entitlement within or without the district necessary or convenient to fully exercise its powers;

(2)  To sell, lease, encumber, alienate, or otherwise dispose of works or facilities, water, water rights, wells, pipelines, ditches, reservoirs, recharge facilities, and any other real and personal property owned by the district within or without its boundaries, and to incur indebtedness on behalf of the district as specified in this chapter;

(3)  To enter into contracts and agreements, cooperative and otherwise, including contracts with the United States of America and any of its agencies or instrumentalities, and tribes, and contracts with corporations, public or private, municipalities, or governmental subdivisions necessary or convenient to fully exercise its powers;

(4)  To hire and retain agents, employees, engineers, hydrologists, geologists, and attorneys as shall be necessary and convenient to transact the district’s business and to represent the district’s interests;

(5)  To levy assessments for the operation of the district and its programs;

(6)  To represent district members, with respect to their individual water rights, in general water rights adjudications and other legal and administrative proceedings or before political bodies, provided that the board may levy assessments for these matters against only those members who have given written consent for the representation;

(7)  To represent district members in proceedings or meetings of a water district established by the director of the department notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in chapter 6, title 42, Idaho Code. Provided however, that the board shall not be authorized to cast a vote in any proceeding or meeting of a water district established pursuant to chapter 6, title 42, Idaho Code, on behalf of any district member who has, prior to such proceeding or meeting, given written notice to the board and to the water district that such district member intends to vote on his own behalf, or on behalf of any district member who attends such meeting or proceeding and intends to vote on his own behalf. The board shall provide a verified list of the water rights that it represents at any water district proceeding or meeting to the chairman of the water district proceeding or meeting;

(8)  To appropriate, develop, store, and transport water within the state;

(9)  To acquire stock in canal companies, water companies, and water users’ associations;

(10) To invest any surplus money in the district treasury pursuant to the public depository law as contained in chapter 1, title 57, Idaho Code;

(11) To develop, maintain, operate and implement mitigation plans designed to mitigate any material injury caused by ground water use within the district upon senior water uses within and/or without the district;

(12) To finance the repair or abandonment of wells in the ground water district which have experienced or are experiencing declines in water level or water pressures because of reasons including, but not limited to, flow, leakage, and waste from improper construction, maintenance, and operation of wells;

(13) To have and exercise the power of eminent domain in the manner provided by law for the condemnation of private property for easements, rights-of-way, and other rights of access to property necessary to the exercise of the mitigation powers herein granted, both within and without the district;

(14) To sue and be sued, and be a party to suits, actions and proceedings;

(15) To enter into joint powers agreements and/or memoranda of understanding with other districts, governmental or quasi-public entities;

(16) To develop and acquire water rights for, and operate, aquifer storage or recharge projects;

(17) To monitor, measure, study, and implement programs in the interests of the district’s members regarding the protection of ground water diversions, depth of water in wells, aquifer water levels and characteristics;

(18) To adopt and amend bylaws not in conflict with the constitution and laws of the state for carrying on the business, objects and affairs of the board and of the district and to establish a fiscal year;

(19) To enter upon land to make surveys, locate district property, works, or facilities, and to otherwise conduct the affairs of the district;

(20) To make, record and report annually to the director sufficient measurements of diversions and water levels of district members to allow the district to be excluded from any water measurements district created pursuant to sections 42-705 through 42-715, Idaho Code;

(21) To manage and conduct the affairs of the district and to have and exercise all rights and powers necessary or incidental to or implied from the specific powers granted herein. Such specific powers shall not be considered as a limitation upon any power necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes and intent of this chapter.

History:

[42-5224, added 1995, ch. 290, sec. 1, p. 993; am. 1996, ch. 298, sec. 8, p. 984; am. 2003, ch. 137, sec. 1, p. 400; am. 2005, ch. 367, sec. 10, p. 1161.]