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WATER RESOURCES DEPARTMENT









 

DIVISION 300
DEFINITIONS

690-300-0010
Definitions
The following definitions apply
in OAR chapter 690, divisions 15, 310, 320, 330, 340, and 350 and to any permits,
certificates or transfers issued under these rules:
(1) "Affected Local Government"
means any local government as defined in OAR 690-005-0015 within whose jurisdiction
water is or would be diverted, conveyed, or used under a proposed or approved permit,
water right transfer, or certificate.
(2) "Agricultural Water Use"
means the use of water related to the production of agricultural products. These
uses include, but are not limited to, construction, operation and maintenance of
agricultural facilities and livestock sanitation at farms, ranches, dairies and
nurseries. Examples of these uses include, but are not limited to, dust control,
temperature control, animal waste management, barn or farm sanitation, dairy operation,
and fire control. Such use shall not include irrigation.
(3) "Aquatic Life Water Use"
means the use of water to support natural or artificial propagation and sustenance
of fish and other aquatic life.
(4) "Artificial Groundwater
Recharge" means the intentional addition of water to a groundwater reservoir by
diversion from another source.
(5) "Beneficial Use" means the
reasonably efficient use of water without waste for a purpose consistent with the
laws, rules and the best interests of the people of the state.
(6) "Commercial Water Use" means
use of water related to the production, sale or delivery of goods, services or commodities
by a public or private entity. These uses include, but are not limited to, construction,
operation and maintenance of commercial facilities. Examples of commercial facilities
include, but are not limited to, an office, resort, recreational facility, motel,
hotel, gas station, kennel, store, medical facility, and veterinary hospital. Examples
of water uses in such facilities include, but are not limited to, human consumption,
sanitation, food processing, and fire protection. Such uses shall not include irrigation
or landscape maintenance of more than 1/2 acre. Notwithstanding this definition,
exempt commercial water use under Division 340 does not include irrigation or landscape
maintenance.
(7) "Comment" means a written
statement concerning a particular proposed water use. The comment may identify elements
of the application which, in the opinion of the commenter, would conflict with an
existing water right or would impair or be detrimental to the public interest.
(8) "Commission" means the Water
Resources Commission.
(9) "Contested Case" means a
hearing before the Department or Commission as defined in ORS 183.310(2) and conducted
according to the procedures described in ORS Chapter 53, ORS 183.413 - 183.497 and
OAR Chapter 690, Division 2.
(10) "Cranberry Use" means all
necessary beneficial uses of water for growing, protecting and harvesting cranberries.
Examples of these uses include, but are not limited to, irrigation of cranberries
or other crops in rotation, chemical application, flooding for harvesting or pest
control, and temperature control.
(11) "Deficiency of Rate Right"
means an additional right allowed from the same source for the same use at the same
place of use when
an earlier right does not allow a full duty or rate of flow of water.
(12) "Department" means the Water Resources
Department.
(13) "Director" means the Director
of the Department.
(14) "Domestic Water Use" means
the use of water for human consumption, household purposes, domestic animal consumption
that is ancillary to residential use of the property or related accessory uses.
(15) "Domestic Use Expanded"
means the use of water, in addition to that allowed for domestic use, for watering
up to 1/2-acre of lawn or noncommercial garden.
(16) "Drainage Basin", as used
in OAR 690-340-0020, 690-340-0030 and 690-340-0050, means hydrologic unit delineated
as a cataloging unit by the US geological Survey Office of Water Data Coordination
on the State Hydrologic Unit map.
(17) "Fire Protection Water
Use" means the use and storage of water for the purpose of extinguishing fires or
reducing the potential outbreak of fires.
(18) "Fish Bypass Structure",
as used in OAR 690-340-0010, means any pipe, flume, open channel or other means
of conveyance that transports fish that have entered a water diversion structure
back to the body of water from which the fish were diverted.
(19) "Fish Screen", as used
in OAR 690-340-0010, means a screen, bar, rack trap or other barrier at a water
diversion to entrap or provide adequate protection for fish populations, including
related improvements necessary to insure its effective operation.
(20) "Fishway," as used in OAR
690-340-0010, means any structure, facility or device used to facilitate upstream
or downstream passage of fish through, over or around any man-made or natural barrier
to free movement.
(21) "Forestland and Rangeland
Management," as used in Chapter 595, Oregon Laws 1993, means water used for operations
conducted on or pertaining to forestlands and rangelands. Such uses may include,
but are not limited to, reforestation, road construction and maintenance, harvesting,
vegetation management, and disposal of slash. Such use shall not include irrigation.
(22) "Groundwater Reservoir"
means a designated body of standing or moving groundwater as defined in ORS 537.515(5).
(23) "Group Domestic Water Use"
means the use of water for domestic water use by more than one residence or dwelling
unit.
(24) "Human Consumption" means
the use of water for the purposes of drinking, cooking, and sanitation.
(25) "Industrial Water Use"
means the use of water associated with the processing or manufacture of a product.
These uses include, but are not limited to, construction, operation and maintenance
of an industrial site, facilities and buildings and related uses. Examples of these
uses include, but are not limited to, general construction; road construction; non-hydroelectric
