Montana Code Annotated
Part 19. Operation of Districts
85-7-1904. Acquisition of water and waterworks by board

85-7-1904. Acquisition of water and waterworks by board. (1) The board may:
(a) appropriate water in the name of the district;
(b) acquire, by purchase, lease, or contract:
(i) water and water rights;
(ii) additional water and supplies of water; and
(iii) canals, reservoirs, dams, and other works already constructed or in the course of construction; and
(c) acquire by purchase, lease, contract, condemnation pursuant to Title 70, chapter 30, or other legal means:
(i) land and rights in lands for rights-of-way, for reservoirs, for the storage of waters, and for dam sites and necessary appurtenances; and
(ii) other lands and property that may be necessary for the construction, use, maintenance, repair, improvement, enlargement, and operation of any district or subdistrict system of irrigation works.
(2) The board may contract with the owner or owners of canals, reservoirs, dams, and other works purchased and in the course of construction for the completion of the works.
(3) A purchase, lease, or contract for purchase of any water, water rights, canals, reservoirs, reservoir sites, dam sites, irrigation works, or other property of any nature or kind or for the making or purchasing of surveys, maps, plans, estimates, and specifications or for the purchase of machinery for pumping plants or for the erection of buildings, aqueducts, and other structures necessarily used in connection with the pumping plants, for a price or rental in excess of $150,000 or 25% of the district's annual operation and maintenance budget, whichever is greater, may not be entered into by the district without the written consent or petition of at least a majority in number and acreage of the holders of title or evidence of title to the lands within the district or, if the purchase, lease, or contract substantially benefits a subdistrict in the district, by a majority in number and acreage of the holders of title or evidence of title to lands within the subdistrict. Any splitting or division of a purchase, lease, or contract with the purpose or intention of avoiding or circumventing the provisions of this section renders the divided or split contract or contracts void.
History: En. Sec. 9, Ch. 146, L. 1909; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 145, L. 1915; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 153, L. 1917; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 116, L. 1919; re-en. Sec. 7174, R.C.M. 1921; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 157, L. 1923; re-en. Sec. 7174, R.C.M. 1935; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 111, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 307, L. 1975; R.C.M. 1947, 89-1301(3), (5); amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 326, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 112, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 328, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 165, L. 1987; amd. Sec. 8, Ch. 439, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 106, Ch. 125, L. 2001.

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