§3086.24. Powers

            A. The domicile of said board shall be in the city of Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. The district shall have the power to sue and be sued, through its board of commissioners, and service of process in any such suit against the district shall be made upon the chairman of the board of commissioners, the vice chairman, or upon its secretary-treasurer. This provision shall not constitute a waiver of the governmental immunity to which the district is entitled.

            B. The district shall have authority to incur debt, issue bonds, and levy taxes for the retirement of same, under the provisions of R.S. 33:3811 et seq., and to levy special taxes under the provisions of Article VI, Sections 31 and 32 of the Constitution of Louisiana in accordance with the provisions of law carrying these Articles into effect and particularly the applicable provisions of Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. The district may acquire by purchase, donation, or lease and may hold and use any immovable or movable property, whether corporeal or incorporeal, or any interest therein necessary or desirable for carrying out the purposes of the district, and may sell, lease, transfer, or convey any property or interest therein at any time after such property or interest has been acquired by it.

            C. The district shall also have authority to fix and collect, on a gallonage basis, charges for water so furnished.

            D. Ad valorem taxes so levied by the district shall be assessed and collected in the same manner as state and parish taxes, and the board of commissioners shall prescribe the method for collecting any fixed charges levied on a gallonage basis. The treasurer shall be bonded in such sum as the board may require, the premium on said bond to be paid by the district.

            E. The board of commissioners shall have power to take the necessary steps to effectuate a program of beautification of the area within the jurisdiction of the commission, particularly but not limited to the banks of Bayou Lafourche, including the necessary police power and authority to adopt penalties in connection with such program. For the purposes of this Part "beautification" shall have the following meaning: any method, procedure, or program which has the effect of creating more pleasant surroundings.

            F.(1) In order to accomplish the purposes of the district, the board may make and enforce such rules, regulations, and ordinances it shall deem necessary:

            (a) To protect and preserve the works, improvements and properties owned or controlled by the district, prescribe the manner of their use by any person or entity, and preserve order within and adjacent to properties owned or controlled by the district.

            (b) To protect and preserve the waterway from any substance or act which would render the water therein unfit for the purposes of the district, including but not limited to prohibiting or regulating the discharge of any substance into the waterway in concentrations which tend to degrade the chemical, physical, biological, or radiological integrity of the waterway.

            (c) To prohibit any person or entity from abandoning, sinking, allowing to be sunk, or failing to remove any watercraft from in or on the waterway after having been requested to do so in writing.

            (d) To prohibit any person or entity from erecting, locating, constructing, or using any building or structures within the district that may threaten the purposes of the district unless a permit has been approved by the board.

            (e) To prohibit any person or entity from knowingly or willfully emptying, draining, or permitting to be drained from any pump, reservoir, well, or oil field into the waterway any oil, salt water, or other noxious, toxic, hazardous, or poisonous gas, liquid, or substance which would render the waterway unfit for the purposes of the district or for human consumption, or would destroy the aquatic and fish life in the waterway. Each day that oil, salt water, or other prohibited substances are permitted to empty, drain, or flow into the waterway shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.

            (f) To regulate the conduct, management, and control of its operations and functions, and its structures and other facilities within its jurisdiction or under its administration.

            (g) To protect property, life, and the welfare of its employees and the public.

            (h) To control, use, and protect its property, equipment, and other facilities and improvements.

            (i) To control, regulate, and protect the channel and banks of the waterway from erosion, decay, or destruction.

            (j) To control and regulate the pumping of or flowing of water into the waterway from adjacent or nearby canals, drainage systems, bayous, ditches, streams, tributaries, or other sources which empty or are pumped into the waterway.

            (2) Notwithstanding R.S. 34:851.27 or any other provision of law to the contrary, and upon a declaration of an emergency by the board that the size and speed of watercraft traveling through the waterway needs to be regulated to protect the integrity of the banks of the waterway due to low water levels or due to another event causing the banks to be in peril of erosion or instability, the board may:

            (a) Implement and enforce a "no-wake" zone where each watercraft shall operate at bare steerage speed, the slowest speed the watercraft can travel while allowing the operator to maintain directional control of the watercraft to produce the minimum water surface turbulence.

            (b) Limit the size of watercraft permitted to travel in certain areas of the waterway until there is no declaration of emergency. Except during times of a declaration of an emergency by the board, the provisions of this Paragraph shall not supersede or otherwise interfere with the authority of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

            (3) The board shall not make and enforce any rules, regulations, and ordinances that shall impair the rights and obligations in Civil Code Arts. 655 and 656, or that shall affect any agriculture drainage established prior to the creation of the district.

            G. In addition, the board may adopt an anti-littering ordinance with penalties for the violation thereof not to exceed a fine of five hundred dollars.

