N.C. Gen. Stat. § 136-22
The commissioners, or a majority of them, one of whom must be the engineer aforesaid, shall, on a day of which each party is to be notified at least five days in advance, meet on the premises, and view the highway, or proposed highway, and also the lands which may be drained by the proposed canal, and shall determine and report what lands will be drained and benefited by the construction, enlargement or improvement of such canal, and whether said drainage ought to be done exclusively by said highway authorities, and if they are of opinion that the same ought not to be drained exclusively at their expense, then they shall decide and determine the route of the canal, the dimensions and character thereof, and the manner in which the same shall be cut or thrown up, considering all the circumstances of the case, the extent, area and identity of lands which shall be permitted to drain therein, and providing as far as possible for the effectual drainage of said highway, and the protection and benefit of the lands of all the parties; and they shall apportion the cost of the construction, repair and maintenance of said canal among said highway authorities and said landowners, and report the same to the court, which when confirmed by the clerk shall stand as a judgment of the court against each of the parties, his or its executors, administrators, heirs, assigns or successors.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 136-22