TITLE 12 CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Section 5. Water Resources, 12-5-1 through 12-5-586.

ARTICLE 9 FLINT RIVER DROUGHT PROTECTION

12-5-544. Powers of director.

In the performance of his or her duties, the director shall have and may exercise the power to:

1. Exercise general supervision over the enforcement of this article and all rules, regulations, and orders promulgated pursuant to this article;
2. Establish acceptable Flint River basin stream flows at one or more locations;
3. Establish those geographical areas in or adjacent to the lower Flint River basin where the division's studies indicate that ground-water use from the Floridan aquifer may affect stream flow in the Flint River or its tributaries;
4. Predict or declare when severe drought conditions exist or are expected to exist during a given year based on historical, mathematical, meteorological, or other scientific considerations which may be published by the director and which may be developed in consultation with the state climatologist, the state geologist, or other appropriate experts;
5. Establish criteria necessary to prove actual previous irrigation of lands for which a permittee seeks payment from drought protection funds;
6. Make investigations and inspections to ensure compliance with this article, the rules and regulations issued pursuant to this article, and any agreement or order that the division or director enters into or issues pursuant to this article;
7. Institute, in the name of the division, proceedings of mandamus, injunction, or other proper administrative or civil proceedings to enforce this article, the rules and regulations promulgated under this article, or any agreements or orders entered into or issued under this article;
8. Contract with the authority for implementing and carrying out, in whole or in part, the purposes of a drought abatement program for the Flint River basin in accordance with this article and direct the authority to make expenditures from the drought protection funds in accordance with this article;
9. Receive and collect all repayment penalties paid pursuant to this article and to transfer same to the authority for inclusion in the drought protection funds;

   (9.1) Conduct and participate in studies related to management of the water resources in the Flint River basin;

10. Encourage voluntary cooperation by persons and affected groups to achieve the purposes of this article; and
11. Perform any and all acts and exercise all incidental powers necessary to carry out the purposes and requirements of this article.

(Code 1981, §12-5-544, enacted by Ga. L. 2000, p. 458, § 1; Ga. L. 2014, p. 302, § 3/SB 213.)

The 2014 amendment, effective July 1, 2014, inserted "basin" in the middle of paragraph (2) and added paragraph (9.1).