The directors having duly qualified, shall organize as a board, elect a president from their number, appoint a secretary, who may be or may not be a member of the board. The board shall have the power and it shall be their duty to adopt a seal, manage and conduct the affairs of the district, make and execute all necessary contracts, employ such agents, attorneys, officers and employees as may be required and prescribe their duties, establish equitable rules and regulations for the purchasing and use of water, power or fuel among the owners of land in said district and generally perform all such acts as shall be necessary to fully carry out the purposes of this act [73-12-1 to 73-12-57 NMSA 1978]; which regulations, among other things, shall provide that no person shall be entitled or shall be permitted to use power or fuel furnished by the district for pumping of water while the taxes or tolls or service charges due thereon or from the owner thereof for district purposes levied or imposed under the provisions are in arrears for more than six months.

As soon as practicable, after the board shall have organized, it shall employ a competent hydraulic engineer to determine and report upon the water supply available for pumping in the district, which report shall be a full and complete geological report from all available data relating to such water supply. The report accompanied by an examination fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) shall be submitted to the state engineer for his examination, and, if he shall find such report to be satisfactory and that there will be water sufficient to properly irrigate the lands within such district, he shall so certify under his hand and official seal. If the report submitted is found to be insufficient or incorrect, the state engineer shall return the same for correction to the directors of the district with the statement of his objections. If such report is not corrected so as to meet with the approval of the state engineer or if from such report and other available information the engineer is of the opinion that there is not sufficient water to properly irrigate the lands included within said district by pumping at a cost that will make such pumping practicable, he shall disapprove such report.

The board of directors shall have the right to appeal from the decision of the state engineer to the district court of the district in which such irrigation district is located where the sufficiency and accuracy of the report and available water supply and whether water for irrigation purposes can be pumped at a reasonable cost shall be determined. Until the report is approved by the state engineer or the courts no bond issue shall be made, as provided for in Section 15 [73-12-15 NMSA 1978] of this act. A copy of such report shall be kept on file in the office of the state engineer and in the office of the board of directors of such district and shall be available for examination by any person desiring to do so.

The board of directors shall also, at the same time, fully investigate the manner by which power can be brought into or generated within or without the district so as to be efficiently distributed to the landowners for irrigation purposes and for such purpose shall employ a competent engineer, who shall report to said board, making recommendations as to the character of power to be used, the cost of securing such power whether by purchase of power or power plant or by construction of a plant with transmission lines or otherwise, and shall furnish an estimate of the cost of such power to the owners of such lands per acre-foot of water pumped. Such report accompanied by an examination fee of twenty-five ($25.00) dollars shall be submitted to the state engineer for his examination, and, if he shall find such report to be a full and complete report of the cost to the landowners of irrigation of his lands by the plan devised by said engineer and that it appears to be practicable to use such power for irrigation with the available water supply of the district, said state engineer shall approve such report and so certify under his hand and official seal. If such report submitted is found to be insufficient or incorrect, the state engineer shall return the same for correcting to the board of directors of the district with a statement of his objections. If such report is not corrected so as to meet with the approval of the state engineer or if from such report and other available information the engineer is of the opinion that the manner of securing power for irrigation purposes is too expensive to be practicable or is otherwise impracticable he shall disapprove said report.

The board of directors shall have the right to appeal from the decision of the state engineer to the district court of the district in which such irrigation district is located where the sufficiency and accuracy of the report and where the practicability of the manner of securing water, power or fuel shall be determined. Until the report is approved by the state engineer or the courts, no bond issue shall be made, as provided for in Section 15 [73-12-15 NMSA 1978] of this act. A copy of such report shall be kept on file in the office of the state engineer and the office of the board of directors of the said irrigation district and shall be available for examination by any person desiring to do so.

Said board shall have the power (in addition to the means to supply water to said district) to construct, acquire or purchase any and all canals, ditches, reservoirs, reservoir sites, water, water wells, water rights, rights-of-way, motors, engines, power plants, power transmission lines, gas and oil lines or other property necessary for the use of the district and to contract with any person or corporation for supplying water or for power or fuel to be used in pumping water for any or all of the lands and purposes in said district; and may lease its plant or transmission lines under a contract with any person or corporation for operation purposes, for the supplying to such district power for pumping and other purposes; and also to construct drainage works necessary to prevent or relieve waterlog or [of] any lands within the district. In case of the purchase of any property or the payment of any debt by said district, the bonds of the district, hereinafter provided for, may be used at their par value in payment without previous offer of such bonds for sale. But no contract involving any consideration exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000) and no contract for the purchase, rental or delivery or [of] water or power or fuel involving annual charges or payments exceeding fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) shall be binding unless such contracts shall be authorized and ratified in writing by not less than a majority of the qualified electors of said district according to the number of votes cast at the last preceding election; nor shall any contract involving payment in excess of twenty-five thousand ($25,000) dollars in one year be binding until such contract shall have been authorized and ratified by a majority of the votes at an election held in the manner provided for the issue of bonds.

The rules and regulations established by said board shall be printed in convenient form as soon as the same are adopted, for distribution in the district. All power distributed shall be at a uniform rate per killowatt [kilowatt] hour. The board of directors shall have power to supply and deliver power or fuel within or without said district to others than owners of land within the district at such price and on such terms as they deem best, provided the price received for power or fuel shall be not less than the price charged to the owners of land within the district plus a price or charge which will make the total price not less than the total cost to the owners of land within the district. Provided no power or fuel shall be supplied to any other than a landowner in said district unless there shall be available a surplus of power over and above that needed for the use of landowners within the irrigation district for pumping for irrigation purposes and for domestic uses.

History: Laws 1929, ch. 76, § 12; C.S. 1929, § 73-712; Laws 1931, ch. 133, § 1; 1941 Comp., § 77-2412; 1953 Comp., § 75-25-12.

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law.

Cross references. — For authorization of bondholders to appoint director, see 73-13-7 NMSA 1978.

For appeal to district court, see 39-3-1 and 39-3-2 NMSA 1978.

For the qualifications and duties of the state engineer, see 72-2-1 NMSA 1978.

For procedures governing administrative appeals to the district court, see Rule 1-074 NMRA.

For scope of review of the district court, see Zamora v. Village of Ruidoso Downs, 120 N.M. 778, 907 P.2d 182 (1995).

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 45 Am. Jur. 2d Irrigation §§ 61, 62.

Liability of water distributor for damage caused by water escaping from main, 20 A.L.R.3d 1294.

94 C.J.S. Waters §§ 320, 321.