A watershed district created under the provisions of this chapter, to the extent necessary for lawful purposes as provided in this chapter, may:

1. (1) Sue and be sued;
2. (2) Incur debts, liabilities, and obligations;
3. (3) Exercise the power of eminent domain only if it is necessary to carry out an approved plan;
4. (4) Levy a tax not to exceed one dollar per thousand dollars of taxable valuation against the landowners' land and buildings as provided in this chapter;
5. (5) Provide for other taxes and assessments;
6. (6) Borrow money and issue certificates, warrants, and bonds;
7. (7) Make surveys or use other reliable surveys and data and develop projects to accomplish the purposes for which the district is organized;
8. (8) Cooperate or contract with any individual, person, state, state agency, political subdivision of a state, federal agency, or private or public corporation;
9. (9) 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 district, in cooperation with other agencies having prior jurisdiction;
10. (10) Acquire, lease, operate, construct, and maintain dams, dikes, reservoirs, and pertinent works;
11. (11) Acquire by gift, lease, purchase, or eminent domain necessary real and personal property;
12. (12) Contract for purchase of insurance for protection of the district as necessary;
13. (13) Establish and maintain devices for acquiring and recording hydrological data;
14. (14) Enter into all contracts of construction authorized by this chapter; and
15. (15) Perform all acts expressly authorized in this chapter and all other acts necessary and proper for carrying out and exercising the powers expressly vested in the district.

Source: SL 1957, ch 492 , § 13; SL 1959, ch 452 , § 11; SDC Supp 1960, § 61.1513 (1); SDCL § 46-24-34; SL 1988, ch 367 , § 3; SL 2013, ch 228 , § 26.