Water course improvements; eminent domain; police jurisdiction.
K.S.A. 12-694
in effect12-694. Water course improvements; eminent domain; police jurisdiction.
The governing body of any city may establish, make and regulate public wells, cisterns, aqueducts and reservoirs and provide for filling the same and may establish, alter, change, relocate, straighten, divert and otherwise improve the channels of watercourses, navigable or otherwise, remove and change bridges and remove obstructions, wall watercourses and cover them over, and in connection therewith construct and maintain within or outside of the city limits such channels, tunnels, aqueducts and ditches as may be required and necessary to form an outlet and drain said water carried by such watercourses into a creek, ravine or river, and build and erect all walls, embankments, levees and ripraps to protect the banks thereof, and for all or any of said purposes such cities may acquire, own and hold by gift, purchase or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain in accordance with K.S.A. 26-501 to 26-516 , inclusive, within or without the city limits, within five (5) miles therefrom, or within twenty (20) miles therefrom where it is necessary in order to obtain an adequate water supply for such cities, all lands required and necessary therefor, and pay all damages for property taken or injured and may enact any and all ordinances for said purposes, but no such construction shall be made within the corporate limits of any other city until such city shall first consent thereto. In the construction and maintenance of such work and improvement such city may receive aid and contributions toward the payment of the cost thereof from, and may contract and cooperate with, municipal and other corporations and individuals of this or any other state. The police jurisdiction of the city shall extend over such lands as acquired beyond the city limits except where such acquired land is already under the police jurisdiction of some other city.
R.S. 1923, § 14-701; L. 1927, ch. 139, § 1; L. 1935, ch. 121, § 1; L. 1963, ch. 234, § 36; L. 1975, ch. 118, § 1; July 1.
Source or prior law:
L. 1867, ch. 68, art. 3, § 2, ¶ 19; G.S. 1868, ch. 19, § 30, ¶ 19; L. 1871, ch. 62, § 41; L. 1872, ch. 100, § 58; L. 1915, ch. 133, § 1.
CASE ANNOTATIONS
1. City's determination that diversion of channel necessary for public welfare is conclusive. Gorman v. City of Rosedale, 118 Kan. 20, 24, 234 P. 53.
2. City condemnation of water rights for city water supply; water rights included within definition of "land"; application for change of waters use under K.S.A. 82a-708b. Sullivan v. City of Ulysses, 23 Kan. App. 2d 502, 505, 932 P.2d 456 (1997).
Source: Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes (ksrevisor.gov)URL: https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch12/012_006_0094.htmlFetched: 10/20/2026