Maryland Environment Section 9-705

      A municipal authority may:

            (1)      Construct a system in a municipality;

            (2)      Extend or alter an existing system;

            (3)      Maintain and operate a system constructed, extended, altered, or acquired under this subtitle;

            (4)      Make a contract or an agreement with another municipal authority, or with any sanitary commission, sanitary district, county, State, or federal authority about the construction, alteration, maintenance, or operation of a system;

            (5)      In order to exercise any power set out in this subtitle with regard to any part of any system, acquire by purchase, in fee or as an easement, from any owner, or if the owner objects, by condemnation, any property inside or outside the municipality, including:

                  (i)      Land;

                  (ii)      Structures;

                  (iii)      Buildings;

                  (iv)      Watercourses;

                  (v)      Water rights; and

                  (vi)      Any privately owned system;

            (6)      Do any work necessary to carry out any activity under item (1), (2), or (3) of this section, including:

                  (i)      Preliminary work;

                  (ii)      Setting compensation for and appointing a work force; and

                  (iii)      Entering a highway to work on a system, water main, sewer, drain, or related equipment, if the municipal authority:

                        1.      Has a permit to do the work;

                        2.      Leaves the highway in a condition at least as good as that existing before entry; and

                        3.      Pays all costs for cleanup and repair;

            (7)      Establish street lines and grades, or grant approval to any person to establish street lines and grades, for the proper construction, establishment, or extension of any water, sewerage, or drainage system under the control of the municipal authority; and

            (8)      Withhold water, sewerage, or drainage service from any property that abuts on any street for which a person establishes lines and grades without the approval of the municipal authority.