Title 61, Waters

It is hereby declared that the general welfare and the protection of the lives, health, property, and the rights of all the people of this state require that the conservation, management, development, and control of waters in this state, public or private, navigable or non-naviga…

The legislative assembly finds that there is a critical need to develop a comprehensive statewide water development program. The state water commission shall develop and implement a comprehensive statewide water development program. The commission shall design the program to serv…

The state water commission shall develop policies, including cost-sharing guidelines, which further the development of water retention projects for flood control. The commission shall provide a report regarding the policies to the sixty-second legislative assembly.

1. Biennially, the commission shall develop and maintain a comprehensive water development plan organized on a river basin perspective, including an inventory of future water projects for budgeting and planning purposes. 2. As part of the commission's planning process, to facilit…

The state water commission shall review, gather stakeholder input on, and rewrite as necessary the commission's "Cost-share Policy, Procedure and General Requirements" and "Project Prioritization Guidance" documents. The commission's cost-share policy: 1. Must provide a water sup…

Notwithstanding section 61-02-01.3, between August 1, 2025, and July 31, 2027, the state water commission or the department of water resources may not conduct an economic analysis for an assessment drain project within the state.

In this chapter, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires: 1. "Commission" means the state water commission. 2. "Cost of works" includes: a. The cost of construction, the cost of all lands, property rights, water rights, easements, and franchises acquired which are…

In case any water rights shall be acquired or exercised by the commission in connection with two or more works and projects, the commission, by resolution, shall apportion or allocate to each of such works or projects such part of such water rights as it may determine, and upon a…

The state water commission consists of the governor, agriculture commissioner, and eight other members appointed by the governor who shall take into account reasonable geographic considerations in making the appointments with the intent of having each of the eight major drainage …

1. A member of the commission who has a direct or indirect personal or pecuniary interest in a matter before the commission must disclose that fact to the commission and may not participate in or vote on that particular matter. 2. Sections 12.1-13-02, 12.1-13-03, and 48-01.2-08 d…

The governor is the chairman of the commission. The governor shall designate a vice chairman from the members of the commission. The director of the department of water resources is the secretary of the commission.

The commission shall maintain its principal office in the city of Bismarck and may maintain such branch offices in the state as it may determine.

A majority of the members of the commission constitutes a quorum, and the affirmative or negative vote of six members is necessary to bind the commission except for adjournment.

The commission shall hold at least one meeting every two months at places as it, by resolution, may provide. The chairman, or in the chairman's absence or disability, the vice chairman of the commission, may issue a call for any meeting at any time. The governor or governor's app…

The commission shall be a state agency with all of the powers and authority possessed by such a state agency in the performance of its duties. The commission may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, and contract and be contracted with. The commission in the exercise of all it…

The commission shall have a seal bearing its name. Such seal shall be affixed to such records and other instruments as the commission may direct, and all courts shall take judicial notice thereof.

The commission may adopt and enact all rules, regulations, resolutions, and bylaws deemed suitable and necessary in the conduct of its business and the performance of its duties. It shall keep accurate minutes and records of all its acts which at all reasonable times shall be ope…

Each appointive member of the commission is entitled to receive compensation per day in the amount provided for members of the legislative management under section 54-35-10 and must be reimbursed for expenses in the amounts provided in sections 44-08-04 and 54-06-09 while attendi…

The commission may hire and employ all necessary aid, help, and assistants, including members of all the professions, for the efficient performance of its powers and duties.

The commission is authorized: 1. To investigate, plan, regulate, undertake, construct, establish, maintain, control, operate, and supervise all works, dams, and projects, public and private, which in the commission's judgment may be necessary or advisable: a. To control the low-w…

The commission may, when it deems such action to be in the best interests of the state, for good and valuable consideration, release easements granted to the state for the construction, operation, and maintenance of dams, along with access thereto, if such dams have not been cons…

The director of the department of water resources, or the director's authorized designee, may execute contracts approved by the commission.

An agreement for funding which is approved by the commission to fund a water project under this chapter must require a progress report to the commission at least every four years if the term of the project exceeds four years. If a progress report is not timely received or, if aft…

1. The state water commission shall report quarterly to a legislative committee designated by the legislative management: a. Each project the state water commission has designated as a carryover project that has had a cost-share agreement in place for at least four years; b. The …

In planning and constructing irrigation projects, it shall be the policy of the commission to give preference to the individual farmer or groups of farmers or irrigation districts who intend to farm the land themselves.

