(a) A district which is the owner of an easement for an open canal or other water conveyance facility for the transportation of water across lands not owned by the district, other than an easement evidenced by a written grant or judgment providing a legal description of the easement, has a secondary easement on each side of the open canal or other water conveyance facility for the maintenance, repair, cleaning, operation, and control of the open canal or other water conveyance facility and other use as may reasonably be required by the district in exercising those rights and in the maintenance, repair, cleaning, and operation of that easement and open canal or other water conveyance facility with equipment owned by, or available to, the district for that use at the time the rights are exercised. The duration of the secondary easement shall be for as long as the district, or its successors or assigns, continues to own the open canal or other water conveyance facility easement regardless of what use has or has not been made of the secondary easement.

(b) The owner or any lessee of the land upon which a secondary easement is located may use the surface of the land upon which the secondary easement is located for his or her own purposes to the extent that use does not unreasonably interfere with the district’s ownership or use of the secondary easement or the open canal or other water conveyance facility easement. Any encroachment or obstruction placed or permitted upon the secondary easement by the owner or any lessee of the land, which unreasonably interferes with the secondary easement or the open canal or other water conveyance facility easement, may be removed by the district at the owner’s or lessee’s expense, or by legal action filed by the district.

(c) This section shall not be construed to limit the right of a district or of any person to acquire any easement by prescription or condemnation or to enter into a written agreement concerning an easement or secondary easement upon terms agreed to by the parties.

(Amended by Stats. 1991, Ch. 454, Sec. 2.)