Where a drainage district has no sufficient outlet within its borders it is hereby provided that said district shall have the right to condemn right-of-way across the necessary lands to reach an outlet, the damages, if any, to the owners of lands through which the right-of-way is procured to be agreed upon by said owner and the commissioners of such district or if they cannot agree upon damages, the said drainage commissioners, shall proceed in the name of such drainage district to condemn such right-of-way which shall be so located so as to do the least damage to private or public property consistent with the proper use and economical construction of such outlet. Such land and right-of-way shall be acquired in the manner provided by law for the condemnation and taking of private property in New Mexico, for railroad, telegraph, telephone and other public uses and purposes.

History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § 58; Code 1915, § 1934; C.S. 1929, § 40-163; 1941 Comp., § 77-1919; 1953 Comp., § 75-20-19.

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

Cross references. — For general eminent domain provision for drainage rights-of-way, see 73-7-56 NMSA 1978.

For general provisions on taking private property for public uses, see Chapter 42A NMSA 1978.

Canal owners could not prevent diversion of ditch water from canal. — Where drainage ditch emptied into a canal and the commissioners of the district sought by condemnation to acquire a right-of-way across the canal so that they might sell the water beyond, the owners of the canal, having no interest in the water, had no right to an injunction enjoining the commissioners from diverting the water which had been flowing into the canal from the ditch. Hagerman Irrigation Co. v. East Grand Plains Drainage Dist., 1920-NMSC-008, 25 N.M. 649, 187 P. 555.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 29A C.J.S. Eminent Domain § 44.