Title 46A, WATER MANAGEMENT

A water development district may assist, sponsor, or construct a water resources project provided: (1) Specific areas shall finance those phases of water resources development that provide general benefits to the people in the areas; (2) Direct beneficiaries shall finance those p…

A water development district board of directors may levy taxes and special assessments, as provided in chapters 46A-3A to 46A-3E , inclusive, to cover obligations contained in contracts with: (1) The federal government; (2) This state; or (3) Any other public or private entity. W…

Pursuant to chapters 46A-3A to 46A-3E , inclusive, a water development district board of directors may levy a tax, a special assessment, or both, against taxable property within the district, to be collected in accordance with chapters 46A-3A to 46A-3E , inclusive. The amount col…

Twenty - five percent of the electors as defined in § 46A-4-2 owning or holding lands in any proposed district for irrigation may propose organization of an irrigation district by filing a petition with the Board of Water and Natural Resources in compliance with the requirements …

In no case may any land be held by any district or taxed for irrigation purposes if the land cannot from any natural cause be irrigated by the district. Source: SDC 1939, § 61.0832; SDCL § 46-12-10; SL 2011, ch 165 , § 334.

The Board of Water and Natural Resources may make changes in the proposed boundaries as it deems proper and shall exclude from the district proposed by the petitioners land that is not susceptible of irrigation by the proposed system of works. The board may not allow land which w…

The Board of Water and Natural Resources shall make an order by resolution dividing the proposed district into three, five, or seven divisions as nearly equal in size as practicable. However, if the proposed irrigation district includes less than fifty electors, the board may est…

In any existing or proposed irrigation district containing Indian tribal or trust lands, the Board of Water and Natural Resources shall establish one division to represent all such tribal and trust lands upon application of any holder of Indian trust land, including an Indian tri…

The Board of Water and Natural Resources shall then give notice of an election for the purpose of determining if the proposed district shall be organized under the provisions of this chapter. The election shall be conducted as provided in §§ 6-16-4 to 6-16-6 , inclusive. Source: …

No person may vote at any election held under the provisions of this chapter unless the person is a qualified elector as provided in § 46A-4-2 . Source: SDC 1939, § 61.0802; SL 1947, ch 417 , § 2; SDCL § 46-12-17; SL 2011, ch 165 , § 336.

Where lands which are within a proposed or existing irrigation district are owned by a corporation, by the United States, or by this state, such corporation, and any department or agency of the United States or of this state, in order to participate in any district election, by a…

If a majority of all the votes cast are "Irrigation District - Yes," the board shall, by resolution, declare the territory duly organized as an irrigation district, under the name and style designated. Upon filing of a true copy of the resolution with the secretary of state, the …

The term, elector, as used in this chapter and chapters 46A-5 to 46A-7 , inclusive, means any person, the United States of America, the State of South Dakota or any political subdivision of the state, or any corporation authorized to do business in the state and owning not less t…

The Board of Water and Natural Resources shall file a copy of the resolution immediately for record in the office of the register of deeds of each county in which any of the land is situated. The board shall also immediately forward a copy of the resolution to the county auditor …

There shall be elected at the same election one director for each division. Source: SDC 1939, § 61.0803; SDCL, § 46-12-21; SL 1978, ch 325 , § 1; SL 1978, ch 326 , § 3; SL 1984, ch 294 , § 20.

If the majority of the lands within the district are unentered public lands, a majority of the board of directors shall be appointed by the secretary of the interior. The directors shall be residents of the state and are subject to removal from office, and any vacancy shall be fi…

If a majority of said board of directors are appointed by the secretary of the interior, as provided for in this chapter, then the remaining directors shall be elected at large within the entire irrigation district for terms of three years each, which terms, however, shall be lim…

At the election to establish the district, if the district is divided into three divisions, the member of the board of directors from division one shall be elected for a term of three years; the member from division two shall be elected for a term of two years; and the member fro…

Each year after establishing the district, there shall be elected for a term of three years one or more members of the board of directors, as the case may be. The member of the board of directors from each division shall be nominated as provided in this chapter and shall be elect…

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter and chapters 46A-5 to 46A-7 , inclusive, the provisions of the general election law concerning the hours during which polls shall be open for voting shall apply to each irrigation district annual election. Source: SDC 1939, § 61…

Each director must be an elector of the division that the director represents; or the director must be an elector of the district, if elected at large. Each director shall reside within the district or within twenty-five miles of the district boundary, as provided by the district…

The results of the election for the organization of the district shall be transmitted to the Board of Water and Natural Resources. Source: SL 1984, ch 294 , § 24; SL 1986, ch 376 , § 3; SL 1998, ch 36 , § 56.

