Mo. Rev. Stat. § 244.010
The owner or owners of all or any part of any tract or parcel of swamp, wet, flat or overflowed land in this state, situated within or without any drainage or levee district organized under any laws of this state, shall have the right, under the provisions of this chapter, to drain or protect such land for sanitary or agricultural purposes, without forming such land into a district, by constructing an open ditch, laying tile or building a levee, and such ditch, tile or levee may be constructed through or across any tract or parcel of land situate between such land to be drained or protected and any lake, bayou, hollow, creek, artificial drainage ditch, river, depression or other outlet into which the waters from such swamp, wet, flat or overflowed land can be drained, provided the owner or owners of the land through or upon which such ditch, tile or levee must be built be paid a sum equal to the value of land, if any, consumed in constructing such works and the amount of damages, if any, that will be sustained by such land from the construction and maintenance of the improvement.
§ 244.010, RSMo