Title 9 — Title 9

The board of water management commissioners may petition the court; and, upon a proper showing, the court shall correct errors or omissions that may have occurred in any proceedings or decrees in relation to any district organized under this article; provided, that notice by publ…

Districts; Petition Requesting Additional Powers; Notice to Landowners and Proceedings. All drainage districts created under Title 2, Sections 208 through 262 of the 1940 Alabama Code, shall be known as water management districts and shall continue to carry out their drainage pur…

Any district organized under this article may be dissolved by the court of probate having jurisdiction thereof whenever it shall appear to said court that the works thereof need no further care or maintenance to preserve their efficiency and usefulness, that the maintenance of th…

of Assessment; Remedies Provided in Article Exclusive. The provisions of this article shall be liberally construed to promote the storing of beneficial water, leveeing, ditching, draining and otherwise to provide protection from flooding of wet and overflowed lands, and for flood…

Probate Court; District Record Book. The court of probate shall keep a complete record of all its proceedings under this article in a book to be used for the purpose only. The book shall be designated as the “Water Management District Record of _____ County, Alabama” and shall al…

Appointment, Etc., of Engineer; Report of Engineer. (a) Whenever a petition praying for the organization of a water management district and signed by a majority of the landowners owning more than one third of the land in acreage in a proposed district or by at least one third of …

Whenever used in this article, the following terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: (1) COMMISSION. The county commission with the judge of probate as chairman. (2) CHAIRMAN. The judge of probate acting as chairman of the county c…

The establishing of proper control of surface waters upon the agricultural lands of the state through proper distribution and holding of said waters upon said land, the prevention of increased areas of wet, swamp or overflow lands through control of soil erosion and the filling o…

and Exercise Powers of Drainage or Water Management Commissioners. For the purpose heretofore expressed and the execution of the powers provided in this article, each county of the state is hereby declared to be and is hereby created a drainage district. The county commission wit…

Subdistricts Generally. The county commission shall have control of the affairs of the county as such drainage district. No commissioner shall directly or indirectly be interested in any contract made by the county commission, save and except insofar as other land owners are bene…

The county commission of any county, as a drainage district, shall have jurisdiction, power and authority to establish drainage subdistricts as provided in this article, to promote, aid and assist the purposes of drainage districts organized under Title 2, Sections 208 through 26…

(a) The establishment of a subdistrict shall be undertaken only upon the initiative of one or more of the land owners concerned. Such land owners shall file with the chairman, for which a fee of $1.00 shall be charged, a petition signed by three fourths of the land owners who own…

Proceedings as to Delinquencies. (a) When a subdistrict shall have been established by order of the county commission, the owners of land within the subdistrict shall, through their officers or directors and in keeping with the provisions of the constitution and bylaws of the sub…

Lands; Appeals from Orders of Commission. Any owner of land within a proposed subdistrict may file with the chairman objections in writing to the establishment of a subdistrict on or before the day set for hearing the engineer’s report on the same. If such subdistrict is establis…

If it shall be necessary to acquire a right-of-way or an outlet over and through land affected by the improvements, then and in such event the power of eminent domain is hereby conferred, and such land may be condemned. The right of condemnation hereby conferred shall be invoked …

The terms “costs” and “expenses” as used in this article shall include all expenses incident to or necessary to organize, defend, promote, improve, operate, maintain or dissolve a subdistrict. Any funds advanced to set up and establish a subdistrict or proposed subdistrict shall …

Petition Filed. The court of probate of the county in which said petition is filed shall thereafter maintain and have original and exclusive jurisdiction coextensive with the boundaries and limits of said district without regard to county lines for all purposes of this article; s…

of Assessments or Functioning of Subdistrict; Remedies Provided in Article Exclusive. The provisions of this article shall be liberally construed to promote the declared purposes thereof. The collection of any assessment or assessments or the desirable functioning of a subdistric…

Immediately upon the filing of the report of the engineer or other plans submitted by petitioner, it shall be the duty of the court of probate to forthwith give notice thereof by personal service or by causing publication to be made as hereinafter defined; and, in the event notic…