Title 49, Waters, Water Resources and Drainage

Any person owning lands within the drainage or levee district which he thinks will not be benefited by the improvement and should not be included in the district may appeal from the decision of the clerk to the court of common pleas of such county, in term time or at chambers, by…

This chapter shall not repeal or change any local drainage laws enacted by the General Assembly.

The clerk of the court of common pleas shall provide a suitable book to be known as the "Drainage Record" in which he shall transcribe every petition, motion, order, report, judgment or finding of the board in every drainage transaction that may come before it in such a manner as…

After the district is established the clerk of court shall refer the report of the engineer and viewers back to them to make a complete survey and complete plans and specifications for the drains or levees or other improvements and shall fix a time when the engineer and viewers s…

The engineer and viewers may employ such assistants as may be necessary to make a complete survey of the drainage district and shall enter upon the ground and make a survey of the main drain or drains and all its laterals. The line of each ditch, drain or levee shall be plainly a…

The engineer and viewers shall assess the damage claimed by anyone that is justly right and due to him for land taken or for inconvenience imposed because of the construction of the improvement or for any other legal damage sustained. Such damage shall be considered separate and …

The engineer and viewers shall personally examine the land in the district and classify it with reference to the benefit it will receive from the construction of the levee, ditch, drain or watercourse or other improvement. In the case of drainage the degree of wetness of the land…

The scale of assessment upon the several classes of land returned by the engineer and viewers shall be in the ratio of five, four, three, two and one; that is to say, as often as five mills per acre is assessed against the land in "Class A," four mills per acre shall be assessed …

Whenever the engineer and the viewers in charge shall make a survey for the purpose of locating a public levee or drainage ditch or changing a natural watercourse and the levee, ditch or watercourse would cross the right of way of any railroad company, the viewers in charge of th…

When the time shall arrive, fixed for such conference, unless for good cause more time is agreed upon, the viewers in charge and the railroad company shall agree, if possible, upon the place where and the manner and method by which such improvement shall cross such right of way. …

The engineer and viewers shall keep an accurate account and report to the clerk of the court the name of each person employed on the survey, the number of days he was employed, the kind of work he was doing, any expense that may have been incurred in going to and from the work an…

In case the work is delayed by high water, sickness or any other good cause and the report is not completed at the time fixed by the clerk of the court the engineer and viewers shall appear before the clerk of the court and state in writing the cause of such failure and ask for s…

When the final report is completed and filed it shall be examined by the clerk of the court and if it is found to be in due form and in accordance with the law it shall be accepted and if not in due form it may be referred back to the engineer and viewers, with instruction to sec…

When the report is fully completed and accepted by the clerk, a date, not less than twenty days thereafter, shall be fixed by the clerk for the final hearing upon the report and notice thereof shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county and b…

The clerk of the court of common pleas shall likewise have notice served upon any railroad company the right of way of which is crossed by the proposed public levee, drainage ditch or changed natural watercourse of the time and place of the meeting to hear and determine the final…

If it shall appear at the time the final report is completed, filed and examined by the clerk, as aforesaid, that certain landowners whose lands are included in the proposed drainage or levee district have not been made parties to the proceedings a summons as provided in SECTION …

At the date set for hearing any landowner may appear in person or by counsel and file his objection in writing to the report of the viewers. The clerk of the court shall carefully review the report of the viewers and the objections filed thereto and make such changes as are neces…

Any party aggrieved may, within ten days after the confirmation of the viewers' report, appeal to the court of common pleas in term time. Such appeal shall be taken and prosecuted as provided for appeals from a magistrate's court to the court of common pleas.

After any such drainage district shall have been declared established, as aforesaid, and the survey and plan thereof approved, the clerk of the court shall appoint three persons who shall be designated as the board of drainage commissioners. Such drainage commissioners shall firs…

Such three drainage commissioners, when so appointed, shall be immediately created a body corporate under the name and style of "The Board of Drainage Commissioners of ___ District," with the right to hold and convey property and to sue and be sued, and shall possess such other p…

The commissioners shall organize by electing from among their number a chairman and a vice-chairman. They shall also elect a secretary, either within or without their body. The treasurer of the county in which the proceedings were instituted shall be ex officio treasurer of such …

The board of drainage commissioners shall appoint a competent person as superintendent of construction. Such person shall furnish a bond, to be approved by the commissioners, in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned upon the honest and faithful performance of his dut…

Any engineer, viewer, superintendent of construction or other person appointed under this chapter may be removed by the clerk of the court, upon petition, for corruption, neglect of duty or other good and satisfactory cause shown.

