(a) The court of probate of any county of the State of Alabama shall have jurisdiction, power and authority to establish water management districts, as provided in this article for the following purposes:
(1) To locate and establish levees, drains or canals and to cause to be constructed, straightened, widened or deepened any ditch, drain or watercourse;
(2) To construct for the purposes of flood prevention or the conservation, development, utilization or disposal of water works of improvement, including levees, embankments, floodwater retarding structures, water storage structures, outlets and tide gates, flood gates and pumping plants for preventing floods, providing drainage, reducing sediment and reclaiming wet, swamp or overflowed lands and other related works of improvement that will carry out the purposes of this article; and
(3) To provide maintenance for such installations.
(b) It is hereby declared that the drainage of surface water and the reclamation of wetlands, swamplands, overflowed lands and tidal marshes and flood prevention and the conservation, development, utilization and disposal of water shall be considered a public benefit and conducive to the public health, safety, convenience, utility and welfare.