Title 51, Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control

The commission shall be financed in all its activities from funds made available by each of the associated counties, and each such county is authorized and empowered to contribute any amount or amounts which the board of supervisors thereof shall deem advisable, acting in their s…

This article shall be considered supplemental and additional to any and all other laws, and confers sufficient authority in and of itself for the purposes set forth herein.

This article may be cited as the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District Law.

It is hereby declared, as a matter of legislative determination, that the waterways and surface waters of the state are among its basic resources, that the overflow and surface waters of the state have not heretofore been conserved to realize their full beneficial use, that the p…

The Pearl River Valley Water Supply District may hereafter be organized in this state under the provisions of this article, in the manner hereinafter provided. This water supply district shall be an agency of the state and a body politic and corporate, and may be composed of one …

(a) All powers of the district shall be exercised by a board of directors, to be composed of the following:(a) Each member of the Pearl River Industrial Commission whose county becomes a part of the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District shall be a member of the Board of Direct…

(a) The Pearl River Industrial Commission, acting through it members who favor bringing the counties they represent into the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District, shall petition the chancery court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County to organize and establish the Pe…

The board of water commissioners shall make a written report on the preliminary study or plans furnished them and shall, within thirty days after receipt of the said study, file such report with the chancery court setting forth their recommendations concerning the proposed water …

The chancery court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County may hear the petition at any term thereof, or the chancellor of said court may fix a time to hear such petition at any time in vacation, and may determine all matters pertaining thereto, may adjourn the hearing fro…

If the court or chancellor thereof finds that the proposed water supply district should be organized, the chancellor shall then order an election in each county in the proposed district, which election shall be held not less than twenty-one nor more than forty-five days from the …

Such election shall be held, as far as is practicable, in the same manner as other elections are held in counties. At such election, all qualified electors of such counties may vote, and the ballots used at such election shall have printed thereon the words “FOR BEING INCLUDED IN…

Any person interested in or aggrieved by the final order of the court or the chancellor, creating the water supply district or dismissing the petition or admitting a county to the district, and who was a party to the proceedings in the chancery court may prosecute an appeal there…

(a) The Pearl River Valley Water Supply District through its board of directors is hereby empowered:(a) To impound overflow water and the surface water of the Pearl River or its tributaries within the project area, within or without this district at the place or places and in the…

(1) At any time more than fifteen (15) years after the commencement date of any residential lease from the district, the leaseholder shall have the option to renew and extend the lease for a new sixty-year term by giving the district notice of his exercise of this option to renew…

(1) Any holder of a lease that is not a residential lease subject to Section 51-9-122, Mississippi Code of 1972, shall have the right, exclusive of all other persons, to renew the lease at fair market value at any time prior to expiration of the lease. (2) Other than the right of…

All construction contracts by the district, where the amount of the contract shall exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00), shall be made upon at least three weeks’ public notice by advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation in the district, which notice sha…

The Pearl River Valley Water Supply District is authorized to establish or otherwise provide for public parks and recreation facilities and for the preservation of fish and wildlife and to acquire land otherwise than by condemnation except as provided in subsection (f) of Section…

(1) The board of directors of the district shall have the power to adopt and promulgate all reasonable regulations to secure, maintain, and preserve the sanitary condition of all water in and to flow into any reservoir owned by the district, to prevent waste of water or the unaut…

The district is empowered to obtain through appropriate hearings an appropriation permit or permits from the board of water commissioners of the State of Mississippi, as provided for in Section 51-3-31.

In each county of the State of Mississippi which is part of the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District, beginning with the ad valorem tax assessment for the calendar year 1960, payable on or before February 1, 1961, and so long as any bonds issued hereunder are outstanding, the…

The board of directors of the district is hereby authorized and empowered to issue bonds of the district for the purpose of paying the costs of acquiring, owning, constructing, operating, repairing, and maintaining the projects and works specified herein, including related facili…

All bonds provided for by Sections 51-9-133 and 51-9-145 of this article shall be negotiable instruments within the meaning of the Uniform Commercial Code, shall be lithographed or engraved and printed in two (2) or more colors to prevent counterfeiting, shall be in denominations…

Bonds issued pursuant to this article shall not exceed twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000.00) in principal amount.

