Or. Admin. Code § 690-028-0010 - Definitions

The following definitions apply in OAR Chapter 690, Division 28:

(1) "Adjudication Process" is the process for making final determinations of the extent of vested water rights and federal reserved rights within a stream basin as set out in ORS Chapter 539.

(2) "Beneficial Uses" are as defined under OAR Chapter 690, Division 11.

(3) "Claim" means a completed statement and proof of claim concerning a pre-1909 vested water right, or a federal reserved water right as described in ORS Chapter 539, or a right to the use of spring waters under ORS 537.599.

(4) "Claimant" means any person asserting ownership of rights to the use of surface or spring waters of the State of Oregon or on whose behalf ownership of rights to the use of water is asserted. The rights asserted shall be undetermined vested or spring rights not evidenced by a court decree issued pursuant to ORS Chapter 539, or be federal reserved rights. "Claimant" includes, but is not limited to, registrants, an individual Indian or Indian Tribe, or the federal government acting on its own behalf or on the behalf of an Indian Tribe or an individual Indian.

(5) "Department" means the Oregon Water Resources Department.

(6) "Director" means the Water Resources Director.

(7) "Documentation" includes but is not limited to:

(a) Statements of persons having knowledge of historical use of water;

(b) A true copy of the original land patent taking the land in question from the public domain;

(c) A true copy of the original government land office survey map;

(d) A document that substantiates the time the project was initiated or constructed;

(e) Contracts, agreements or stipulations between water users that define rotation agreements, uses along a common ditch, or other conditions to reduce conflicts among users;

(f) A true copy of Congressional Legislation, Presidential Order, Indian Treaty, or Court Order setting aside lands as a federal reservation; or

(g) Other relevant documents or information tending to establish the water right.

(8) "Federal Reserved Water Right" means the right for a quantity of water necessary to satisfy the primary purpose or purposes of lands set aside by the United States government as a federal reservation, or a right derived from such rights. The reservation shall be documented in an original Congressional Act, Presidential Order, Indian Treaty, or Court Order.

(9) "Final Order of Registration" means the final order which contains the Director's findings of fact and determines the rights to the use of water for a particular registration. This order is valid from the time it is entered into the records of the Department until an order of determination is submitted to the Circuit Court.

(10) "Inchoate Right" means a right to the use of water that began prior to February 24, 1909, or as part of a federal reserved right that has passed into non-federal ownership, or as part of an Indian reserved right for practicably irrigable acreage that has passed into non-Indian ownership. The right must be put to full beneficial use and perfected with reasonable diligence.

(11) "Indian" means any federally recognized tribe of Indians or any enrolled member of such tribe.

(12) "Instream" means within the stream channel, lake bed or place where water naturally flows or occurs. An instream water right does not require a diversion or any other means of physical control over the water.

(13) "Instream Flow Requirement" means the amount of water required for aquatic life, fish life, wildlife, fish and wildlife habitat, or other federal reserved water right for which there is no diversion from a stream.

(14) "Order of Determination" means the final summary document submitted to the Circuit Court which contains the Director's findings of fact and establishes all of the vested and reserved rights to the waters within the general stream basin being adjudicated.

(15) "Party" includes all claimants and all holders of permitted, certificated, or decreed water rights on a stream subject to the adjudication.

(16) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision, private organization of any character, the State of Oregon or any political subdivision thereof, the United States, an Indian Tribe, or any state or federal agency.

(17) "Practicably Irrigable Acreage" means lands that were set aside as part of an Indian treaty or which derived from Indian treaty rights for the purpose of developing agricultural benefits. The lands shall be capable of being identified as agricultural lands. Agricultural lands in general are lands which with water applied without waste in amounts common to current reasonable farming practices, can produce specific crops suited to the local climate. The land must be capable of sustaining production for a reasonable number of years to offset the initial investment of farm improvements. The land shall have been part of an Indian reservation, continuously under Indian ownership and need not be irrigated now.

(18) "Proposed Order of Registration" means a proposed order containing the Director's findings of fact and determines the right to the use of waters for a particular registration. If the registrant does not request a hearing on this order it becomes a final order of registration.

(19) "Registrant" means any person who has filed a registration statement under ORS 539.240 or ORS 537.800, or any person or owner on whose behalf a registration statement is filed.

(20) "Registration Statement" means a completed form in writing making claim to an undetermined vested right to appropriate surface water under ORS 539.010, or to a federal reserved right under ORS 539.230 and 539.240, or a right to the use of spring waters under 537.800.

(21) "Statement and Proof of Claim" means a completed form in writing, under oath to be submitted at the time of the taking of testimony pursuant to ORS 539.070.

(22) "Testimony" means oral or written statements under oath provided to support the previously filed registration statement or statement and proof of claim.

(23) "Undetermined Vested Right" means any right to the use of waters of the State of Oregon initiated prior to February 24, 1909, under state common law or statute, or a federal reserved right which is not evidenced by any decree issued pursuant to ORS Chapter 539.

Notes

Or. Admin. Code § 690-028-0010

WRD 22-1988, f. & cert. ef. 12-14-88; WRD 10-1990, f. & cert. ef. 7-20-90