(1) In order to protect life and property within the district, and to protect or relieve land subject to overflowing or washing, or which is menaced or threatened by the normal flow or flood or surplus or overflow waters of any natural watercourse, stream, canyon, or wash, whether perennial, intermittent, or flood, and in order to effect the protection of the land and other property in the district, and in order 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 including, but not limited to, trails, greenways, and riverfront development within the boundaries of said 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.