2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 37 - WATER AND IRRIGATION (§§ 37-1-101 — 37-99-103) › CONSERVANCY LAW OF COLORADO - FLOOD CONTROL (§§ 37-1-101 — 37-8-101) › Article 3 - BOARD OF DIRECTORS - POWERS AND DUTIES (§§ 37-3-101 — 37-3-117) › Section 37-3-103 - General powers

(1)
To protect life and property within the district; and to protect or relieve land subject to overflowing or washing, or that is menaced or threatened by the normal flow, flood, surplus, or overflow of waters of any natural watercourse, stream, canyon, or wash, whether perennial, intermittent, or flood; and to effect the protection of the land and other property in the district; and to accomplish all other purposes of the district, the board of directors is authorized:
(a)
To clean out, straighten, widen, alter, deepen, or change the course or terminus of any ditch, drain, sewer, river, watercourse, pond, lake, creek, or natural stream in or out of said district;
(b)
To fill up any abandoned or altered ditch, drain, sewer, river, watercourse, pond, lake, creek, or natural stream and to concentrate, divert, or divide the flow of water in or out of said district;
(c)
To construct and maintain main and lateral ditches, sewers, canals, levees, dikes, dams, sluices, revetments, reservoirs or retarding basins, floodways, pumping stations and syphons, and any other works and improvements deemed necessary to construct, preserve, operate, or maintain the works in or out of said district;
(d)
To construct, reconstruct, or enlarge or cause to be constructed, reconstructed, or enlarged any bridges that may be needed in or out of said district;
(e)
To construct, reconstruct, or elevate roadways and streets;
(f)
To construct or reconstruct any works and improvements along, across, through, or over any public highway, canal, railroad right-of-way, track, grade, fill, or cut, in or out of said district;
(g)
To remove or change the location of any fence, building, railroad, canal, or other improvements in or out of said district;
(h)
To acquire by donation, purchase, or condemnation, to construct, own, lease, use, and sell, and to hold, encumber, control, and maintain any easement, water right, railroad right-of-way, canal, sluice, reservoir or retarding basin, mill dam, water power, work, franchise, park, cemetery, or other public way or place, or any real or personal property, public or private, in or out of said district, for rights-of-way or retarding basins, or for materials of construction, or for any other use not inconsistent with the purposes of articles
1
to
8
of this title;
(i)
To replot or subdivide land, open new roads, parks, streets, and alleys, or change the location of existing ones;
(j)
To cause the dissolution of the district pursuant to article
3.5
of this title;
(k)
To participate in the development of parks and recreational facilities within the boundaries of the district, including the development of trails, greenways, and riverfronts, and to consider such participation a current expense of the district; and
(l)
To participate in artistic and beautification projects that improve the aesthetic appearance of waterways within the boundaries of the district and to consider such participation a current expense of the district.
(2)
Nothing in articles
1
to
8
of this title shall be construed to grant to any conservancy district organized under said articles the power to regulate or administer water rights or to take or damage such water rights, except upon payment of compensation.
Amended by 2020 Ch. 11,§ 1, eff. 9/14/2020.
L. 22: p. 25, § 15. C.L. § 9529. CSA: C. 138, § 140. CRS 53: § 30-3-8. L. 57: p. 298, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 29-3-8. L. 81: (1)(j) added, p. 1746, § 1, effective May 28. L. 94: (1)(k) added, p. 577, § 2, effective April 7. L. 2020: IP(1) and (1)(k) amended and (1)(l) added, (SB 20-025), ch. 46, p. 46, § 1, effective September 14.