For the purpose of regulating the diversion of the natural flow of waters, employees of the department of water resources may enter upon the means and place of use of all appropriators for the purpose of making surveys of respective rights and seasonal needs.
61-02-42. Commission to take into consideration decrees of court adjudicating waters of natural stream. The commission shall take into consideration the decrees of the courts of this state having jurisdiction which purport to adjudicate the waters of any natural stream or its tributaries, and a fair, reasonable, and equitable reconciliation shall be made between the claimants asserting rights under different decrees and between decreed rights and asserted rights of appropriation not adjudicated by any court.
61-02-43. Commission may hold hearings relating to rights of claimants - Notice - Findings made. The commission may hold hearings relating to the rights of respective claimants after first giving such notice as it deems appropriate, and it may make findings of the date and quantity of appropriation and use of all claimants, which it shall recognize and observe in diverting the waters which it owns. The commission may police and distribute to the owner of any such recognized appropriation the waters due the owner upon request of such owner and under terms agreed upon.
61-02-44. Controlling natural flow of stream deemed police power - Water commissioners not to deprive commission. The commission, when engaged in controlling and diverting the natural flow of any stream under the authority granted by the provisions of this chapter, shall be deemed to be exercising a police power of this state. Water commissioners appointed by any court shall not have any authority or jurisdiction to deprive the commission of any of the waters owned or administered under agreement with respective owners, but the owner of any prior or vested right contending that the commission is not recognizing and respecting such right may resort to a court of law or equity for the purpose of determining whether or not the rights of said claimant have been invaded, and the commission shall observe the terms of any final decree.
61-02-45. Commission may divert at any place on stream after impounding or acquiring the right of appropriation. On the commission's impounding or acquiring the right of appropriation of the waters of any stream, it may divert or authorize the diversion at any point on said stream, or any portion thereof, when the same may be done without injury to any prior appropriator or riparian owner whose rights shall not have been acquired by the commission as provided in this chapter.
61-02-46. Commission may issue bonds - Legislative authorization - Payment restricted. 1. The commission may provide by resolution, at one time or from time to time, for the issuance of state water development revenue bonds for the purpose of paying the cost of any one or more of the works authorized by this chapter. The commission may provide for the refunding and refinancing of the bonds from time to time as often as it is advantageous and in the public interest to do so. 2. If the principal amount of bonds to be issued for any one works pursuant to this chapter will exceed in the aggregate two million dollars, no bonds may be issued to finance that works unless the legislative assembly authorizes the works and declares the works to be in the public interest. 3. Bonds issued under this chapter shall not be in any way a debt or liability of this state and shall not constitute a loan of the credit of this state or create any debt or debts, liability or liabilities on behalf of this state, or be or constitute a pledge of the faith and credit of this state, but all such bonds shall be payable solely from funds or revenues pledged or available for their payment as authorized in this chapter. The bonds shall not constitute a charge, lien, nor encumbrance, legal or equitable, upon any property of the commission, other than funds or revenues pledged for their payment. Each bond shall recite in substance that the bond, including interest thereon, is payable solely from the funds or revenues pledged to the payment thereof, and that the bond does not constitute a debt of this state or of the commission within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory limit.