(a) All drainage districts organized under special acts of the General Assembly are given authority to construct, reconstruct, repair, and replace levees and to construct setbacks abutting drainage ditches whenever deemed necessary and proper by the board of directors of the district for the benefit of the lands of the district in securing better drainage for those lands and preventing overflows and destruction of the crops and the erosion of lands within the district. They are given the power of eminent domain over such lands as may be necessary for the purpose.
(b) The drainage districts shall have a further right and authority to obligate the district to maintain and keep in proper repair any levees which may be constructed, reconstructed, repaired, or replaced within the district by the federal government for the benefit of the lands within the district and to further obligate the district to keep its drainage ditches and their outlets free of obstructions.