2006 Minnesota Statutes

103D.335 DISTRICT AND MANAGERS' POWERS.
    Subdivision 1. General powers of watershed district. A watershed district has the power,
to the extent necessary for lawful conservation purposes:
(1) to sue and be sued;
(2) to incur debts, liabilities, and obligations;
(3) to exercise the power of eminent domain;
(4) to provide for assessments and to issue certificates, warrants, and bonds; and
(5) to perform all acts expressly authorized, and all other acts necessary and proper for the
watershed district to carry out and exercise the powers expressly vested in it.
    Subd. 2. Joint powers. Section 471.59 relating to joint power authority applies to watershed
districts organized under this chapter.
    Subd. 3. Acquisition and disposition of property from state and federal agencies. Section
471.64 relating to acquisition and disposition of property from the United States and state
agencies applies to watershed districts organized under this chapter.
    Subd. 4. General managers' powers. (a) The managers may use the powers in subdivisions
5 to 23 to implement this chapter.
(b) The exercise of the managers' powers is subject to review by the board as provided
in this chapter.
    Subd. 5. Data acquisition. The managers may:
(1) make necessary surveys or use other reliable surveys and data and develop projects
and programs to acquire data to accomplish the purposes for which the watershed district is
organized; and
(2) establish and maintain devices for acquiring and recording hydrological and water
quality data.
    Subd. 6. Projects not requiring a petition. The managers may initiate, undertake, and
implement projects not required to be instituted by a petition under section 103D.701.
    Subd. 7. Cooperate with other entities. The managers may cooperate or contract with
any state or subdivision of a state or federal agency, private corporation, political subdivision,
or cooperative association.
    Subd. 8. Ditch and watercourse work. The managers may construct, clean, repair, alter,
abandon, consolidate, reclaim, or change the course or terminus of any public ditch, drain, sewer,
river, watercourse, natural or artificial, within the watershed district.
    Subd. 9. Water control works. The managers may acquire, operate, construct, and maintain
dams, dikes, reservoirs, water supply systems, and appurtenant works.
    Subd. 10. Water use and conservation. The managers may regulate, conserve, and control
the use of water within the watershed district.
    Subd. 11. Acquisition of property. The managers may acquire by gift, purchase, taking
under the procedures of this chapter, or by the power of eminent domain, necessary real and
personal property. The watershed district may acquire property outside the watershed district
where necessary for a water supply system.
    Subd. 12. Acquisition of insurance. The managers may contract for or purchase insurance
the managers find necessary for the protection of the watershed district.
    Subd. 13. Construction or implementation contracts. The managers may enter into
contracts of construction or implementation authorized by this chapter.
    Subd. 14. Entry on lands. The managers may enter lands inside or outside the watershed
district to make surveys and investigations to accomplish the purposes of the watershed district.
The watershed district is liable for actual damages resulting from entry.
    Subd. 15. Take over drainage system. The managers may take over when directed by a
drainage authority all joint county or county drainage systems within the watershed district,
together with the right to repair, maintain, and improve them.
    Subd. 16. Sanitation and pollution prevention. The managers may provide for sanitation
and public health and regulate the use of streams, ditches, or watercourses to dispose of waste
and prevent pollution.
    Subd. 17. Borrowing funds. The managers may borrow funds from an agency of the federal
government, a state agency, a county where the watershed district is located in whole or in part, or
a financial institution authorized under chapter 47 to do business in this state. A county board
may lend the amount requested by a watershed district. A watershed district may not have more
than a total of $200,000 in loans from counties and financial institutions under this subdivision
outstanding at any time.
    Subd. 18. Floodplain maps. The managers may prepare a floodplain map of the lands of the
watershed district that are in the floodplain of lakes and watercourses. The map must be made
available to the counties and local municipalities for inclusion in floodplain ordinances. It must
conform to rules of the commissioner setting standards for designation of floodplain areas.
    Subd. 19. Open space and greenbelts. The managers may prepare an open space and
greenbelt map of the lands of the watershed district that should be preserved and included in the
open space and greenbelt land areas of the watershed district. The map must be made available to
the counties and local municipalities for inclusion in floodplain and shoreland ordinances. The
managers may control the use and development of land in the floodplain and the greenbelt and
open space areas of the watershed district. The managers may adopt, amend, or repeal rules to
control encroachments, the changing of land contours, the placement of fill and structures, and
the placement of encumbrances or obstructions, and may require a landowner to remove fill,
structures, encumbrances, or other obstructions and restore the previously existing land contours
and vegetation. The managers may by rule provide a procedure for the watershed district to do the
work required and assess its cost against the affected property as a special assessment. The rules
apply only in the absence of county or municipal ordinances regulating the items set forth in this
subdivision. The rules must be adopted in accordance with section 103D.341. Except as provided
in section 103D.345, subdivision 3, rules adopted under this subdivision apply to the state.
    Subd. 20. State association membership. The managers may appropriate necessary funds to
provide for membership in a state association of watershed districts whose purpose is to improve
watershed governmental operations.
    Subd. 21. Contracts. The managers may make contracts or other arrangements with the
federal government, persons, railroads or other corporations, political subdivisions, and the state
or other states, with drainage authorities, flood control, soil conservation, or other improvement
districts in this state or other states, for cooperation or assistance in constructing, maintaining,
and operating the projects of the watershed district, or for the control of its waters, or for making
surveys and investigations or reports on them.
    Subd. 22. Projects in other states. The managers may purchase, lease, or acquire land or
other property in adjoining states to secure outlets, to construct and maintain dikes or dams or
other structures for the purposes of this chapter.
    Subd. 23. Metropolitan watershed districts. (a) A watershed district located wholly within
the metropolitan area has the duties and powers in section 103B.211.
(b) Notwithstanding any contrary provision of this section, a watershed district located
entirely within the metropolitan area may regulate the use and development of land only under the
conditions specified in section 103B.211, subdivision 1.
    Subd. 24. Exemption from political subdivision permit fees. A watershed district is
exempt from fees charged by political subdivisions for permits required for activities conducted
under subdivisions 8 to 10.
    Subd. 25. Water resource management activities. The managers may conduct studies
and monitoring of water resources within the watershed district and implement water resource
management programs.
History: 1990 c 391 art 4 s 25; 1992 c 466 s 3; 1995 c 199 s 16-20; 1995 c 220 s 92;
2006 c 214 s 20