61-205. Chief Water Officer; powers and duties.

The Chief Water Officer of the Department of Water, Energy, and Environment shall exercise the powers and perform the duties assigned to the Department of Natural Resources prior to July 1, 2025, except those duties assigned to the Director of the Department of Water, Energy, and Environment or the Department of Water, Energy, and Environment.

The Chief Water Officer and his or her duly authorized assistants shall have access at all reasonable times to all dams, reservoirs, hydroelectric plants, water measuring devices, and headgates, and other devices for diverting water, for the purpose of performing the duties assigned to the Chief Water Officer.

Source:Laws 1919, c. 190, tit. VII, art. V, div. 2, § 1, p. 834; C.S.1922, § 8420; C.S.1929, § 81-6301; R.S.1943, § 46-208; Laws 1973, LB 186, § 1; R.S.1943, (1998), § 46-208; Laws 2000, LB 900, § 5; Laws 2006, LB 1226, § 29; Laws 2025, LB317, § 331.
Operative Date: July 1, 2025

Annotations

Department is the successor of prior boards dealing with irrigation. State v. Nielsen, 163 Neb. 372, 79 N.W.2d 721 (1956).

Under former law, Department of Roads and Irrigation exercised powers and functions of former Board of Irrigation. In re Claim Affidavit of Parsons, 148 Neb. 239, 27 N.W.2d 190 (1947).