For the purposes of replenishing the groundwater supplies within the district, a district shall have power: (a) To have perpetual succession. (b) To sue and be sued, except as otherwise provided in this division or by law, in all actions and proceedings in all courts and tribunals. (c) To adopt a seal and alter it at pleasure. (d) To take by grant, purchase, gift, devise, or lease, to hold, use and enjoy, and to lease, convey or dispose of, real and personal property of every kind, within or without the district, necessary or convenient to the full exercise of its power. (e) Within or outside of the district to construct, purchase, lease, or otherwise acquire, and to operate and maintain necessary waterworks and other works, machinery and facilities, canals, conduits, waters, water rights, spreading grounds, lands, rights and privileges useful or necessary to replenish the underground water basin within the district, or to augment the common water supplies of the district, including, but not limited to, the exercise of any power under Section 60224. (f) For the common benefit of the district, to store water in underground water basins or reservoirs within or outside of the district, to appropriate and acquire water and water rights within or outside of the district, to import water into the district, and to conserve water within or outside of the district. (g) To carry out the purposes of this division, to commence, maintain, intervene in, defend and compromise, in the name of the district, or otherwise, and to assume the costs and expenses of any and all actions and proceedings now or hereafter begun to determine or adjudicate all or a portion of the rights to divert, extract, or use waters within the district, or within any segments thereof or subbasins therein, as between owners of or claimants to those rights, to prevent any interference with water or water rights used or useful to the lands, inhabitants, owners, operators, or producers within the district, or to prevent the diminution of the quantity or quality of the water supply of the district, or to prevent unlawful exportation of water from the district. (h) To exercise the right of eminent domain to take any property necessary to supply the district or any portion thereof with replenishment water, including, but not limited to, the exercise of any power under Section 60224, except that the right of eminent domain may not be exercised with respect to (1) water and water rights already devoted to beneficial use, and (2) property (other than water and water rights) already appropriated to public use unless the taking be for a more necessary public use than that to which the property is already appropriated; provided that the district in exercising that power shall in addition to the damage for taking, injuring, or destruction of property also pay the cost of removal, reconstruction, or relocation of any structure, including, but not limited to, railways, mains, pipes, conduits, wires, cables, towers, or poles of any public utility which is required to be removed to a new location. No use by a district of property owned, at the time the action to condemn is brought, by an existing agency having powers to provide for the replenishment of groundwater, shall constitute a more necessary public use than the use to which the property is already appropriated. A district shall not exercise the right of eminent domain to acquire property outside the boundaries of the principal county in which the district is situated unless it first obtains the consent thereto of the board of supervisors of the county in which the property is located. (i) To act jointly with or cooperate with the United States or any agency thereof, and cooperate and act jointly with the state, or any county or agency thereof, or any political subdivision or district therein, including flood control districts, public and private corporations, and any person, to the end that the purposes and activities of the dis
‹ Prev All California sections Next ›
Lexace provides legal information, not legal advice, and no attorney–client relationship is created. Statute text is provided for general information and may not reflect the most recent amendments; verify against the official state code.