The Water and Power Resources Board shall have power on its own motion, or upon the petition of at least three municipalities, or upon the petition of at least three hundred persons, who are freeholders, in any drainage area, to make appropriate surveys and to prepare suitable plans for any proposed flood control district in such drainage area, or any part thereof, in order to control, store, preserve, and regulate the flow of rivers and streams and diminish or eliminate floods inimical to the public health and safety and destructive to public and private property and works.
32 P.S. § 654