61-32-03.3. Smaller subsurface water management systems - Notification and
418 words·~2 min read·
/nd/title-61/chapter-61-32-drainage/61-32-03-3·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
conditions - Penalty.
1. A person may not install a subsurface water management system comprising less than
eighty acres [32.37 hectares] of land area until the person has notified the board of the
water resource district within which is found a majority of the land area of the system
of the following information:
a. The system's total acreage and legal description of the land being drained;
b. The outlet locations and types; and
c. The flow direction from each outlet location.
2. A person required to notify the board under subsection 1 shall install the subsurface
water management system such that:
a. Pump and control structures at pump outlets are installed no closer than
twenty-five feet [7.62 meters] from the top of the back slope of an assessment
drain;
b. Proper erosion controls are installed and maintained at all outlets; and
c. Pumps and control structures at project outlets are closed or turned off during
critical flood periods.
3. If a subsurface water management system for which notification is required under
subsection 1 will discharge into the watershed area of an assessment drain, the water
resource board that receives the notice may require the relevant property to be
included in the assessment district for the assessment drain in accordance with the
benefits the property receives, provided the property is not assessed already for the
assessment drain. The water resource district also may include the property in the
assessment district and determine the benefits and assessment amounts under
chapters 61-21 and 61-16.1, without conducting the reassessment of benefit
proceedings under sections 61-21-44 and 61-16.1-26, provided the property is not
assessed already for the assessment drain.
4. The board of the water resource district within which the subsurface water
management system is located may order the system's owner or operator to bring the
system into compliance with subsection 2 if the board finds the system violates that
subsection.
5. A person that violates this section is guilty of an infraction.
6. This section applies only to subsurface water management systems that drain, in
whole or in part, platted or unplatted lands used for raising agricultural crops or grazing
farm animals.
7. This section does not apply to a subsurface water management system that
discharges into a body of water completely encompassed by land owned by the
person that owns the land drained by the system.
8. The information that must be provided to a board of a water resource district under this
section is an exempt record under section 44-04-18.