Water Users’ Communities Act. Country/Territory Canada Territorial subdivision British Columbia Document type Legislation Date 1996 (2019) Source FAO, FAOLEX Subject Water Keyword Basic legislation Water abstraction Water users' associations Waterworks Authorization/permit Certification Water charges Water rights Geographical area Americas, Arctic, Asia and the Pacific, East Pacific, North America, North Atlantic Abstract "Water users' community" means any public corporate body incorporated under section 51, and includes a water users' community formed under a former Act. The comptroller may at any time issue to a group of 6 or more licensees a certificate of incorporation incorporating them into a water users' community with the name the comptroller considers advisable. A water users' community is a public corporate body and may (a) acquire, hold and control property and licences, (b) acquire, construct, hold, maintain, improve, replace and operate works, and (c) levy assessments on its members and enforce payment of those assessments by suit in a court of competent jurisdiction. A water users' community has the exclusive control and operation of the works constructed or used under the licences mentioned in its certificate of incorporation, and may refuse the use or benefit of those works to a member who is in default in paying an assessment or complying with a rule of the manager. The respective interests of the members of a water users' community, unless altered under subsection (2), are proportionate to the respective maximum quantities of water the members would be entitled to divert and use under the licences referred to in the certificate of incorporation if each member were making the greatest possible use of the rights granted under those licences. The members of a water users' community at any time at a general meeting, on the vote of a majority in interest as shown by the last confirmed assessment roll of the water users' community, or if no assessment roll has been confirmed, then as ascertained on the basis set out in subsection (1), may determine that, after the determination, the interest of each member is in proportion to one or both of the following: (a) the area of the member's land irrigated by means of the works operated by the water users' community; and (b) the amount of water delivered to the member's land for domestic or waterworks purposes. Full text English Website www.bclaws.ca