The commission shall keep full and complete accounts and records of all matters and things relating to works and projects undertaken, established, and maintained by the commission and shall prepare annual balance sheets, income, and profit and loss statements, showing the financi…

Upon application by any landowner, holder of any easement, or holder of any lease of five or more years' duration, or of any group or association of such landowners, easement holders, or leaseholders for an irrigation project, the commission shall make such preliminary engineerin…

In any irrigation project undertaken by the commission serving a single individual, or a group of individuals owning irrigable lands, the works of the commission may include preparation of the land for irrigation.

The commission has full power and authority to acquire by purchase or exchange, upon such terms and conditions as the commission determines necessary and proper, and by condemnation in accordance with and subject to chapter 32-15 and the provisions of all laws applicable to the c…

The commission shall have full power and authority: 1. To institute, maintain, and prosecute to final determination in any of the courts of this or any other state, or in any of the federal courts, any and all actions, suits, and special proceedings that may be necessary: a. To e…

Whenever a right of way is to be taken by condemnation proceedings for any purpose authorized by chapters 61-24.3 or 61-24.6, the commission may take possession of the right of way after making a written offer to purchase and depositing the amount of the offer with the clerk of t…

In the construction of an outlet from Devils Lake, the commission: 1. Shall make a reasonable and diligent effort to acquire the property interests needed by negotiation. The commission is deemed to have made a reasonable and diligent effort if it has contacted or attempted to co…

The state water commission may do all things reasonably necessary to construct an outlet from Devils Lake, including executing an agreement with the federal government in which the state water commission agrees to hold the United States harmless and free from damages, except for …

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 subdivisi…

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, inv…

For land acquired for the Devils Lake project, the state water commission shall make payments in lieu of real estate taxes to the counties in which the property is located in the same manner and according to the same conditions and procedures as provided in chapter 57-02.1 for pa…

Every state officer, department, board, and commission authorized by any law of this state to act upon or to be concerned with any interstate commission involving any interstate compact, or to act upon any foreign commission involving any foreign compact, or with any federal agen…

Every state officer, department, board, and commission authorized by any law of this state to take any action, perform any duties, or make any contract concerning the use or disposition of waters, or water rights, within the state first shall submit to the department of water res…

All persons, when concerned with any agreement, contract, sale, or purchase, or the construction of any works or project which involves the use and disposition of any water or water rights, shall present to the department of water resources all proposals with respect to the use o…

The commission may make plans, investigations, and surveys concerning the use of any and all waters, either within or without this state, for purposes of establishing, maintaining, operating, controlling, and regulating systems of irrigation, municipal, domestic, industrial, recr…

The commission shall have full control over all unappropriated public waters of the state, whether above or under the ground, for which it has filed a declaration of intention pursuant to section 61-02-30, to the extent necessary to fulfill the purposes of this chapter.

In acquiring the rights and administering the terms of this chapter, the commission may initiate a right to waters of this state by executing a declaration in writing of the intention to store, divert, or control the unappropriated waters of a particular body, stream, basin, or s…

If the commission modifies its plans in connection with any proposed project for which the commission filed a declaration of intention to appropriate waters, the commission shall file in the department of water resources a declaration releasing all or part of the waters affected …

Upon completing the construction of works and application to beneficial use of the waters described in the declaration provided in section 61-02-30, the commission shall file in the department of water resources a declaration of completion of the appropriation, reciting the matte…

A certified copy of the record of the commission's declaration of intention to appropriate waters, or of the release of all or part of said waters, or of the completion of appropriation, shall be received as competent evidence in all courts and shall be deemed prima facie proof o…

The right of the commission to the waters within this state acquired as provided in this chapter for the purposes defined in this chapter shall attach at and from their source and while flowing in the streams, traveling to the means of control, as well as when actually confined b…

Wherever natural streams are employed as a means of diversion of water from the place of confinement to the place of use, the commission shall adopt proper methods and means of determining the natural flow of such streams when the amount of such natural flow is insufficient to sa…

All appropriators of the natural flow of natural streams shall maintain headgates and measuring devices at their respective points of diversion for the purpose of enabling the commission or its authorized agents to determine the amount of water being diverted at any time. The com…

Any holder of a water right on a natural stream may agree with the commission that it shall have control of the diversion of waters due under such right. In such an event, the commission, through its officers and agents, may exercise the same authority over the waters due said ap…

For the purpose of obtaining financial aid from the United States, the commission may adjust the plans and operation of any project created under this chapter to conform to the laws and regulations of the federal government and the supervision of any board, bureau, or commission …