(a) The authority may construct, maintain, and operate in the basins, inside or outside the authority, any work considered essential:
(1) to the operation of the authority; and
(2) for the authority's administration in the control, storage, preservation, and distribution to all useful purposes of the water, including storm water and floodwater, of the basins.
(b) The authority has the same power of control and regulation over the water of the basins that the state has, subject to the constitution and statutes of this state.