536.040 - Contribution of owners or recipients of water for proportionate share of work.
536.040 Contribution of owners or recipients of water for proportionate share of work.
1. In all cases where a ditch is owned by two or more persons, and one or more of those persons fails or neglects to do a proportionate share of the work necessary for the maintenance and operation of the ditch, or to construct suitable headgates or other devices at the point where water is diverted from the main ditch, the owner or owners desiring the performance of the work may, after giving 10 days’ written notice to the other owner or owners who have failed to perform the proportionate share of the work necessary for the operation and maintenance of the ditch, perform the share of the work, and recover therefor from each person in default the reasonable expense of the work. In all cases where a ditch is owned, operated or maintained by an entity, the entity may perform any work necessary for the maintenance and operation of the ditch and recover from each person who, in accordance with a contract or a decreed, certified or permitted right to appropriate water, receives water through the ditch his or her proportionate share of the reasonable expense of the work. Except during an emergency, the entity shall notify each of those persons at least 30 days before incurring any expenses to perform a capital improvement that alters the fundamental character of the ditch. If the entity is a supplier of water, any expenses incurred by the supplier of water for any work performed on an irrigation ditch pursuant to this section must be billed as part of the customer rates of the supplier of water for the delivery of water service through the ditch.
2. As used in this section:
(a) “Supplier of water” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 445A.845.
(b) “Work” includes, without limitation, labor and any accounting, legal or other administrative service performed for the maintenance and operation of a ditch specified in subsection 1.
[79:140:1913; 1919 RL p. 3246; NCL § 7965]—(NRS A 2009, 702)
NRS 536.050 Statement of expenses constitutes valid lien against property of defaulting co-owner or recipient of water. Upon the failure of any co-owner or person who receives water through a ditch from an entity specified in NRS 536.040 to pay his or her proportionate share of such expense, as specified in that section, within 30 days after receiving a statement of the same as performed by his or her co-owner or co-owners or by the entity owning, operating or maintaining the ditch, each person or entity so performing the labor or other work may secure payment of the claim by filing an itemized and sworn statement thereof, setting forth the date of the performance and the nature of the labor or other work so performed, with the county clerk of the county wherein the ditch is situated, and when so filed it constitutes a valid lien against the interest of each person in default and against any property to which water is delivered through the ditch. The lien may be established and enforced in the same manner as provided by law for the enforcement of mechanics’ liens.
[80:140:1913; 1919 RL p. 3247; NCL § 7966]—(NRS A 2009, 703)