power production, including down-hole heat exchange and geothermal; agricultural
or forest product processing; and fire protection. Such use shall not include irrigation
or landscape maintenance of more than 1/2 acre. Notwithstanding this definition,
exempt industrial water use under Division 340 does not include irrigation or landscape
maintenance.
(26) "Irrigation" means the
artificial application of water to crops or plants by controlled means to promote
growth or nourish crops or plants. Examples of these uses include, but are not limited
to, watering of an agricultural crop, commercial garden, tree farm, orchard, park,
golf course, play field or vineyard and alkali abatement.
(27) "Mining Water Use" means
the use of water for extraction, preliminary grading, or processing of minerals
or aggregate at a mining site or construction, operation and maintenance of a mining
site. These uses include, but are not limited to, general construction, road construction,
and dust control. Examples of mining include, but are not limited to, aggregate,
hard rock, heap leach and placer mining.
(28) "Municipal Corporation"
means any county, city, town or district as defined in ORS 198.010 or 198.180(5)
that is authorized by law to supply water for usual and ordinary municipal water
uses.
(29) "Municipal Water Use" means
the delivery and use of water through the water service system of a municipal corporation
for all water uses usual and ordinary to such systems. Examples of these water uses
shall include but are not limited to domestic water use, irrigation of lawns and
gardens, commercial water use, industrial water use, fire protection, irrigation
and other water uses in park and recreation facilities, and street washing. Such
uses shall not include generation of hydroelectric power.
(30) "Nursery Operations Use"
means the use of water for operation of a commercial nursery which may include temperature
control, watering of containerized stock, soil preparation, application of chemicals
or fertilizers, watering within greenhouses and uses to construct, operate and maintain
nursery facilities. The use of water within plant nursery operations constitutes
a different use from field irrigation, although that may be a part of nursery use.
If used for field irrigation for nursery stock, such use is not restricted to the
defined agricultural irrigation season.
(31) "Off-Channel" means outside
a natural waterway of perceptible extent which, during average water years, seasonally
or continuously contains moving water that flows off the property owned by the applicant
and has a definite bed and banks which serve to confine the water. "Off-channel"
may include the collection of storm water run-off, snow melt or seepage which, during
average water years, does not flow through a defined channel and does not flow off
the property owned by the applicant.
(32) "Planned" means a determination
has been made for a specific course of action either by a legislative, administrative
or budgetary action of a public body, or by engineering, design work, or other investment
toward approved construction by both the public and private sector.
(33) "Planned Uses" means the
use or uses of water or land which has/have been planned as defined in this section.
Such uses include, but are not limited to, the uses approved in the policies, provisions,
and maps contained in acknowledged city and county comprehensive plans and land
use regulations.
(34) "Pollution Abatement or
Pollution Prevention Water Use" means the use of water to dilute, transport or prevent
pollution.
(35) "Power Development Water
Use" means the use of the flow of water to develop electrical or mechanical power.
Examples of these uses include, but are not limited to, the use of water for the
operation of a hydraulic ram or water wheel and hydroelectric power production.
(36) "Primary Right" means the
right to store water in a reservoir or the water right designated by the commission
as the principle water supply for the authorized use, or if no designation has been
made, the first in time or initial appropriation.
(37) "Proposed Certificate"
means a draft version of a water right certificate describing the elements and extent
of the water right developed under the terms of a permit or transfer approval order,
as determined by field investigation.
(38) "Protest" means a written
statement expressing disagreement with a proposed final order that is filed in the
manner and has the content described in ORS 537.145 to 537.240.
(39) "Public Corporation" means
a corporation which operates subject to control by a local government entity or
officers of a local government and which, at least in part, is organized to serve
a public purpose of, and receives public funds or other support having monetary
value, from such government.
(40) "Quasi-Municipal Water
Use" means the delivery and use of water through the water service system of a corporation
other than a public corporation created for the purpose of operating a water supply
system, for those uses usual and ordinary to municipal water use, or a federally
recognized Indian tribe that operates a water supply system for uses usual and ordinary
to a municipal water use. A quasi-municipal water right shall not be granted the
statutory municipal preferences given to a municipality under ORS 537.190(2), 537.230(1),
537.352, 537.410(2), 540.510(3), 540.610(2), (3), or those preferences over minimum
streamflows designated in a basin program.
(41) "Rate and Duty of Water
for Irrigation" means the maximum flow of water in cubic feet per second or gallons
per minute (instantaneous rate) and the total volume of water in acre-feet per acre
per year that may be diverted for irrigation.
(42)
"Recharge Permit" means a permit for the appropriation of water for the purpose
of artificial groundwater recharge.
(43) "Recreation Water Use" means the use
of water for play, relaxation or amusement. Examples of these uses include, but
are not limited to boating, fishing, wading, swimming, and scenic values. (44) "Riparian
