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2020 Tennessee Code
Title 69 - Waters, Waterways, Drains and Levees
Chapter 6 - Watershed Districts
§ 69-6-118. Corporate Nature of District — Powers
Universal Citation: TN Code § 69-6-118 (2020)
- Each watershed district incorporated under this chapter is a body politic and corporate and has the following powers necessary for carrying out the purposes set forth in this chapter to:
- Adopt a seal;
- Sue and be sued by its corporate name;
- Purchase, hold, sell and convey land and personal property, and execute such contracts as may be deemed necessary or convenient by its board of directors to enable it to properly carry out the purposes for which organized;
- Conserve soil and water and to retard floods and develop the water resources of the district;
- Contract for the construction of proposed works and improvements;
- Employ such professional services and other assistance as are by its board deemed essential;
- Construct any drainage works or improvements; to construct any works or improvements for the control, retention, diversion, or utilization of water; retard runoff of water and soil erosion; construct ditches, channel improvements, dikes, levees, flood prevention reservoirs, water conservation reservoirs, or irrigation reservoirs or facilities, parks, and other recreational facilities, and repair, improve and maintain any of such improvements or structures;
- Acquire personal property by gift or purchase;
- Acquire land, or any interest in land, including leasehold interests, by gift or purchase;
- Issue bonds and incur indebtedness within the prescribed limitations of this chapter;
- Cooperate and contract with persons, firms, associations, partnerships and private corporations, and with other watershed districts, drainage districts, counties, conservation districts, levee districts, counties, cities, quasi-municipalities, utility districts, and other similar corporations or agencies of this state, and with any such districts or agencies organized for similar purposes in any adjoining state, and with other local, state and federal agencies, including, but not limited to, the Tennessee department of agriculture, department of environment and conservation, Tennessee Valley authority, corps of army engineers, the secretary of defense, United States department of agriculture, or any other federal agency, and to enter into cooperative contracts and agreements with any such districts, corporations or agencies;
- Extend district boundaries or merge with adjoining watershed or drainage districts in accordance with the procedure provided in this chapter;
- Select a residence or home office for the watershed district, which shall be at a place designated by the board;
- Exercise all the powers or receive all benefits, or both, relating to watershed districts prescribed in any other act of congress;
- Exercise all the powers conferred upon levee and drainage districts by chapter 5 of this title;
- Receive contributions or grants from counties, cities and towns, or from any state or federal agency, or from any other source;
- Acquire water rights and distribute or sell water for irrigation or for other purposes, either within or without the district;
- Provide recreational facilities;
- Lease district-owned lands for agricultural or other purposes;
- Contract for all materials, supplies, equipment, personnel, and services necessary for the proper administration of the district;
- Expend funds for any purpose set forth in this chapter;
- Take such steps as deemed necessary by its board of directors for the promotion and protection of public health within the boundaries of the district, and enter into agreements with private nonprofit corporations, the department of environment and conservation, or any local public health unit, the state stream pollution board, or any other federal, state or local agency for that purpose;
- Take such steps as deemed necessary for fire prevention, and for this purpose to enter into cooperative agreements with the department of environment and conservation, or any other federal, state or local agency; and
- Make all needful rules, regulations and bylaws for the management and conduct of the affairs of the district and of the board.
- None of the powers enumerated in subsection (a) shall be exhausted by use but shall be continuous and perpetual throughout the life of the district.
- A watershed district may not regulate or impose any permitting requirements on any facility or improvement that is subject to the requirements of title 59; title 68, chapter 201, 202, 211, 212, 213, 215, or 221; or chapter 3 of this title. No permit for any solid waste management facility shall be issued by the commissioner of environment and conservation before eighteen (18) months after April 30, 1993, for any site located within the boundaries of a watershed district whose charter was issued on or before October 5, 1990, where the watershed district is located within a metropolitan government having a population of over one hundred thousand (100,000), until such time as the board of the watershed district approves the location of the solid waste management facility. A watershed district may not limit any acceptable and commonly used agricultural practice as recognized by Tennessee's Land Grant University School of Agriculture.
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