Sec. 8504.104.  ADDITIONAL POWERS RELATING TO PARTICULAR PURPOSES; NOT A LIMITATION.  (a)  For the conservation and beneficial use of the water of the basins, including storm water and floodwater, the authority may control and use the water in the manner and for the particular purposes described below:
(1)  for the prevention of the devastation of land from recurrent overflows;
(2)  for the protection of life and property in the authority from uncontrolled floodwater;
(3)  to encourage the conservation of soil;
(4)  to prevent destructive erosion;
(5)  to provide through practical and legal means for the control and coordination of the regulation of that water;
(6)  to provide by adequate organization and administration for the preservation of the equitable rights of the people of different sections of the watershed area in the beneficial use of that water;
(7)  for the storage, control, and conservation of that water inside or outside the authority and the prevention of the escape of that water without the maximum of public service;
(8)  for the equitable distribution of that water to the regional potential requirements for all uses;
(9)  for any purpose for which floodwater and storm water when controlled and conserved may be used in the performance of a useful service as authorized by the constitution of this state;
(10)  for the conservation of the water essential for the domestic and municipal uses of the people of the authority;
(11)  to control the water and make it available for use in the development of commercial and industrial enterprises in the basins or the authority;
(12)  to control, store, and use the water in the development and distribution of hydroelectric power, if that use is economically coordinated with and subordinate to other uses declared by law to be superior;
(13)  for the irrigation of all land in the authority or outside the authority but inside the basins; and
(14)  to provide for the drainage of land in the basins.
(b)  The plans and works provided by the authority in acting under this section, and the works provided under the power of the authority in acting under this section, shall have primary regard for the necessary and potential needs for water by or in the area in the authority constituting the basins.
(c)  This section does not limit the powers of the authority expressed elsewhere in this chapter or under other law.
Added by Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 112 (S.B. 1026), Sec. 1.04, eff. April 1, 2015.