Sec. 11-1. - Conveyance of lands under navigable streams to city.

The Governor of the State of Delaware be and is hereby authorized and directed to grant and convey to the Mayor and Council of the City of Wilmington, under the Great Seal of Delaware, all the right and title of the State of Delaware, in and to all the land under water within the limits of the said City of Wilmington where said land under water is located in or under any part of navigable streams.

(36 Del. L. ch. 147, § 1)

Sec. 11-2. - Water rates and rents generally; liens for unpaid water rents.

The water rates shall be fixed by the said board of water commissioners at prices that shall produce revenue sufficient at least to pay the interest on the water bonds and the running expenses on the water works. All rents, income, receipts, revenues and moneys from all sources, now received, or hereafter to be received, by the said board of water commissioners (excepting the annual appropriations made by the council to said board), shall be paid monthly on the first day of each and every month to the city treasurer for the use of the city, to be expended for municipal purposes in such manner as the council may deem proper.

All water rents laid or imposed by the board of water commissioners for the city remaining unpaid and in arrears for thirty days after they become due, shall be and constitute a lien upon the lands and premises of the owner to which the water was furnished, and such liens shall have preference and priority to all liens of recognizance, mortgage or judgment on such lands and premises created or suffered by said owner, although such other lien or liens shall be of a date prior to the time of the attaching of such lien for water rents.

In case of the sale under execution process of any lands and premises upon which such liens for water rents shall exist, such liens shall be transferred to the fund arising from such sale in the hands of the officer making the same and the said real estate so sold shall be discharged therefrom.

The lien for water rents shall remain a lien for the period of ten years and no longer, from the expiration of thirty days after said water rents became due and payable.

The board of water commissioners for the city in collecting water rents out of real estate upon which there is a lien under the provisions of this title, shall proceed in the manner now by law prescribed for the collection of taxes out of real estate by the city.

(H.B. No. 365, § 2, 7-3-08)

Sec. 11-3. - Distribution of water generally.

The city, through the agency of the board of water commissioners, in addition to the power and authority which it now has to distribute water within the corporate limits of said city, may, in its discretion distribute said water throughout all of that territory included within ten miles of the boundary thereof.

The board of water commissioners shall determine the person or persons, firm or firms, corporation or corporations, to which it shall distribute water throughout said territory included within ten miles of the boundary of said corporate limits; shall fix the rates therefor; shall regulate the use of said water, and shall supply the same upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by said person or persons, firm or firms, corporation or corporations, and the said board of water commissioners.

The said city, by and through the agency aforesaid, shall have and exercise all of the powers and authority necessary to the accomplishment of said distribution of water throughout the territory included within ten miles of the boundary of said corporate limits as it now has and possesses in the installation, operation and maintenance of its water system in the city and in the distribution by it of water in the city, including the authority and power to acquire by purchase or condemnation, such land and property as may be necessary therefor.

(37 Del. L. ch. 137, §§ 2—4)

Sec. 11-4. - Acquisition of land, waters, etc., necessary for city water supply—Power of city generally.

The city acting by and through the agency of the board of water commissioners, shall have power to acquire by purchase or condemnation as hereinafter provided, any lands, buildings, structures, franchises, easements, highways, roads, ways, bridges, waters, water rights or any other property, real or personal, of whatever nature, in the county, as may be necessary for furnishing to the city a supply of pure and wholesome water adequate to meet the present and future needs of the said city.

(34 Del. L. ch. 121, § 1)

Sec. 11-5. - Same—By condemnation.

