1. The commission may investigate, plan, cooperate, and make all contracts or compacts necessary or requisite: a. With the United States and any department, agency, or officer thereof. b. With the states of Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming, or any political subdivision thereof, and with any other state, and with any department or officer or political subdivision of any state.
c. With Canada or any of its provinces, and with any agency, department, or officer of Canada or any of its provinces. d. With federally recognized Indian tribes, or any agency, department, or officer thereof. 2. The powers granted by this section shall extend to all waters, whether considered as intrastate, interstate, or international. The commission is specially authorized and empowered to cooperate with the United States or any of its agencies concerned with investigating, planning, conserving, utilizing, developing, and handling water in any form for purposes of water conservation, flood control, prevention of water pollution, or soil reclamation, or with any other resources of the state, and concerned with the administration of the public works program of the state or any part thereof. The commission is authorized to act and to contract fully with the United States, or with any department, agency, or officer thereof, with full power of purchase, sale, or lease to carry out, develop, or administer any federal project within this state or partly within the state, and also to accept and to use any funds provided by the United States or any agency thereof for any such purposes.
61-02-24.1. Cooperation and participation of political subdivisions and federally recognized Indian tribes. Any political subdivision, including a county, township, city, park district, and water resource district, and federally recognized Indian tribes, may separately or jointly, with each other, the state of North Dakota through the commission, or federal departments or agencies, investigate, plan, and do all things necessary for participating in or undertaking underground or surface water surveys, development, construction, reconstruction, and maintenance of works, dams, and projects for the beneficial utilization and control of water resources, and may enter into contracts with the commission to pay rents, charges, or other payments for the use of works of the commission.