Any person may exercise the right of eminent domain in the manner provided by law to acquire as a public use any property or other rights necessary for application of water to beneficial uses or to enlarge an existing structure for conveyance of water for use in common with an existing or former owner. Application of water to beneficial use is a public use, in the public interest and of benefit to the public.
S.D. Codified Laws § 46-8-1
Right of eminent domain for application or conveyance of water for beneficial use
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case Lewis & Clark Rural Water System, Inc. v. Seeba (2006)
Most recently applied in 585 F. Supp. 2d 1139 - S.J. Louis Construction, Inc. v. Lewis & Clark Regional Water System (August 2008)
Source: SDC 1939, § 61.0103; SL 1955, ch 430, § 1; SDC Supp 1960, § 61.0156; SL 1983, ch 314, § 131.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.