§ 9b

The board of trustees of any conservancy district shall in addition to the other powers and duties by this Act conferred and imposed have the following powers and duties: (a) In order to effect the protection, reclamation or irrigation of the land and other property in the district, and to accomplish all other purposes of the district, the board of trustees is authorized and empowered to clean out, straighten, widen, alter, deepen or change the course or terminus of any ditch, drain, sewer, river, water course, pond, lake, creek or natural stream in or out of the district; to fill up any abandoned or altered ditch, drain, sewer, river, water course, pond, lake, creek or natural stream, and to concentrate, divert or divide the flow of water in or out of the district; to construct and maintain main and lateral ditches, sewers, canals, levees, dikes, dams, sluices, revetments, reservoirs, holding basins, floodways, pumping stations and siphons, and any other works and improvements deemed necessary to construct, preserve, operate or maintain the works in or out of the district; to construct or enlarge or cause to be constructed or enlarged any and all bridges that may be needed in or out of the district; to construct or elevate roadways and streets; to construct any and all of the works and improvements across, through or over any public highway, canal, railroad right of way, track, grade, fill or cut, in or out of the district; to remove or change the location of any fence, building, railroad, canal, or other improvements in or out of the district; and shall have the right to hold, encumber, control, to acquire by donation, purchase or condemnation, to construct, own, lease, use and sell real and personal property, including the transfer of real property by gift to the State of Illinois, and any easement, riparian right, railroad right of way, canal, cemetery, sluice, reservoir, holding basin, mill dam, water power, wharf or franchise in or out of the district for right of way, holding basin or for any necessary purpose, or for material to be used in constructing and maintaining the works and improvements, to replat or subdivide land, open new roads, streets and alleys, or change the course of an existing one. Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to authorize, nor shall the board have the right or authority to furnish water power or electricity for public or private use or otherwise, except only for the operation of the works and instrumentalities of the District; nor shall the board have any power to sell, or otherwise dispose of the waters so collected and impounded except only as otherwise herein permitted. (b) The board shall have the power and it shall be its duty to supervise, regulate and control the flow within the boundaries of the District of the waters of any river, stream or water course over and through any and all dams and other obstructions, if any, now or hereafter existing or constructed in, upon or along any such river, stream or water course; provided however, that nothing in this paragraph contained shall empower any conservancy district to abridge or in any manner curtail any vested water power rights or other rights. (c) The board shall have the power and it shall be its duty to construct and efficiently maintain a fish-way or fish-ways through or over any and all dams or other obstructions to the flow of any river, stream or water course within the boundaries of the District, which shall be so constructed and maintained as to permit the free passage of fish over such dam or dams or other obstructions. (d) The board shall have the power, if it shall find it conducive to the public health, comfort or convenience to acquire sufficient lands contiguous to its reservoir or reservoirs for the establishment of recreational grounds and the right to permit such reservoir or reservoirs to be used for recreational purposes and to construct on such grounds a building or buildings and other improvements for such recreational purposes; provided however, that nothing in this paragraph contained shall in any way interfere with the drainage or other use of such reservoir or reservoirs for the purpose of controlling, regulating and augmenting the flow of rivers, streams or water courses of the District. (e) In the event that any power or powers, authority or authorities given or granted in any paragraph or section of this Act shall be held to be void, such holding or holdings shall not be construed to in any manner affect the validity of any other part or portion of this Act or this Act in its entirety.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 86-129.)