Area" means a 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,
spring, bog, wet meadow, or ephemeral, intermittent or perennial stream.
(45) "Secondary Groundwater
Permit" means a permit for the appropriation of groundwater which was stored through
the exercise of a recharge permit or certificate.
(46) "Stockwater Use" means
the use of water for consumption by domesticated animals and wild animals held in
captivity as pets or for profit.
(47) "Storage" means the retention
or impoundment of surface or groundwater by artificial means for public or private
uses and benefits.
(48) "Stored Recharge Water"
means groundwater which results from artificial groundwater recharge.
(49) "Storage Account" means
a net volume of artificially recharged groundwater which is calculated for a single
recharge activity from a formula specified in a single recharge permit which records
additions to a groundwater reservoir by artificial recharge and depletions from
a groundwater reservoir by pumping and natural losses.
(50) "Storm Water Management
Water Use" means the use or storage of water in any structure or drainage way that
is designed, constructed and maintained to collect and filter, retain or detain
surface water runoff during and after a storm event for the purpose of water quality
improvement, flood control or property protection. It may also include, but is not
limited to, existing features such as wetlands, water quality swales, and ponds
which are maintained as storm water quality facilities.
(51) "Stream or Riparian Area
Enhancement Water Use" means the use of water to restore or enhance a stream or
riparian area.
(52) "Supplemental Water Right
or Supplemental Water Use Permit" means an additional appropriation of water to
make up a deficiency in supply from an existing water right. A supplemental water
right is used in conjunction with a primary water right.
(53) "Surplus Waters" means
all waters in excess of those needed to satisfy current existing rights and minimum
streamflows established by the Commission.
(54) "Temperature Control" means
the use of water to protect a growing crop from damage from extreme temperatures.
(55) "Transfer" means a change
of use or place of use or point of diversion of a water right.
(56) "Wastewater" means water
that has been diverted under an authorized water right after it is beyond the control
of the owner or that right but has not yet returned to the channel of a natural
stream. In an irrigation district, the wastewater of an individual user is not subject
to appropriation until it leaves the boundaries of the district. Wastewater abandoned
to the channel of a natural stream becomes a part of that stream and is subject
to appropriation.
(57) "Water is Available," when
used in OAR 690-310-0080, 690-310-0110 and 690-310-0130, means:
(a) The requested source is
not over-appropriated under OAR 690-400-0010 and 690-410-0070 during any period
of the proposed use; or
(b) If the requested source
is already over-appropriated for any portion of the period of use proposed in a
new application:
(A) The applicant can show the
proposed use requires water only during the period of time in which the requested
source is not already over-appropriated;
(B) The applicant has obtained
or has shown the applicant can obtain authorization to use water from an alternate
source to provide water needed during any period of use in which the source is over-appropriated;
or
(C) If the applicant has shown
they can obtain authorization to use water from an alternate source during the time
water is unavailable, the department conditions the approval of the application
to require that prior to diversion of water the applicant obtains authorization
for use of water from the alternate source.
(c) For surface water applications
received before July 17, 1992, the provisions of subsection (a) of this section
shall apply except that the determination of whether a requested source is over-appropriated
under OAR 690-400-0010 and 690-410-0070 shall be based upon whether the quantity
of water available during a specified period is not sufficient to meet the expected
demands for all water rights at least 50 percent of the time during that period.
(58) "Water Availability Analysis"
means the investigation of stream flow or groundwater measurement records, watermaster
distribution records, flow requirements of existing water rights, stream flow modeling
in ungauged basins, minimum perennial streamflows, or scenic waterway flow requirements
to determine if water is available to support the proposed water use.
(59) "Water Right Subject to
a Transfer" means a right established by a court decree or evidenced by a valid
water right certificate, or a right for which proof of beneficial use of water under
a water right permit or transfer has been submitted to and approved by the Director
but for which a certificate has not yet been issued.
(60) "Wetland" means an area
that is inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration
sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence
of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.
(61) "Wetland Enhancement Water
Use" means the use of water to restore, create, or enhance or maintain wetland resources.
(62) "Wildlife Water Use" means
the use of water by or for sustaining wildlife species and their habitat.
Stat. Auth.: ORS 536.027

Stats. Implemented: ORS 536,
537, 539, 540 & 541

Hist.: WRD 6-1987, f. &
ef. 6-11-87; WRD 5-1988, f. & cert. ef. 6-28-88; WRD 12-1990, f. & cert.
ef. 8-8-90; WRD 16-1990, f. & cert. ef. 8-23-90; WRD 9-1992, f. & cert.
ef. 7-1-92; WRD 4-1993, f. & cert. ef. 10-7-93; WRD 6-1993, f. & cert. ef.
11-30-93; WRD 5-1994, f. & cert. ef. 4-13-94; WRD 7-1994, f. & cert. ef.
6-14-94; WRD 5-1995(Temp), f. & cert. ef. 8-4-95; WRD 1-1996, f. & cert.
ef. 1-31-96, Renumbered from 690-011-0010; WRD 3-1996, f. & cert. ef. 3-15-96;
WRD 2-1998, f. & cert. ef. 10-13-98; WRD 1-2012, f 1-31-12, cert. ef. 2-1-12

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