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

(1) Promptly following the appointment of a majority of its board as provided in Section 51-10-9, the authority shall commence negotiations with the city to enter into an agreement with the authority for the transfer by lease to the authority, for use in the exercise of its corpo…

(1) The authority shall consult with the court to appoint a president within thirty (30) days following the appointment of a majority of its board as provided in Section 51-10-9, who shall serve at the will and pleasure of the board. If the authority does not have management and …

(1) The authority shall have the power, duty and responsibility to exercise general supervision over the design, construction, operation and maintenance of water and wastewater systems. (2) The authority shall adopt rules and regulations regarding the design, construction or inst…

(1) The authority, in addition to any other powers granted under this chapter and any other provision of law, is authorized:(a) To acquire, construct, improve, enlarge, extend, repair, operate and maintain any of its systems used for the collection, transportation, treatment and …

(1) The president, as chief executive officer of the authority, if so appointed by the board, shall direct and supervise all administrative and technical activities in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, with the administrative rules and regulations adopted by the boa…

Employees of the authority shall serve at the will and pleasure of the president, who shall determine their compensation and benefits in consultation with the board.

Neither the directors of the authority, the board, its employees, nor any person or persons acting on their behalf, while acting within the scope of their authority, shall be subject to personal liability resulting from carrying out any of the powers granted herein in accordance …

(1) The authority shall enter into its contracts for major procurements after a competitive and open procurement process. The authority may adopt administrative rules and regulations pursuant to the provisions of this chapter providing for special procedures whereby the authority…

All monies received by the authority shall be deposited into an operating account. Such account shall be established in a custodian financial institution domiciled in the state, insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and collateralized as prescribed by Section 27-10…

All division heads, officers and employees of the authority shall be considered public servants as defined in Section 25-4-103. All division heads and officers of the authority are subject to Section 25-4-25 and shall be required to file a Statement of Economic Interest with the …

(1) The Mississippi Legislature finds the following:(a) For the benefit of the citizens centrally located in the State of Mississippi, including citizens residing or working in the capital city of the State of Mississippi, it is essential to have access to safe, clean and reliabl…

(1) Any public agency, pursuant to a duly adopted resolution of its governing body, may enter into contracts with the authority under the terms of which the authority will manage, operate and contract for usage of the agency’s systems and facilities, or other services, for such p…

(a) When a public agency executes a contract under this chapter and the payments thereunder are to be made either wholly or partly from the revenues of the public agency’s systems, any part thereof, or a combination of such systems, the public agency shall establish and maintain,…

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 77-3-21 and 77-3-23, the certificate of public convenience and necessity held by any municipality, public agency, district, public utility or other entity authorized by law to provide water and wastewater services may be cancelled an…

(1) Any system of a municipality, public agency or other entity that becomes subject to the jurisdiction of the authority and this chapter shall not impair, invalidate or abrogate any liens, bonds or other certificates of indebtedness related to water or wastewater facilities and…

(1) Sections 51-10-37 through 51-10-55 shall apply to all bonds issued by the authority on or after July 1, 2026, and such provisions shall not affect, limit or alter the rights and powers of the authority under this chapter or any law of the State of Mississippi to conduct the a…

(1) The authority may, by resolution adopted by its board, issue refunding bonds for the purpose of paying any of its bonds at or prior to maturity, upon acceleration or upon redemption. Refunding bonds may be issued at such time prior to the maturity or redemption of the refunde…

All bonds, other than refunding bonds, interim notes and certificates of indebtedness, which may be issued pursuant to this chapter shall be validated as now provided by law in Sections 31-13-1 through 31-13-11; however, notice of such validation proceedings shall be addressed to…

Bonds issued under the provisions of this chapter shall not be deemed to constitute, within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory limitation, an indebtedness of the authority or the state. Such bonds shall be payable solely from the revenues or assets of the authority pl…

(a) The authority shall have power in connection with the issuance of its bonds pursuant to this chapter to:(a) Covenant as to the use of any or all of its property, real or personal;(b) Redeem the bonds to covenant for their redemption and to provide the terms and conditions the…

The authority may, in any authorizing resolution of the board, trust indenture or other security instrument relating to its bonds issued pursuant to this chapter, provide for the appointment of a trustee who shall have such powers as are provided therein to represent the register…

