Or. Admin. R. 690-400-0010 - Definitions
As used in the rules contained in Divisions 400 and 410, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1)
"Allocate" means to determine allowable new uses by classifying waters through
basin program rules, withdrawing waters, reserving water for future economic
development by order, or issuing water rights for waters of the
state.
(2) "Artificial Groundwater
Recharge" means the intentional addition of water to a groundwater reservoir by
diversion from another source (OAR 690-011-0010(2)).
(3) "Beneficial Use" means an instream public
use or a use of water for the benefit of an appropriator for a purpose
consistent with the laws and the economic and general welfare of the people of
the state and includes, but is not limited to, domestic, fish life, industrial,
irrigation, mining, municipal, pollution abatement, power development,
recreation, stockwater and wildlife uses.
(4) "Capacity of the Resource" means the
ability of a surface water or groundwater resource to sustain a balance of
public and private uses without causing over-appropriation or otherwise
significantly impairing the function or character of the resource.
(5) "Conservation" means eliminating waste or
otherwise improving efficiency in the use of water while satisfying beneficial
uses by modifying the technology or method for diverting, transporting,
applying or recovering the water, by changing management of water use, or by
implementing other measures.
(6)
"Customary Quantity" means the rate or annual amount of appropriation or
diversion of water ordinarily used by an appropriator within the terms of that
appropriator's water right (OAR 690-008-0001(3)).
(7) "Emergencies" means situations, including
but not limited to wildfire, flooding, and toxic spills, which pose an
immediate and significant threat to life, health, property, or water or
riparian resources.
(8) "Management
Activity" means an activity in a riparian area which is planned and undertaken
to extract, manipulate, or control natural resources or natural processes.
Management activities include but are not limited to timber harvest,
reforestation, road construction or reconstruction, spraying of herbicides or
pesticides, grazing, mining, or cultivation.
(9) "Mitigation" means the reduction of
adverse effects of a proposed project or activity by considering, in the
following order:
(a) Avoiding the impact
altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action;
(b) Minimizing impacts by limiting the degree
or magnitude of the action and its implementation;
(c) Rectifying the impact by repairing,
rehabilitating or restoring the affected environments;
(d) Reducing or eliminating the impact over
time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action
by monitoring and taking appropriate corrective measures; and
(e) Compensating for the impact by replacing
or providing conditions of comparable substitute value.
(10) "Non-Structural" refers to processes
that primarily utilize the natural watershed or natural aquifer storage, rather
than structural means.
(11)
(a) "Over-Appropriated" means a condition of
water allocation in which:
(A) The quantity of
surface water available during a specified period is not sufficient to meet the
expected demands from all water rights at least 80 percent of the time during
that period; or
(B) The
appropriation of groundwater resources by all water rights exceeds the average
annual recharge to a groundwater source over the period of record or results in
the further depletion of already over-appropriated surface waters.
(b) The standards for determining
over-appropriation described in paragraph (A) of this subsection shall apply to
water availability determination for permit applications submitted after July
17, 1992.
(12) "Public
Interest", as a standard for reviewing new uses of water, means a beneficial
use which is consistent with state law and includes providing the greatest good
for the people of the state based on current values, protecting water rights
and conserving water resources for present and future generations.
(13) "Public Use" means an instream use of
water that is available to the public at large. It includes but is not limited
to:
(a) Recreation;
(b) Protection and enhancement of fish life,
wildlife, fish and wildlife habitat and any other ecological values;
(c) Pollution abatement;
(d) Navigation;
(e) Scenic attraction; and
(f) Any other similar or related
use.
(14) "Riparian Area"
means the zone of transition from an aquatic ecosystem to a terrestrial
ecosystem, dependent upon surface or subsurface water, that reveals through the
zone's existing or potential soil-vegetation complex, the influence of such
surface or subsurface water. A riparian area may be located adjacent to a lake,
reservoir, estuary, pothole, bog, wet meadow, muskeg, or ephemeral,
intermittent or perennial stream.
(15) "Storage" means the retention or
impoundment of surface or groundwater by natural and/or artificial means for
public or private uses and benefits.
(16) "Waste" means the continued use of more
water than is needed to satisfy the specific beneficial uses for which a right
was granted. The need for water shall be based on using the technology and
management practices that provide for the efficient use of water considering:
(a) The economic feasibility of use of the
technology and management practices by the water user;
(b) The environmental impacts of making
modifications;
(c) The available
proven technology;
(d) The time
needed to make modifications;
(e)
Local variations in soil type and weather; and
(f) Relevant water management plans and
subbasin conservation plans.
(17) "Watershed" means the entire land area
drained by a stream or system of connected streams such that all stream flow
originating in the area is discharged through a single
outlet.
Notes
Stat. Auth.: ORS 536.025, ORS 536.220 & ORS 536.300 - ORS 536.340
Stats. Implemented: ORS 536.025, ORS 536.220 & ORS 536.300 - ORS 536.340
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