Contribution of owners or recipients of water for proportionate share of work

1. In all cases where a ditch is owned by two or more persons, and one or more of those persons fails or neglects to do a proportionate share of the work necessary for the maintenance and operation of the ditch, or to construct suitable headgates or other devices at the point where water is diverted from the main ditch, the owner or owners desiring the performance of the work may, after giving 10 days’ written notice to the other owner or owners who have failed to perform the proportionate share of the work necessary for the operation and maintenance of the ditch, perform the share of the work, and recover therefor from each person in default the reasonable expense of the work. In all cases where a ditch is owned, operated or maintained by an entity, the entity may perform any work necessary for the maintenance and operation of the ditch and recover from each person who, in accordance with a contract or a decreed, certified or permitted right to appropriate water, receives water through the ditch his or her proportionate share of the reasonable expense of the work. Except during an emergency, the entity shall notify each of those persons at least 30 days before incurring any expenses to perform a capital improvement that alters the fundamental character of the ditch. If the entity is a supplier of water, any expenses incurred by the supplier of water for any work performed on an irrigation ditch pursuant to this section must be billed as part of the customer rates of the supplier of water for the delivery of water service through the ditch. 2. As used in this section: (a) “Supplier of water” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 445A.845. (b) “Work” includes, without limitation, labor and any accounting, legal or other administrative service performed for the maintenance and operation of a ditch specified in subsection 1.