Title 42, IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE — WATER RIGHTS AND RECLAMATION

42-5119. Liberal construction. Any restrictions, limitations or regulations relative to the execution of such contracts pursuant to the authority herein contained in any other act shall not apply to the execution of such contracts pursuant to the authority herein contained. Any a…

42-5120. Lending institutions — Right to compel assessments — Alternative remedy. If in any year the board of directors fails to levy assessments for the repayment of indebtedness in amounts sufficient to meet a payment or payments falling due, the lender may bring an action in t…

42-5121. Lien of assessment. From and after January 1 of any year, all assessments, other than those levied against municipalities, shall be liens against the property of water users to which the water rights used to determine assessments are appurtenant. Such liens shall not be …

42-5122. Payment of assessments — When delinquent — Interest and penalties. Assessments shall be due and payable on or before December 31 of each year. On or before the first day of December, the treasurer of the district shall publish a notice for a period of not less than two (…

42-5123. Entry of delinquent assessments — Filing of delinquency list. On or before the 15th day of January of each year the treasurer shall enter the amount of all delinquent assessments upon the assessment book, which entry shall be considered to be dated as of the first day of…

42-5124. Redemption and sale of property subject to delinquent assessments. The manner in which property subject to a lien for nonpayment of assessments may be redeemed, and if not redeemed, shall be sold as provided in sections 43-712, 43-715 through 43-721, 43-724 and 43-726, I…

42-5125. Water users subject to inclusion within the district. (1) All water users, as defined in subsection (1) of section 42-5102, Idaho Code, included within the district and who have not obtained exclusion as hereinafter provided, shall remain within and be subject to assessm…

42-5126. Exclusion from the district — Procedure — Grounds for exclusion. (1) After the formation of the district, any water user included within the district may file with the board of directors a petition in writing, praying for exclusion from the district. All water users seek…

42-5127. Hearing — Notice — Entry of order. (1) The petition shall be heard by the board of directors within sixty (60) days of filing of the petition and if no hearing is held within that time the petitioner or petitioners shall be deemed excluded from the district. If, prior to…

42-5128. Appeal. An appeal shall lie from a decision of the board of directors denying the petition or any part thereof to the district court of the county where the water user or water users are located. The appeal shall be taken in the same manner as appeals are taken from the …

42-5129. Effect of exclusion on liability for assessments. Any water user excluded from the district on the grounds specified in subsection (1) of section 42-5126, Idaho Code, shall not be subject to assessment by the district for any purpose. Any water user excluded from the dis…

42-5130. Costs. On appeal, costs shall be taxed as in other civil cases. Costs of recording the order of exclusion shall be borne by petitioners when the order is entered by the board of directors and by the ground water management district when entered by the district court.

42-5131. Exclusion to be recorded. The decision and order of the board of directors, or of the district court in case of appeal, excluding the petitioner or petitioners from the district shall be filed for record in the recorder’s office of the counties within which the district …

42-5132. Severability. The provisions of this act are hereby declared to be severable and if any provision of this act or the application of such provision to any person or circumstance is declared invalid for any reason, such declaration shall not affect the validity of remainin…

42-5201. Short title — Title of districts — Definitions. This chapter is known as the "Ground Water District Act"; the districts created hereunder may be termed "ground water districts." When used in this chapter, and unless otherwise specified, the following terms shall be defin…

42-5202. Establishment of ground water districts. Whenever fifty (50) or a majority, whichever is less, of the ground water users in a particular geographic area desire to organize a ground water district, they may propose the organization of a district and the election of its in…

42-5203. Petition for organization — Map — Bond. (1) A petition shall be first presented to the county commission of the county in which the greatest proportion of cubic feet per second of ground water rights of the proposed district is situated, which petition shall: (a) Be sign…

42-5204. Notice of presentation to county commission. The petition may be filed with the county clerk, upon verifying with the county assessment roll or other evidence of entitlement whether the petition is valid, at any time, and upon such filing the clerk forthwith shall cause …

42-5205. Notice of county commission hearing. When the petition is presented, the county commission shall set a time for a hearing on the petition, which shall not be less than four (4) nor more than eight (8) weeks from the date of presentation, unless extended by the county com…

42-5206. Examination by department of water resources — Report to county commission — Amendment of plan. (1) A copy of the petition and all maps and other papers filed with the county commission shall be filed with the department on the same day the petition is filed with the cou…

42-5207. Organization hearing before county commission — Order of county commission. (1) After receiving the report of the department of water resources, the county commission shall conduct a hearing on the petition. If the county commission determines that the requisite number o…

42-5208. Divisions of district for election of directors. The county commission shall also make an order dividing the district into not less than three (3) nor more than seven (7) divisions, each division to contain approximately the same amount, measured in cubic feet per second…

