(a) The authority may conduct surveys and studies of the groundwater supplies in the authority to:
(1) determine the location and quantity of available groundwater; and
(2) develop and ascertain other information that in the judgment of the board may be necessary to fully develop water uses from the groundwater in the authority.
(b) With the approval and under the supervision of the commission, the authority may appropriate storm water and floodwater to recharge underground freshwater-bearing sand and aquifers in the basin.