# § 25-40 General authority.

Published by the Baltimore City Department of Legislative Reference.

## § 25-40 General authority.

Balt., Md., Pub. Local Laws § 25-40 (2026)

The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore be and it is hereby authorized and empowered

to enter into, and take water from, the Susquehanna River at any point in the State of Maryland above the Conowingo Dam and its hydro-electric generating plant at a point which will not materially interfere with the operation of said dam and its hydro-electric generating plant, in order to add to, augment, enlarge and improve the municipal water supply of the City of Baltimore;

to conduct the water taken from the Susquehanna River along such route or routes and in such manner and by such instrumentalities and means as may be necessary or proper for the purposes of this subheading to the City of Baltimore and its environs, for the use of said City and of its inhabitants, and of such other persons or other legal entities as may now or hereafter be lawfully furnished water by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore;

to utilize, appropriate, divert, deflect, straighten, riprap or otherwise modify or control, for the purposes of this subheading, all springs, brooks, creeks, rivulets, rivers or other water courses, tributary (or capable of being rendered tributary) to, or obstructive of, the purposes of this subheading;

to create, establish, construct, erect, maintain, protect, lay, lay out, use or employ any and all such dams, walls, bulkheads, dikes, inlets, waste ways, water gates, bridges, tunnels, underground structures or facilities, aqueducts, waterways, conduits, culverts, drains, mains, pipes, settling or other reservoirs, lakes, basins or ponds, power houses, pump houses or other buildings, structures or erections, roads, ways, approaches, appurtenances, agencies, instrumentalities or means as may be necessary or proper for the purposes of this subheading, including, but not limited to, all instrumentalities or means for diverting, deflecting, disposing of, controlling, collecting, confining, impounding, storing, protecting, clarifying, purifying, filtering, transmitting or distributing, or otherwise handling water that may be necessary or proper for the purpose of promoting or securing a pure, copious and constant flow of water from the Susquehanna River to the municipal water supply system of Baltimore City as contemplated by this subheading;

to utilize, extend, enlarge, improve, reinforce, adopt, reconstruct, alter, re-equip or repair, for the purpose of this subheading, or for other purposes affecting the municipal water supply of Baltimore City, all or any part or parts of the present water system of Baltimore City and its appurtenances;

to make and enter into any and all contracts, agreements or stipulations germane to the scope of its powers under this subheading; to make all such preliminary surveys and investigations, and to do all such preliminary work under this subheading as it may be advised shall be necessary or proper for the purposes of this subheading;

to acquire by gift, purchase, arbitration, exchange, lease (whatever the duration of the lease), or by condemnation, or by any other legal means, any land or property of any kind regardless of whether it is public, quasi-public, or privately owned, situated wholly or partly in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Harford County, or in any other county of this State, or any interest, franchise, easement, right or privilege therein, which may be required for any of the purposes of this subheading, including, but not limited to, springs, brooks, creeks, rivulets, rivers, or other water courses, mills, factories, public utilities, and industrial plants of every description and their appurtenances; workshops, stores, farm buildings, structures and erections, churches, graveyards, schoolhouses and other school property, dwelling houses, outhouses, bridges, streets, alleys, roads and ways of all kind, and all other buildings, structures, erections or improvements of every kind and description, on, in, over or under any land or water or other property, or any interest, franchise, easement, right or privilege therein, and in like manner to acquire any corporate franchises or any other thing, including, but not limited to, earth, timber, stone or other materials, or places of temporary or permanent deposit for excavated material or other like facilities for effectuating the objects of this subheading, of any sort that may be required for the purposes of this subheading; and

generally to do and perform all and every such acts or things which, by anything short of a palpably forced construction, could be held to be auxiliary or conducive to the proper exercise of any or all of the powers by this subheading conferred upon the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, or to the effective accomplishment of the leading purpose of this subheading, namely, the taking of water from the Susquehanna River in such amount as may be necessary and the transmission and distribution thereof in as abundant, clear, pure, healthful, convenient and satisfactory a character as possible to the City of Baltimore, and its inhabitants, and such other persons or other legal entities as may now or hereafter be lawfully supplied with water by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore for its and their uses.

The title acquired by condemnation, or otherwise, by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, under this subheading, for the purposes thereof, shall, as to any land or other property or things of a permanent nature or character needed or required in connection with the operations of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore under this subheading, involving the idea of exclusive use and occupation by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, be in fee simple, but may, as to land or other property or things, required for other purposes under this subheading, be in fee simple or limited to some lesser quantum of interest, in point of estate or duration, accordingly as the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore may determine.

To the end that the necessary water for the City of Baltimore and adjoining counties can be secured with a minimum loss or damage to the parties interested in the Conowingo hydro-electric project, and at the minimum cost to the City, the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore shall, so far as possible, use or divert water from the surplus only after providing for the maximum requirements of the operations of the said project.

The right is hereby reserved, to all parties interested in said Conowingo hydro-electric project, to proper compensation for all loss or damage resulting to them or any of them by reason of any diversion of water from the pool which forms a part of the said project.