            H.(1) The rules, regulations, and ordinances established and promulgated by the board shall provide penalties and shall be enforced by any state or local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction in the district. Any violations shall be prosecuted by the district attorney in the judicial district where the violation occurred.

            (2) The rules, regulations, and ordinances may contain penalties, including a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or imprisonment of not more than six months, or both.

            I.(1) The board of commissioners shall have full power to adopt and enforce, by penal ordinance, such sanitary regulations as it may deem necessary to protect from pollution the water so furnished, after it leaves its source and to that end may regulate the location, construction, or use of any buildings or structures within the district, where they threaten to pollute or pollute said water. Any such action by the board shall be subject to review by the courts.

            (2) For the purposes of this Part the following definitions of pollution shall apply:

            (a) "Ashes" includes the solid residue resulting from the combustion of all fuels used for heating, cooking, and the production of power in any public or private establishment, institution, or residence.

            (b) "Garbage" includes all putrescible waste matter except sewage and recognizable industrial byproducts and includes putrescible vegetable matter, animal offal, and animal carcasses.

            (c) "Refuse" includes garbage, rubbish, ashes, animal and vegetable waste from animal quarters, and all other waste matter, except sewage, from any public or private establishment, institution, or residence.

            (d) "Rubbish" includes all nonputrescible waste matter, except ashes, from any public or private establishment, institution, or residence.

            (e) "Untreated sewage" includes animal feces and urine as well as any material contaminated by animal body discharges and waste feed stuff which has not been subjected to proper primary treatment.

            J.(1) The board shall have full power and authority to cooperate and contract with the United States government, or any of its agencies, the state of Louisiana, or any of its departments, agencies, commissions, districts, or other political subdivisions, or with any person, firm, partnership, or corporation, with the view of accomplishing the construction, maintenance, and operation of pumping facilities and appurtenant pipeline facilities, the purpose of which would be to provide fresh water for Bayou Lafourche. In the event that such pumping facilities and appurtenant pipeline facilities are constructed, erected, or installed by the state of Louisiana, the office of engineering of the Department of Transportation and Development, state of Louisiana, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board, the board of commissioners for the Lafourche Basin Conservation Levee and Drainage District, the board of commissioners for the Atchafalaya Basin Levee District, the board of commissioners for the Lafourche Parish Water District No. 1 or other local interests, and the board of commissioners for the Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District, or any of them, it shall be the obligation of the board of commissioners for the Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District, and the board is hereby authorized and directed to operate and maintain such pumping and pipeline facilities so as to provide an adequate supply of fresh water in Bayou Lafourche.

            (2) The board of commissioners for the Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District shall also have power and authority to contribute to the cost of construction and installation of such pumping and pipelining facilities from any funds available for such purpose. It shall also be the obligation of the board to operate and maintain such drainage facilities, floodgates, channel improvements, and drainage structures and appurtenances constructed with the view of providing fresh water in Bayou Lafourche and facilitating the flow thereof. The board shall have power and authority to contribute to the cost of construction of any of the facilities mentioned in this Section.

            K. The board of commissioners may implement measures for the abatement of water hyacinths within the water bodies of the parishes of Ascension, Assumption, and Lafourche.

            L. The board of commissioners may develop and implement measures to prevent the intrusion of salt water into the flow of fresh water.

            M. The board of commissioners may execute contracts for the sale or purchase of water pursuant to the authority granted the district in R.S. 33:4164.

            N.(1) With the approval of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board, the board of commissioners, in addition to any other powers and duties provided by law, may establish on its own behalf or for the areas under its authority, particularly but not limited to the banks of Bayou Lafourche, water resources development and integrated coastal protection, including but not limited to the studying, engineering, designing, planning, maintenance, operation, and construction of erosion control measures, marsh management, coastal restoration, reservoirs, diversion canals, gravity and pump drainage systems, and other works as such activities, facilities, and improvements relate to integrated coastal protection, conservation, water resources development, and saltwater intrusion. To that end and only upon approval of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board, the board of commissioners may regulate the location, construction, or use of any building or structure within the district, where such building or structure threatens to interfere with water resources development and integrated coastal protection.

            (2) The board of commissioners may enter into contracts or other agreements, including cooperative endeavor agreements, with any public or private person or persons, corporation, association, or other entity, including the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board, the state, and other agencies thereof, public corporations, port authorities, levee districts, parishes, other political subdivisions, or the United States government or agencies thereof, or any combination thereof, or with the instrumentalities of any kind to provide water resources development and integrated coastal protection, and to this end, may contract for the acceptance of any grant of money upon the terms and conditions, including any requirement of matching the grants in whole or in part, that may be necessary.

            Acts 2003, No. 187, §1; Acts 2012, No. 495, §1; Acts 2012, No. 753, §5; Acts 2015, No. 34, §1, eff. May 29, 2015; Acts 2024, No. 177, §1.