To provide additional funds for the payment of the principal of, interest on, and other charges in connection with bonds issued under the provisions of this article, in the event its anticipated revenue and funds are found to be insufficient therefor by order entered on its minut…

All bonds issued pursuant to this article shall be validated as now provided by law by Sections 31-13-1 through 31-13-11, Mississippi Code of 1972. The services of the state’s bond attorney may be employed in the preparation of such bond resolutions, forms, or proceedings as may …

At the discretion of the board of directors of the district any bonds provided for in Section 51-9-133 may be further secured by a trust agreement between the board of directors and a corporate trustee, which may be any trust company or bank having powers of a trust company withi…

The board of directors of the district is hereby authorized to provide by resolution for the issuance of refunding bonds of the district for the purpose of refunding any bonds then outstanding and issued under authority of this article, including the payment of any redemption pre…

All bonds of the district shall be and are hereby declared to be legal and authorized investments for public funds of counties, cities, towns, school districts, banks, savings banks, trust companies, building and loan associations, savings and loan associations, insurance compani…

(1) The board of directors shall designate one or more qualified state depositories within the district to serve as depositories for the funds of the district, and all funds of the district other than funds required by any trust agreement to be deposited, from time to time, with …

The board of directors of the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District is hereby authorized and empowered to negotiate and contract with the United States of America, or any agency thereof, concerning all lands, easements, and rights of way necessary for the relocation of any fed…

The Pearl River Valley Water Supply District shall have authority to act jointly with political subdivisions of the state and agencies, commissions, and instrumentalities thereof, with other states, with municipalities, and with the federal government and other agencies thereof, …

The provisions of any other law, general, special or local, except as provided in this article, shall not limit or restrict the powers granted by this article. The water supply district herein provided for shall not be subject to regulation or control by the public service commis…

The accomplishment of the purposes stated in this article being for the benefit of the people of this state and for the improvement of their properties and industries, the district in carrying out the purposes of this article will be performing an essential public function and sh…

Any municipality or county which is within the territorial limits of the district may advance funds to said district to pay the preliminary expenses, including engineers’ reports, organization, or administration expenses, on such terms of repayment as the governing body of such m…

It is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination that the overflow and inundation of sixteenth section lands or in lieu lands shall not constitute legal waste of such lands. The district shall pay a reasonable rental for the use of such lands to be overflowed, to be…

Nothing in this article shall be construed to violate any provision of the federal or state constitutions, and all acts done under this article shall be done in such manner as will conform thereto, whether herein expressly provided or not. Where any procedure hereunder may be hel…

(1) There is created in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the Ross Barnett Reservoir Dredging and Maintenance Fund. The fund shall consist of the monies deposited into the fund as provided in subsection (2) of this section and any other monies appropriated or other…

This article shall be cited as “The Pearl River Valley Water Supply District Reservoir Police Officer Law of 1978.”

(a) For purposes of this article, unless the context requires otherwise, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed herein:(a) “District” means the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District.(b) “Qualified person” means a person who:(i) Has met all the educational and tra…

(1) The board of directors of the district may appoint and commission qualified persons as reservoir police officers of the district. Any such reservoir police officer so appointed shall be certified by the Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training or in accordance …

At the request of a Mississippi municipality, county, other legal political subdivision of the state or a Mississippi state agency, federal agency, or under a declaration of a state of emergency or disaster by the Governor or the President of the United States, the officers of th…

A person arrested by a reservoir police officer shall be handled or processed in the jurisdiction in which the offense was committed, in the same manner as if the arrest had been made by a sheriff or constable. If the reservoir police officer detains any person arrested by him, h…

The district, by the act of the appointment of any reservoir police officer, shall be liable and responsible for all acts of such reservoir police officer while he is acting or purporting to act under the provisions of this article, whether such action be authorized by this artic…

Each reservoir police officer commissioned under this article shall file a bond in the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) with the district for the lawful and faithful performance of his duties. The cost of the bond shall be borne by the district. The filing of the bond sha…

The powers and authority of any reservoir police officer, whether appointed or commissioned pursuant to the provisions of this article or any former law of this state, may be terminated at any time by the board of directors of the district.

Nothing contained herein shall be construed to waive the sovereign immunity of the State of Mississippi or the district, in whole or in part.