The drainage commissioners shall receive as compensation for their work a per diem for the days that they work.

Inasmuch as under the provisions of this chapter much additional work is thrown on the county officials, they may collect from the board of drainage commissioners such reasonable fees as are usual in such cases, such fees to be included in the general costs of the work.

Any engineer employed under the provisions of this chapter shall receive such compensation per diem for his services as shall be fixed and determined by the clerk of the court and the viewers, other than the engineer. The viewers shall also receive a per diem. The rodmen, axmen, …

This chapter is declared to be remedial in character and purpose and shall be liberally construed in carrying out this legislative intent and purpose.

Drainage districts created by authority of this chapter may be used as the agencies within this State for insuring watershed conservation within the districts. In addition to the general powers of the board of supervisors of the drainage district, as set out in SECTION 49-19-1440…

The board of commissioners shall report to the board of supervisors the number of days each have been employed and the actual expenses incurred. Each commissioner shall be paid a per diem for his services and necessary expenses in addition thereto.

In case the report of the commissioners shall contain assessments of benefits and damages to lands not included in the original petition as signed and filed the board of supervisors shall file in the office of the clerk a petition praying that the court grant permission for the e…

Upon the filing of the report of the commissioners the clerk of the court of common pleas shall give notice thereof by causing publication to be made once a week for two consecutive weeks in some newspaper published in each county in which there are lands covered by the report, t…

It shall not be necessary for the clerk to name the parties interested but it shall be sufficient to say: Notice of Filing Commissioners' Report For __________ Drainage District. Notice is hereby given to all persons interested in the following described real estate in __________…

The board of drainage commissioners, the drainage district or any owner of land or other property to be affected and covered by the report may file exceptions to any part or all of the report of the commissioners on or before the date specified therefor in the notice published pu…

If, after determining the objections made to the commissioners' report, the court shall find that the estimated costs of works and improvements as reported by the board of commissioners or as amended by the court exceed the estimated benefits, the court shall then render its decr…

If no exceptions are filed or if it is shown upon the hearing of all of the exceptions that the estimated cost of construction of improvements contemplated in the Plan of Reclamation is less than the benefits assessed against the lands in the district the court shall approve and …

Any property owner may accept the assessments of damages in his favor made by the commissioners or acquiesce in their failure to assess damages in his favor and shall be construed to have done so unless he gives the supervisors of the district on or before the time shall have exp…

Any person or party aggrieved may appeal the final judgment of the circuit court in the manner provided by the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules.

The clerk of the court of common pleas shall transmit a certified copy of the court decree and a copy of the commissioners' report, as confirmed or amended by the court, to the secretary of the board of supervisors of the district. The clerk shall also transmit a certified copy o…

Drainage districts providing for the storage, conservation, utilization and disposal of water by authority of SECTION 49-19-100 may cooperate and enter into agreements with, and receive financial and other assistance from State agencies and political subdivisions of the State, in…

The board of supervisors of any drainage district organized under the provisions of this chapter may, as soon as they have organized as provided under SECTION 49-19-580 or at any time before the adoption of the Plan of Reclamation, levy a uniform assessment, hereinafter called a …

Such tax shall be due and payable as soon as assessed and become delinquent ninety days after the filing of the certificate of such assessment with the county treasurer. It shall become a lien upon the land against which it is assessed from the date of assessment and shall be col…

In case the sum received for such assessment exceeds the total cost of items for which it has been levied the surplus shall be placed in the general fund of the district and used to pay costs of construction. But if the incorporation of the district be dissolved, as provided else…

The board of supervisors may issue to any person performing work or services or furnishing anything of value in the organization of the district negotiable evidences of debt, bearing interest at not exceeding six per cent.

If it shall appear necessary to obtain funds to pay any expense incurred or to be incurred in organizing the district before a sufficient sum can be obtained by the collection of such uniform tax the board of supervisors may borrow a sufficient amount of money to meet emergencies…

If no assessment for such preliminary expense is made such preliminary expense shall be included in the total cost of the works and improvements of the district.

If it be determined that such uniform tax has been paid upon an excess of acreage, as found by the survey constituting a part of the Plan of Reclamation, the amount so paid upon such excess shall be refunded to the person paying it. And if it be determined by such survey that any…