House File 507 - Introduced



                                       HOUSE FILE       
                                       BY  MERTZ


    Passed House, Date               Passed Senate, Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act providing for the liability of a landowner who provides
  2    for drainage.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  4 TLSB 2857HH 81
  5 da/gg/14

PAG LIN



  1  1    Sec. 1.  Section 468.621, Code 2005, is amended to read as
  1  2 follows:
  1  3    468.621  DRAINAGE IN COURSE OF NATURAL DRAINAGE ==
  1  4 RECONSTRUCTION == DAMAGES.
  1  5    Owners An owner of land may drain the land in the general
  1  6 course of natural drainage by constructing or reconstructing
  1  7 open or covered drains, and discharging the drains in any
  1  8 natural watercourse or depression so the water will be carried
  1  9 into some other natural watercourse, and if.  If the drainage
  1 10 is wholly upon the owner's land, the owner is not liable in
  1 11 for damages for the drainage unless it increases the quantity
  1 12 of water or changes the manner of discharge on the land of
  1 13 another.  An owner in constructing a replacement drain, wholly
  1 14 on the owner's land, and in the exercise of due care, is not
  1 15 liable in damages to another if a previously constructed drain
  1 16 on the owner's own land is rendered inoperative or less
  1 17 efficient by the new drain, unless in violation of the terms
  1 18 of a written contract.  This section does not affect the
  1 19 rights or liabilities of proprietors in respect to running
  1 20 streams.
  1 21                           EXPLANATION
  1 22    This bill amends Code chapter 468, which provides for the
  1 23 establishment and maintenance of drainage and levee districts.
  1 24 Code section 468.21 provides that the owner of land may drain
  1 25 water on their land to another watercourse.  The bill
  1 26 addresses the case in which the drainage is entirely on the
  1 27 owner's land.  Prior to 1987, the Code section provided that
  1 28 the landowner would not be liable for the drainage.  In that
  1 29 year the section was amended to provide that a landowner was
  1 30 liable for damages if the diversion increased the quantity of
  1 31 water on other land or it altered how water on the other land
  1 32 discharged into a water source (1987 Iowa Acts, ch. 225, }
  1 33 306).  The bill eliminates that change.
  1 34 LSB 2857HH 81
  1 35 da:nh/gg/14