Whenever the said city cannot agree with the owner or owners of any lands, buildings, structures, franchises, easements, highways, roads, ways, bridges, waters, water rights or any other property, real or personal in the county necessary to be taken or used in the construction, reconstruction or maintenance of such water supply which the said city shall construct, reconstruct or maintain or propose to construct, reconstruct, or maintain for the purchase thereof, the said city acting through the agency of the said board of water commissioners, may apply to the associate judge of the state, resident in the county, for the condemnation of such property, first giving to the other party or owner at least five days notice in writing of the intended application, if such party or owner is within the state, and if said party or owner is unknown or without the state, or if under legal disability and having no legal representative in the state, then such notice shall be published in some newspaper in the county, at least five days prior to the intended application and such publication shall be sufficient notice; upon application made as aforesaid, the said associate judge shall appoint five judicious and impartial freeholders to view the premises or ascertain the easement, franchise or water rights and assess the damages which the owner or owners will sustain by reason of said construction or reconstruction or the taking of such property. The freeholders shall be sworn or affirmed before some officer authorized to administer oaths or affirmations, before entering on the premises or before ascertaining the easement, franchise or water rights, faithfully and impartially to perform the duties assigned them. They shall give ten days notice in writing to the owner or owners of the premises or property so proposed to be condemned, or to their guardian or guardians, duly appointed, if within the state and to the said city of the time of the meeting to view the premises or ascertain the easement, franchise or water rights; if the owner or owners are unknown or are without the state or if under legal disability and having no legal representative in the state, publication of such last mentioned notice shall be made in some newspaper in the county in which the proceedings were instituted at least ten days prior to the said meeting, and such publication shall be sufficient notice thereof. The said commissioners shall keep a record of their proceedings with their findings and awards and return the same to the prothonotary of the county in which the said proceedings were instituted, and shall certify their findings and awards to the owner or owners of the property and to said board; if the board or any party in interest is dissatisfied with such findings or awards, it or he may, on application to said prothonotary within fifteen days after such findings and awards have been made and filed, sue out a writ of ad quod damnum, requiring the sheriff of said county, in the usual form, to inquire of twelve impartial men of his bailiwick of the damages which will be sustained as aforesaid, and their report shall be final. The said commissioners or the said jury shall, in assessing the damages aforesaid, take into consideration the benefits and advantages to the owner or owners resulting from the proposed improvement and set off the value of such benefits or advantages against the loss, detriment and disadvantages, which such owner will suffer, provided that in no case shall the amount estimated as and for benefits and advantages exceed the amount allowed for loss, detriment or disadvantage to such owner. The amount of damages being ascertained, the board may pay or tender the amount thereof within two months after the same shall have been so ascertained, to the person or persons so entitled thereto, or, if the person or persons so entitled refuse to accept or reside out of or are absent from the county during all or any part of said period of two months, the same may be deposited to his credit in the Farmer's Bank of the State of Delaware, in the county seat of the county wherein such proceedings are instituted, within said time, and thereupon said property may be taken and occupied for the use and purpose for which it was condemned; provided, that the board, in its discretion, after it has made application as aforesaid, for the condemnation of property, may occupy or use such property without delay, and the proceedings for the ascertainment of the damages shall proceed as in this section provided, but in the event of such immediate use or occupation as last aforesaid, the board shall pay to the owner or owners thereof if within the state, or if such owner or owners refuse to accept the amount of damages or are without the county, deposit to his or their credit in the said bank as aforesaid, within ten days after the damages have been ascertained, the amount thereof. The expenses of the assessment by the said commissioners of the damages aforesaid of the fees of the said sheriff and prothonotary and of all costs incurred in the execution of the writ of ad quod damnum, shall in all cases be paid by the board. The said judge shall have power to fill any vacancy in any commission and thereafter the commission shall proceed as though no vacancy had occurred.

(34 Del. L. ch. 121, § 2)

Sec. 11-6. - Protection of water of Brandywine River, etc.

For the better protection of the water of the Brandywine River and its tributaries, the board of water commissioners for the city are hereby given power and authority to appoint two patrol officers who shall be vested with police powers and who shall be under the control and subject to the rules and regulations of the board of water commissioners. Their jurisdiction shall extend to the state line within which they shall have authority to make arrests for any violation of the state laws in regard to the pollution of streams.

(20 Del. L. ch. 94, § 2)