42-5209. Notice of election. The county commission shall give notice of an election to be held in accordance with section 34-106, Idaho Code, in the proposed district for the purpose of determining whether the district shall be organized under this chapter, and, if so, who shall …

42-5210. Qualifications of voters for district elections. (1) Any ground water irrigator, and any nonirrigator who is a member for all purposes, within the proposed district shall be entitled to vote at any election held under the provisions of this chapter. The production of doc…

42-5211. Conduct of elections. (1) Elections shall be conducted as nearly as practicable in accordance with the general laws of the state; provided, no particular form of ballot shall be required, and that the provisions of the election laws as to the form and distribution of bal…

42-5212. Registration not required. No registration shall be required in any ground water district election, but in lieu thereof the judges of election shall require every elector to subscribe to an elector’s oath as prerequisite to casting his vote, and such oath shall be the us…

42-5213. Canvass of votes — Completion of organization. (1) Immediately after any election for voting upon the organization of a ground water district, the judges of the election shall forward the official results of said election to the county clerk. The county commission shall …

42-5214. Ground water users included within the district — Notice and hearing for members included in district after March 31, 2005 — Order — Appeal and conclusiveness. (1) All ground water irrigators within the boundaries of the district shall be members of the district and subj…

42-5215. Limitation on proceedings affecting validity. No action shall be commenced or maintained, or defense made affecting the validity or organization of the district, more than two (2) years from and after the county commission enters on its minutes the order directing the fo…

42-5216. Organizational meeting of board. From and after the date the county commission files its order declaring the district to be formed by election, the organization of the district shall be complete and those ground water users specified in section 42-5214, Idaho Code, shall…

42-5217. Treasurer’s official bonds. The treasurer shall on his appointment execute and file with the secretary an official bond in such amount as may be fixed by the district board of directors, which shall not be less than five thousand dollars ($5,000); and shall thereafter fr…

42-5218. Election, term of office, nominations and qualifications. (1) One (1) year following the organization of the district, an election shall be held in accordance with section 34-106(1), Idaho Code, at which shall be elected one (1) director for each division of the district…

42-5218A. When election not required. In any election for directors if, after the expiration of the date for filing written nominations for the office of director, it appears that only one (1) qualified candidate has been nominated thereby for each position to be filled, it shall…

42-5218B. Notice of election. The secretary of the district shall give notice of all elections in the district by posting the same in five (5) public places in each county in which a part of the district is situated and in the office of the board of directors at least four (4) we…

42-5218C. Conduct of elections. The election shall be conducted as nearly as practicable in accordance with the general laws of the state; provided that no particular form of ballot shall be required and the provisions of the election laws as to the form and distribution of ballo…

42-5218D. Canvass of returns — Declaration of winners. On the first Monday after each election, or at a time designated by the board of directors, the board shall meet at its usual place of meeting and proceed to canvass the returns. By order entered on its minutes, the board sha…

42-5219. Directors at large. In the event a district is divided into six (6) or fewer divisions, the district is authorized to elect one (1) to two (2) directors at large. Directors at large shall be elected at the annual meeting of the district by a two-thirds (2/3) majority of …

42-5223. Board of directors — Officers — Meetings — Compensation — Vacancies. (1) The board of directors annually shall elect a chairman from their number and shall appoint a secretary and a treasurer to hold office at the pleasure of the board. Upon appointment the treasurer sha…

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, cha…

42-5225. Authority to construct and operate ground water recharge or storage project. Any ground water district organized under the laws of this state is authorized in section 42-234, Idaho Code, to file an application with the department to acquire water rights or to appropriate…

42-5226. Intersections with streets, railroads, watercourses. The board of directors shall have power to construct the works necessary to implement an approved mitigation plan across any stream of water, watercourse, street, avenue, highway, railway, canal, ditch or flume which t…

42-5227. Officers must not be interested in contracts. No director or any other officer named in this chapter shall in any manner be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract awarded or to be awarded by the board, or in the profits to be derived therefrom, except as a m…

42-5228. Indemnification of officers, directors, employees and agents. The indemnification provisions of section 43-204A, Idaho Code, shall apply to ground water districts in the same manner as for irrigation districts.

42-5229. Report to department of water resources. At least as often as once a year after organization, the board of directors shall make a report to the department of the condition of the work of any mitigation plans developed by the district, as to capacity, stability and perman…

42-5230. Statement of financial condition. On or before the second Tuesday of February of each year the board of directors of each ground water district organized under this chapter shall publish in at least one (1) issue of a newspaper published in the county or counties in whic…

42-5231. County commission to have access to books. Any district board, or the secretary thereof, shall at any time allow any member of the county commission, when acting under resolution of the commissioners, to have access to all books, records and vouchers of the district whic…