---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-8-9. Construction of levees and ditches; diversion of watercourses.
collection: code
id: 44-8-9
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-8-9 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-8-9
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-8-9.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-8-9/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t44-ch8-15-(v32)-2022-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=9e9e06de_0#page=38
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: PROPERTY / WATER RIGHTS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-8-9. Construction of levees and ditches; diversion of watercourses.

All persons owning lands on any watercourses are authorized to ditch and embank their lands in order to protect the lands from freshets and overflows in the watercourses, provided that the ditching and embanking does not divert the watercourse from its ordinary channel; but nothing in this Code section shall be so construed as to prevent the owners of lands from diverting nonnavigable watercourses through their own lands.

## History

Laws 1793, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 26; Ga. L. 1855-56, p. 12, §§ 1, 2; Code 1863, § 2211; Code 1868, § 2206; Code 1873, § 2232; Code 1882, § 2232; Civil Code 1895, § 3062; Civil Code 1910, § 3638; Code 1933, § 85-1310.