Water activity enterprise that was owned by water conservancy district filed condemnation petition seeking to acquire permanent and temporary construction easements on landowner’s property for surveying, locating, construction, operation, and maintenance of water delivery pipelines and related infrastructure.
The District Court denied landowner’s motion for judgment on the pleadings and ruled that enterprise had condemnation authority. Landowner filed petition for relief in an original proceeding in the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that:
- Court would exercise original jurisdiction over landowner’s petition;
- A water activity enterprise has statutory authority to condemn private property in relation to water activities; and
- Enterprise had authority to condemn easements for water delivery pipelines and related infrastructure.
Supreme Court would exercise original jurisdiction over landowner’s petition challenging trial court’s condemnation ruling that water activity enterprise had statutory authority to condemn construction easements on landowner’s property for surveying, locating, construction, operation, and maintenance of water delivery pipelines and related infrastructure; appellate remedy would have been inadequate because enterprise would take immediate possession of the land and potentially damage that land while appellate review was pending.
Water activity enterprise that was owned by water conservancy district had authority under water activity enterprise statute and Water Conservancy Act to condemn construction easements on landowner’s property for surveying, locating, construction, operation, and maintenance of water delivery pipelines and related infrastructure for a water delivery and distribution project; pipelines and infrastructure were indisputably related to water activities in the form of acquisition, carriage, delivery, and distribution of water.
A water activity enterprise that is owned by a water conservancy district may exercise legal authority for actions taken in connection with its water activities, even if the action itself is not expressly identified as a water activity under the water activity enterprise statute.