Title 9

The principal and interest of bonds issued under this article shall be payable at such place or places as the board of commissioners may designate. At least two weeks before the principal and interest of any bonds are due and payable, it shall be the duty of the treasurer of the …

All petitions provided for under this article may be signed by women, whether married or single, provided they own land in the proposed district; guardians may sign for their wards, and trustees, executors and administrators may sign for the estates represented by them; and, if t…

(a) If any installment of principal and interest evidenced by any bonds issued under the provisions of this article shall not be paid at the time and in the manner when the same shall become due and payable, the same shall bear interest at the rate of eight percent per annum unti…

Bonds in behalf of the district for the safekeeping of funds and faithful performance of their respective duties and obligations shall be given by each of the commissioners, the engineer, if any, the attorney, the secretary, the treasurer and all other persons who may handle fund…

The board of water management commissioners may secure and use men, equipment and materials under the supervision of the water management engineer to construct, excavate and complete all or any of the works of improvements which may be needed to carry out the plan of water manage…

The water management engineer shall have charge of the construction of the plan of water management. He shall make monthly estimates of the amount of work done and shall furnish one copy to the contractor and file the other with the secretary of the board of commissioners, and th…

If any contractor to whom said work shall have been let shall fail to perform the same according to the terms specified in his contract, the board of water management commissioners may declare the contract forfeited and shall have a right of action against the contractor and the …

In the construction of the works of improvement, the contractor shall have the right to enter upon the lands necessary for this purpose and the right to remove private or public bridges or fences and to cross private lands in going to or from the work. In case the right-of-way of…

Where any public ditch, drain or watercourse established under the provisions of this article crosses a public highway at the intersection of such highway with a natural watercourse or swale through which water flows during a period of high water, the cost of bridges or of repair…

After a district has let a contract for work which crosses or traverses a railway right-of-way and the actual construction is commenced, the engineer in charge of construction shall notify the railroad company of the probable time at which the contractor will be ready to enter up…

Whenever any improvement constructed under this article is completed, it shall be under the control and supervision of the board of water management commissioners. It shall be the duty of said board to maintain the levees, ditches, drains, watercourses, floodwater retarding struc…

The owner of any land that has been assessed for the cost of the construction of any ditch, drain, watercourse or other improvement as provided in this article shall have the right to use the ditch, drain or watercourse as an outlet for lateral drains from said land; and, if said…

(a) The court of probate of any county of the State of Alabama shall have jurisdiction, power and authority to establish water management districts, as provided in this article for the following purposes: (1) To locate and establish levees, drains or canals and to cause to be con…

Any body of land, however large, contiguous or adjacent to a water management district organized under this article may be annexed thereto and made a part thereof, the same as if originally included therein, upon petition of one third or more of the landowners owning 50 percent o…

A water management district may be organized over the whole or any part of the lands covered by an existing watershed conservancy district organized under Sections 9-8-50 through 9-8-67; provided that: (1) The soil and water conservation district supervisors and the directors of …

The organization of any district or subdistrict under the provisions of this article shall not be construed to prevent inclusion of a whole or any part of the lands of any such district in another district and the taxing of such land to whatever extent the plan of water managemen…

Whenever it may be desirable to construct, widen, deepen, straighten or otherwise change any ditch, drain, watercourse, floodwater retarding structure, levee or other works of improvement lying on or along, across or near the boundary line between the State of Alabama and an adjo…

Any warrant issued under this article that is not paid when presented to the treasurer of the district because of lack of funds in the treasury shall be endorsed on the back of said warrant “not paid for lack of funds.” Such warrant shall draw interest thereafter at the rate of s…

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…

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 purposes under this article. In order for such existing districts to exercise the additiona…

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…

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 prevention or the conservation, development, utilizati…

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 also have recorded therein all bond ord…

(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 the persons owning more than one half of the land in…

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; subject, however,…

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…

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…

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 with the judge of probate as chairman shall act as and exercise the po…

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 benefited by the work constr…

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…

(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 subdistrict, fairly, justly and equi…

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 established by order of the county commission, sai…

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 …

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 subdistrict shall not be defeated when the notices authorized by this article have been given by…

In the interest of water conservation and land irrigation in that portion of Alabama known as the State of Alabama and for purposes of cooperation with any water authority or agency or any river area development authority or agency heretofore or hereafter created, there is hereby…

The board of directors of the agency shall report annually to the Governor of the State of Alabama and shall likewise report annually to the Examiner of Public Accounts, to the Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources and to the governing bodies of the counties and of t…

All agencies of the State of Alabama are hereby authorized and directed to extend their cooperation and to lend assistance to the agency in the formulation and implementation of a development program for irrigation and water conservation. (Acts 1965, No. 827, p. 1549, §12.)

No officer of the corporation shall have any interest, directly or indirectly, in any contract awarded or to be awarded or in the profit to be derived therefrom. Any violation of this section shall constitute a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall work a forfeiture of office a…

In the event that a state agency other than the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources may hereafter be charged with such responsibility as is in this article charged to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the term “Commissioner of Conserva…

This article shall be considered supplemental and additional to Sections 9-10-30 through 9-10-47 and to any and all other laws and confers sufficient authority in and of itself for the purposes set forth herein. It shall be liberally construed to effectuate its purposes of provid…

The organization and establishment of the agency shall be as follows: (1) The county commission of any county or counties lying within the State of Alabama which may elect to come within the provisions of this article shall indicate its desire to participate therein by the adopti…

To become a corporation, members of the board of directors of the agency shall present to the Secretary of State an application signed by them which shall state: (Acts 1965, No. 827, p. 1549, §3.)

Upon completion of the membership of the board of directors and incorporation as provided in this article, the board members shall meet in an organizational session at the place of its main office and elect a chairman, vice-chairman, a secretary and a treasurer, but the office of…