After a petition is approved, the commissioners court must hire an engineer-surveyor and the surveyor must complete, document, and file the drainage survey and related materials.
Sec. 254.009. DRAINAGE SYSTEM SURVEY. (a) After approval of a petition under Section 254.004, the commissioners court shall hire a surveyor to conduct a survey under this section for an amount determined by the court at the same meeting or at a subsequent term of court. The surveyor must be an engineer. (b) The survey shall be applied first to the first-class roads, followed by the second-class and third-class roads. (c) The surveyor shall make the survey and system of levels required by this section as soon as practicable after the surveyor is employed. (d) The surveyor shall: (1) run a line of levels along the county's public roads, measure the roads from beginning to end, and measure the distance of each waterway crossed by a public road from the location of the beginning of the waterway; (2) place stakes or monuments along the line at intervals of 100 feet, with intermediate stakes that may be necessary, numbered progressively; (3) establish permanent benchmarks along the line at intervals of one mile or less as necessary; (4) establish by stakes or monuments different in character and appearance from all other stakes or monuments the highest point on the road between each of the natural waterways crossed by the road; (5) measure and establish by suitable marks the frontage of each tract of real property abutting the road; and (6) if there is a natural waterway adjacent to the line of the road and ditch and the waterway is necessary as an outlet for the water at any point on the ditch, measure the distance to the waterway and run the line of levels to the waterway at the nearest practicable point on the road and ditch. (e) The surveyor shall prepare a map showing: (1) the location of the ditch or ditches, with the position of stakes or monuments with numbers corresponding with those on the ground; (2) the location of benchmarks with their elevations referred to an assumed or previously determined datum; and (3) the lines and boundaries of adjacent property and the courses and distances of any adjacent watercourse, with a profile of the line of the ditch showing the assumed datum and the grade line of the bottom of the ditch, and the elevation of each stake, monument, or other important feature along the line, such as the top of the banks, the bottom of all ditches or watercourses, the surface of the water, the top of the rail, the bottom of the tie, the foot of the embankment, and the bottom of each borrow pit of each railroad. (f) The map or an explanation accompanying the map must: (1) give in tabular form the depth of the cut and the width at the bottom, at the top, at the source, at the outlet, and at each 100-foot stake or monument to the ditch; (2) show the total number of cubic yards of earth to be excavated and removed from the ditch between each natural waterway into which the water is to be conveyed; (3) show an estimate of the cost of each portion of each ditch located between natural waterways crossed by the road; and (4) show an estimate of total cost of the whole work. (g) The surveyor shall also prepare detailed specifications for the execution of the project. (h) If in the surveyor's opinion it is advantageous to run a ditch underground through drainage tiles, the surveyor shall so state in the surveyor's report, map, and specifications, with a statement of the location of the underground ditch, its length, and the dimensions or character of tiling or other material required for the underground ditch. (i) The surveyor shall file a report and the survey, map, and explanation with the county clerk as soon as those items are completed. Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.