48-1705. Determination whether district constitutes public use; call for organizational election

A. At the hearing on the petition called by the board of supervisors, it shall first proceed to determine whether the operations as proposed will constitute a public use. The board shall for such purpose determine:

1. Whether the lands in the proposed district are arid lands.

2. Whether they are fertile and reclaimable.

3. Whether there is a supply of water which can be made efficiently available by the proposed power system.

4. Whether the development reasonably certain to result from the production of power is of such interest and benefit to the whole district as to impress it with a public use.

B. It shall not be necessary to determine that an underground volume of water is unquestionably sufficient to irrigate all the lands in the proposed district. It is sufficient if the volume of water is enough to supply the area of the land within the proposed district as will make the results of the production of power a public use and benefit to the whole district, and reasonably certain to enable the system when in full operation to be self-supporting.

C. In determining the question of the public use in the operations of the proposed district the board shall make its findings by considering all circumstances, facts and reasons bearing upon the question of the public character of the operations of the proposed district. If there are any questions arising from matters of common knowledge which are of such probative weight as to make a prima facie case, it shall not be necessary for the board to take evidence upon such question, and the board may take judicial knowledge thereof, but the board shall hear and consider all competent testimony or evidence offered with reference to the question.

D. For the purpose of determining the public use of the operations of the proposed district, the board of supervisors is vested with discretionary power and its decision shall be binding upon all persons interested unless reversed on appeal as provided by this chapter. If the decision is modified or affirmed, it shall be binding as modified or affirmed.

E. If the board of supervisors determines from the petition and proceedings held thereon that the operations of the proposed district will constitute a public use, the board shall call an organizational election for the purpose of submitting to the qualified electors of the district the question whether the lands described in the petition shall be organized into an electrical district.

F. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as declaring what is or what is not a public use, or as limiting the evidence or the scope of the investigation of the board of supervisors.