(a) As used in this chapter, the following words and phrases have the meanings provided in this section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:(a) “Authority” means the public benefit corporation created by Section 51-10-7, known as the Metro Jackson Water Authority.(b) …

(1) The exercise of the powers granted by this chapter will be in all respects for the benefit of the people of the state, for their well-being and prosperity and for the improvement of their social and economic conditions, and the authority shall not be required to pay any tax o…

All bonds issued under the provisions of this chapter shall be legal investments for trustees, other fiduciaries, savings banks, trust companies and insurance companies organized under the laws of the state, and such bonds shall be legal securities which may be deposited with and…

The state hereby covenants with the registered owners of any bonds of the authority that so long as the bonds are outstanding and unpaid, the state will not limit or alter the rights and powers of the authority under this chapter to fulfill the terms of any covenants made with, o…

(a) For the purposes of satisfying any temporary cash flow demands and deficiencies, and to maintain a working balance for the authority, the state, county, municipalities or public agencies within the geographic boundaries of the authority, or other persons, subject to their law…

This chapter, being necessary for the welfare of the state and its inhabitants, shall be liberally construed to effect the purposes thereof. If any section, provision, paragraph, sentence, phrase or word of this chapter shall be held invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction…

(1) There is hereby created and established a corporation known as the Metro Jackson Water Authority for public purposes and charged with the duties and having the powers provided in this chapter. The authority shall be a body corporate and politic constituting a public benefit c…

(1) The affairs of the authority shall be administered by the board. The board shall be composed of nine (9) members as follows:(a) Three member(s) at large to be appointed by the Mayor of the City of Jackson and confirmed by the City Council of the City of Jackson;(b) Two (2) me…

(1) On July 1, 2018, the Pearl River Basin Development District (the “district”) is dissolved, and all statutory authority granted to the district under Sections 51-11-1 through 51-11-87 is repealed as provided in Section 5 of Chapter 356, Laws of 2018. (2) Through June 30, 2018,…

(1) Through June 30, 2018, the district, and from and after July 1, 2018, the department, is authorized to transfer any real property to which the district currently holds or formerly held title, specifically including, but not limited to, any water parks or similar facilities ow…

The following provisions related to the Lower Pearl River Restoration Project (“project”) are contingent upon the development of an agreement, or an amendment to the existing agreement, between the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (“MDEQ”), the Department of Wildli…

The State Auditor shall perform or have performed a final close-out audit of the accounts of the district. The close-out audit shall be in a form acceptable to the State Auditor and may be conducted in lieu of the usual annual audit of accounts, if the district had continued in e…

There is hereby created the Tombigbee Valley Authority composed of Clay, Itawamba, Lee, Lowndes, Monroe, Noxubee, Prentiss, Pontotoc, Alcorn, and Tishomingo Counties in the State of Mississippi, to be governed by a board consisting of one member from each such county and three me…

The Tombigbee Valley Authority is hereby authorized and empowered to do any and all things necessary or desirable in making a survey or surveys of that portion of the Tombigbee River situated in the State of Mississippi and its tributaries to investigate the possibilities of deve…

The authority shall be financed in all of 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…

No reimbursement on the additional tax levies herein provided shall be made under the Homestead Exemption Law of 1946, being Sections 27-33-1 through 27-33-61 of the Mississippi Code of 1972.

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.

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 u…

The Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District may hereafter be organized in this state under the provisions of this article, in the manner hereinafter provided for. This water management district shall be an agency of the state and a body politic and corporate.

(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 Tombigbee Valley Authority as created by virtue of Sections 51-13-1 through 51-13-9, whose county becomes a part of the Tombigbee River Valley Water M…

(1) Within twenty (20) days after the passage of this article, the Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality, State Board of Health, Mississippi Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, and the Forestry Commission of the State of Mississippi shall appoint their respecti…

Any eligible county may become a member of the district, subsequent to its creation, in the manner as the original counties became members and new counties shall have the same power and authority and be entitled to equal consideration of the district’s board of directors, not inc…

(a) The Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District through its board of directors is hereby empowered:(a) To develop, in conjunction with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, United States Secretary of Agriculture, or with the head of any other federal or state agency…

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 sh…

The Tombigbee River Valley Water Management 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 (e) o…