Texas Water Code
§ 16.236 — CONSTRUCTION OF LEVEE WITHOUT APPROVAL OF PLANS; LEVEE SAFETY
WA § 16.236Title 2. WATER ADMINISTRATION · Part C. WATER DEVELOPMENT · Ch. 16. PROVISIONS GENERALLY APPLICABLE TO WATER DEVELOPMENT · Art. G. IMPROVEMENTS
Statute text
View on source(a)No person may construct, attempt to construct, cause to be constructed, maintain, or cause to be maintained any levee or other such improvement on, along, or near any stream of this state that is subject to floods, freshets, or overflows so as to control, regulate, or otherwise change the floodwater of the stream without first obtaining approval of the plans by the commission.
(b)The commission shall make and enforce rules and orders and shall perform all other acts necessary to provide for the safe construction, maintenance, repair, and removal of levees located in this state.
(c)If the owner of a levee that is required to be constructed, reconstructed, repaired, or removed to comply with the rules and orders promulgated under this section wilfully fails or refuses to comply within the 30-day period following the date of an order of the commission requiring such action or compliance or if a person wilfully fails to comply with any rule or order issued by the commission under this section within the 30-day period following the effective date of the order, the person is liable for a penalty of not more than $1,000 a day for each day the person continues to violate this section. The state may recover the penalty by suit brought for that purpose in a district court of Travis County.
(d)If the commission determines that the existing condition of a levee is creating or will cause extensive or severe property damage or economic loss to others or is posing an immediate and serious threat to human life or health and that other procedures available to the commission to remedy or prevent such property damage or economic loss will result in unreasonable delay, the commission may issue an emergency order, either mandatory or prohibitory in nature, directing the owner of the levee to repair, modify, maintain, dewater, or remove the levee which the commission determines is unsafe. The emergency order may be issued without notice to the levee owner or with notice the commission considers practicable under the circumstances.
(e)If the commission issues an emergency order under authority of this section without notice to the levee owner, the commission shall fix a time and place for a hearing, to be held as soon as practicable but not later than 20 days after the emergency order is authorized, to affirm, modify, or set aside the emergency order. If the nature of the commission's action requires further proceedings, those proceedings shall be conducted, as appropriate, under Chapter 2001, Government Code.
(f)Nothing in this section or in rules or orders adopted by the commission shall be construed to relieve an owner or operator of a levee of the legal duties, obligations, or liabilities incident to ownership or operation.
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