Subsequent to the election for organizing the district and for the first set of directors, the directors shall be nominated by filing with the auditor of the county or counties where the district is located, not less than forty - five days before any annual election, nominating p…

A petition to organize an irrigation district shall be presented to the Board of Water and Natural Resources and signed by twenty - five percent of the electors of the proposed irrigation district. The petition shall include the legal description of all the lands proposed for inc…

Each elector signing a petition shall add to the elector's signature, in the elector's own handwriting, the elector's post office address, the legal description of sufficient land to qualify as an elector, and the date of signing. The petition may contain any number of pages, and…

If there is no question to be submitted to the electors and if only one nominating petition for any vacancy to be filled has been filed, then no election may be held to fill the vacancy; and the secretary shall issue a certificate of election to the nominee in the same manner as …

Before any election held subsequent to the organization of the district, the secretary of the board of directors shall publish notice of the time and place of the election once each week for at least two consecutive weeks prior to the election. The second publication shall be at …

After the election to organize the district and for the first directors, all other elections may be conducted under a system of voting by mail as may be provided in the bylaws of the district. The board of directors of any irrigation district may provide in the bylaws of the dist…

Before the time for posting the notices, the board of directors shall appoint from each precinct participating in the election from the electors of the precinct, one clerk and two judges, who shall constitute a board of election for the precinct, in any election not conducted und…

One of the judges shall be chair of the election board and may administer all oaths required in the progress of an election. The chair may appoint judges and clerks, if during the progress of the election any judge or clerk ceases to act. Any member of the board of election, or a…

Before opening the polls each member of the election board must take and subscribe an oath faithfully to perform the duties imposed by law. Any elector of the precinct may administer and certify such oath. Source: SDC 1939, § 61.0806; SDCL, § 46-12-33.

The board of directors shall meet at its usual place of meeting on the first Monday after each election and canvass the return. If at the time of meeting the returns from each precinct in the district in which the polls were opened have been received, the board of directors shall…

The board of directors shall declare the person having the highest number of votes cast for each vacancy elected. The secretary shall immediately make out and deliver to that person a certificate of election, signed by the secretary and authenticated with the seal of the district…

The secretary of the board of directors shall, as soon as the result is declared, enter upon the records of the board and file in the office of the auditor of each county in which the district is located a statement of the results. The statement shall show: (1) The whole number o…

In case of a vacancy in the office of a member of the board of directors, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by a majority of the remaining members of the board. Any director so appointed shall hold office until the next general election of the division and until the dire…

When a petition is filed with the Board of Water and Natural Resources, it shall be accompanied by a map of the proposed district. The map shall show at an appropriate scale the location of the proposed canal or the works intended to irrigate the lands of the proposed district an…

After a petition is filed with the Board of Water and Natural Resources, the board shall publish a notice of a hearing to consider the petition. The publication shall be once a week for two consecutive weeks in at least one official newspaper in each county where any portion of t…

The directors elected in compliance with § 46A-4-21 may enter immediately into the duties of their respective offices upon qualifying as provided in §§ 46A-4-41 to 46A-4-43 , inclusive, and shall hold their respective offices until the next general election for the irrigation dis…

Before assuming the duties of their offices, all directors and officers shall take and subscribe the official oath. The district treasurer shall execute an official bond, approved by the board of directors, in the sum of not less than one thousand dollars plus such additional amo…

If any district organized under this chapter is appointed fiscal agent of the United States or is authorized by the United States to make collections of money for and on behalf of the United States in connection with any federal reclamation project, the treasurer and each directo…

All official bonds for which no specific provision is made shall be in the form prescribed by law for official bonds of county officers, except the obligee named in such bond shall be the district, and where approved surety company bonds are furnished, the cost of such bonds may …

On the regular November meeting in each year the directors shall meet and organize as a board for the ensuing year, elect a president and vice - president from their number and appoint a secretary who need not be a member of the board. Source: SDC 1939, § 61.0809; SDCL, § 46-12-4…

The board of directors shall hold regular meetings in its office each month on a day specified in the bylaws of the district at such time as the president shall designate and shall hold such special meetings as may be required for proper transaction of business. All special meeti…

All records of the board of directors shall be open to the inspection of any elector during business hours, and the board shall cause to be published at the close of each regular or special meeting a brief statement of the proceedings of the board in one newspaper of general circ…

For the time actually and necessarily employed in the duties of their office and in attending and returning from the sessions of the board of directors, the district directors may receive travel and subsistence expense at the rates set pursuant to chapter 3-9 . In addition, per d…

The board of directors shall manage and conduct the business affairs of the district, make and execute all necessary contracts, employ such agents, officers, and employees as may be required and prescribe their duties, adopt a seal for such district, establish equitable bylaws an…