(a) No person shall purposely or knowingly obstruct any existing or historical ditch, drain, swale, watercourse or sewer.
(b) No person shall purposely or knowingly divert water from adjacent lands upon any street or highway. No person shall unlawfully obstruct or impede the passage of a navigable river, harbor or collection of water or unlawfully divert a watercourse from its natural course or state to the injury or prejudice of others.
(c) Whenever the Director of Public Service learns of any obstruction of a ditch, swale, watercourse or sewer or diversion of water from adjacent lands upon any street or highway, he shall have authority as, in his discretion, the facts and circumstances require:
(1) To direct personnel forthwith to remove the obstruction or to correct the diversion;
(2) To serve, by a member of the Police Department, a written notice upon the owner of the property causing the obstruction or diversion, which notice shall describe and locate the nature thereof and direct its removal or correction within a reasonable time specified; or
(3) To direct personnel to remove the obstruction to correct the diversion should the owner fail to comply as provided in the notice.
(d) Should Council subsequently determine that the cost of removing the obstruction or remedying the diversion warrants reimbursement to the Municipality, it may direct the Director of Finance to bill the owner for the entire cost incurred and to demand payment within a specified period of time. If the owner fails to reimburse the Municipality within that period of time, the cost may be certified to the County Auditor and entered upon the tax duplicate against the land for collection as other taxes and assessments are collected. The remedy shall be in addition to the penalty provided in subsection (e) hereof.
(e) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. A separate offense shall be deemed committed each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues.
(1979 Code 136.09)