Chapter 4. Property of California Water Code >> Division 16. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 4.

A district may acquire property by purchase, gift, devise, exchange, descent, and eminent domain. The title to all property which may have been acquired for a district shall be vested in the district.

The board may sell, exchange, or lease any property, or any interest in property, of the district, real or personal, if the board determines that the property is no longer needed for the uses of the district.

If the board determines that the property is needed for the uses of another county waterworks district governed by the same board or another public agency with a service area or jurisdictional boundary that overlaps the district, the property, or an interest in the property, may be sold, exchanged, or leased to that district or public agency at its reasonable market value without notice.

If the board determines the value of the property, or interest in the property, to be of a value of five thousand dollars ($5,000) or less, or is being leased for one year or less, it may be sold, exchanged, or leased without notice.

If the board determines the property, or interest in the property, to have a value of more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) or is being leased for more than one year, a notice of time and place of sale or leasing shall be given by posting three notices in three public places within the district five days before the date of sale or leasing. At the time fixed for the sale or leasing, bids shall be received and the board may sell or lease to the highest bidder or may reject any or all bids.

Whenever any portion of the territory of a district shall be annexed to, or otherwise included within any one municipal corporation which owns works for supplying its inhabitants with water, the board may lease to the municipal corporation, for periods not exceeding five years, the portion of the district's distributing system that is in the portion of the district annexed to or included in the municipal corporation.

The municipal corporation may use the leased distributing system for the purpose of distributing water directly to individual consumers, with the same power of regulating the service of water, and of charging and collecting for the service, as if the leased distributing system were part of the municipally owned water plant.

The board shall, in the lease, reserve the right to use the leased distributing system, for the benefit of that portion of the district not annexed to or included in the municipal corporation, to the extent that the leased system is essential to the efficient operation of the balance of the system.

Any improvement provided for in this division may be located, constructed and maintained in, along, or across any public road or highway, or publicly owned right of way in the county, in such manner as to afford security for life and property; but the board shall restore, or cause to be restored, the road or highway, or publicly owned right of way to its former state, as near as may be, or in a sufficient manner not to have impaired unnecessarily its usefulness.

The board of supervisors of any county which employs a purchasing agent may authorize the purchasing agent to sell or dispose of any personal property of the district no longer needed for the uses of the district, pursuant to Section 25505 of the Government Code. Where such authorization is given, the provisions of Sections 55371, 55372, and 55373 shall not apply.