North Carolina § 156-54 - Jurisdiction to establish districts.

§ 156-54. Jurisdiction to establish districts.

The clerk of the superior court of any county in the State of North Carolina shall have jurisdiction, power and authority to establish levee or drainage districts either wholly or partly located in his county, and which shall constitute a political subdivision of the State, and to locate and establish levees, drains or canals, and cause to be constructed, straightened, widened or deepened, any ditch, drain or watercourse, and to build levees or embankments and erect tidal gates and pumping plants for the purpose of draining and reclaiming wet, swamp or overflowed land; and it is hereby declared that the drainage of swamplands and the drainage of surface water from agricultural lands and the reclamation of tidal marshes shall be considered a public use and benefit and conducive to the public health, convenience and welfare, and that the districts heretofore and hereafter created under the law shall be and constitute political subdivisions of the State, with authority to provide by law to levy taxes and assessments for the construction and maintenance of said public works. History (1909, c. 442, s. 1; C.S., s. 5312; 1921, c. 7.) Cross References. - As to construction of drainage law, see G.S. 156-135. As to application to the State Soil and Water Conservation Commission for grants for nonfederal costs relating to certain small watershed projects authorized under federal law, see G.S. 139-53 et seq. Editor's Note. - For act relating to Scuppernong Drainage District in Washington County, see Session Laws 1947, c. 934. Legal Periodicals. - For note on disposition of diffused surface waters in North Carolina, see 47 N.C.L. Rev. 205 (1968).