Title 61, Waters

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 …

The authority of the commission conferred by the provisions of this chapter shall extend and be applied to any right to the natural flow of the waters of this state which it may acquire by condemnation, purchase, exchange, appropriation, or agreement.

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.

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 asser…

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 t…

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 aut…

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 w…

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…

The bonds which may be issued by the commission shall mature at such time or times, either serially or at one time, in not more than forty years from their date, or dates, as may be fixed by the resolution of the commission, but may be made callable before maturity, if so stated …

The commission shall determine the rate of interest bonds issued under this chapter shall bear, the time or times of payment of such interest, the form of the bonds, and the manner of executing the bonds, and shall fix the denomination or denominations of the bonds and the place …

In case any of the officers whose signatures appear on the bonds or coupons provided for in this chapter shall cease to be such officers before the delivery of such bonds, such signatures nevertheless shall be valid and sufficient for all purposes, the same as if such officers ha…

The bonds provided for in this chapter may be secured by works or lands, and the income derived therefrom, and other funds as the commission may pledge, and the funds received from the sale or disposal of water and from the operation, lease, sale, or other disposition of the work…

Provision may be made by the commission for the registration of any of the bonds as provided by chapter 21-03.1.

The bonds authorized under this chapter may be issued and sold from time to time and in amounts determined by the commission. The commission may, subject to the provisions of section 61-02-48, provide for the sale of the bonds in such manner and for such price as it may determine…

Each resolution providing for the issuance of bonds provided for in this chapter shall set forth the purpose or purposes for which the bonds are to be issued, the provisions for the payment of the bonds, and the revenues or other funds pledged to secure the payment of the bonds.

Prior to the preparation of definitive bonds, the commission may issue or provide for the issuance of temporary bonds, exchangeable for definitive bonds when the definitive bonds have been executed and are available for delivery. Temporary bonds may be issued without any other pr…

Whenever the commission shall find it necessary to insure or guarantee the payment of all or a part of the principal or interest of any series of bonds, it may enter into an agreement to place under trust indenture or agree to deposit in a trust fund moneys now or hereafter appro…

Moneys appropriated to enable the commission to guarantee the payment of the interest or principal of its bonds shall be available to the commission as a continuing revolving fund, and moneys so appropriated, and any unexpended balances thereof, including interest on the moneys a…

All moneys received from bonds of any series issued pursuant to this chapter shall be used solely for the purpose of paying the cost of the works or projects for the construction of which the bonds have been issued, or for the purpose of paying costs of issuance, interest during …

In the discretion of the commission, any series of bonds may be secured by a trust indenture by and between the commission and a corporate trustee, which may be any trust company or bank having the powers of a trust company within or outside of the state.

Each trust indenture, or an executed counterpart thereof, shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state. The filing of a trust indenture, or an executed counterpart thereof, in the office of the recorder of the county in which the property covered by said trust indenture…

Either the resolution providing for the issuance of bonds or the trust indenture may contain such provisions for protecting and enforcing the rights and remedies of the bondholders as may be reasonable and proper. No enumeration of particular powers granted may be construed to im…

In connection with the issuance of any bonds for the purpose of paying in whole or in part, or as supplemented by a grant from the United States or any instrumentality or agency thereof, the cost of any works or project, or in order to secure the payment of the bonds, the commiss…

Any purchaser at any sale of any works or project pursuant to a judgment or decree in an action to foreclose a trust indenture conveying in trust or mortgaging any works or project financed with bonds issued by the commission as authorized by this chapter shall obtain title to th…

The commission shall have a fund to be known as the "contract fund". The moneys in the contract fund shall be deposited in the state treasury. The contract fund shall have such accounts as the commission may determine. The use or disposition of such accounts, including the pledgi…

Unless otherwise provided under the terms of a bond resolution or trust indenture adopted by the commission pursuant to this chapter, all contractual obligations of the commission, excepting salaries and expenses of commission employees and the cost of any office supplies, materi…

Notwithstanding section 61-02-64.1, any repayment made after January 1, 1991, of any loans disbursed from the contract fund or resources trust fund and any moneys paid to the state or the commission after January 1, 1991, to reimburse the commission for moneys, other than bond pr…

The commission shall have a complete system of accounting to show the total expenditure of and investment in each project and the total revenue derived therefrom and shall prepare periodic reports giving the financial statement of each project and the status of all projects toget…

Bonds issued under this chapter are payable solely from: 1. Revenues to be received by the commission from the operation of a works financed with the bonds. 2. Any other revenues available to the commission.