In Oregon, all water belongs to the public, and using it almost always requires permission from the state. Oregon water rights are issued by the Oregon Water Resources Department under a priority system known as prior appropriation: whoever secured a right first on a given source gets served first when supply runs short.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 537 – Appropriation of Water Generally Owning the land above an aquifer or beside a stream does not, by itself, give you the right to use that water.2Oregon Water Resources Department. Water Rights A limited set of small domestic and stock uses are exempt, but most irrigation, commercial, and municipal diversions need a permit.
Who Owns the Water and Who Gets It First
The state retains ownership of the resource. A water right is a right to use water, not to own it, and it ties you to a specific source, a specific quantity, a specific point of diversion, and a specific place and type of use. Change any of those elements without approval and you have exceeded your authorization.
Priority is the heart of the system. The holder with the earliest priority date is senior, and their right must be fully satisfied before anyone junior gets water.3Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 537.120 – Right of Appropriation; Vested Rights Protected In dry years, a state-appointed watermaster physically regulates headgates and control works, shutting off junior users so senior users receive their allotment.4Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 540 – Distribution and Storage of Water When shortage is severe, the law also establishes a preference order among competing uses: domestic first, then agricultural, then manufacturing.
Every valid right also rests on beneficial use. Beneficial use is the basis of the right, the measure of how much water you can take, and the ceiling on your authority. Recognized categories include irrigation, municipal supply, industrial operations, livestock watering, fish and wildlife habitat, and hydropower, among others.5Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 540.610 – Use as Measure of Water Right; Forfeiture for Nonuse; Confirmation of Rights of Municipalities
Exempt Uses That Do Not Require a Permit
Several categories of groundwater use are exempt from the full permit process. These exemptions matter most for rural property owners:6Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 537.545 – Exempt Uses; Map; Filing of Use; Fee
- Domestic use up to 15,000 gallons per day for a single home or group of homes.
- Stock watering, with no daily cap unless use exceeds 12,000 gallons per day at a new confined animal feeding operation.
- Noncommercial lawn and garden irrigation up to half an acre.
- A single commercial or industrial use up to 5,000 gallons per day.
- Down-hole geothermal heat exchange systems, where water circulates underground but is not consumed.
Two limits on these exemptions catch people out. First, they apply only to groundwater. Diverting from a stream or river for any purpose requires a permit. Second, exempt groundwater users still have to comply with well construction standards and submit a start card before drilling.
A common misstep: a buyer drills a well for the household under the domestic exemption, then starts irrigating several acres of crops from it. That irrigation blows past the exempt thresholds and requires its own water right. The exemption covers your household, your half-acre garden, and your livestock trough. It does not cover a farm operation.
How to Get a New Water Right
Oregon treats a new right as something you build toward in three stages rather than something handed to you at the start.7Oregon Water Resources Department. Apply for a Water Use Permit
- You apply to the Oregon Water Resources Department. If approved, the permit authorizes you to construct your diversion works and begin using water within specific time limits.
- You put the water to the approved beneficial use by building the system and actually diverting and applying water.
- You hire a certified water right examiner to survey your actual use and submit a map and report. If everything checks out, the department issues a water right certificate, the final, perfected right.8Oregon Water Resources Department. Certificates
The certificate is the goal. It is the permanent record of a fully developed right, and you need one before you can apply for a transfer or change of use. Many buyers of rural Oregon property do not realize that a permit alone is not a perfected right. If the previous owner never completed the beneficial use survey, the right is not fully established.
What the Application Requires
The application calls for detailed technical information. You need a legal description of the proposed point of diversion by township, range, and section. You must state the quantity requested, measured in cubic feet per second for surface water or gallons per minute for groundwater. You declare your intended beneficial use and show ownership of the land or written consent from the landowner.
A scaled map in permanent ink accompanies the application, showing the diversion point, the distribution system, and the boundaries of the place of use, with tax lot identification, a directional symbol, and reference to a recognized survey corner. Incomplete applications are returned, and the department gives you a limited window to fix the problems before the filing lapses.
Filing Fees
Fees are higher than many applicants expect. A surface water application starts at a base fee of $1,635, and a groundwater application starts at $2,355. On top of the base, you pay $615 for the first cubic foot per second of water requested and another $615 for each additional cubic foot per second. Extra charges apply for each additional point of diversion, well, or use beyond the first.9Oregon Water Resources Department. Oregon Water Resources Department Fee Schedule Smaller reservoir projects storing less than 9.2 acre-feet qualify for a reduced base fee of $720. These fees are nonrefundable if your application is denied.
Public Notice and Protests
Once the department accepts your application as complete, it publishes a public notice. Existing water right holders and the general public can formally challenge the application during a protest period, usually arguing that the new diversion would impair existing rights, harm the public interest, or is not needed for beneficial use.10Oregon Water Resources Department. Water Rights Process Improvement Protests are more common than applicants expect in over-allocated basins, and a contested case can add significant time and legal cost before a final decision issues.
Use It or Lose It: Forfeiture for Nonuse
If you stop using a water right for five consecutive years, the state presumes you have forfeited it.5Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 540.610 – Use as Measure of Water Right; Forfeiture for Nonuse; Confirmation of Rights of Municipalities The presumption is rebuttable. You can fight it by showing the nonuse resulted from economic hardship, that the land was enrolled in a federal conservation program, or that the alleged period of nonuse ended more than fifteen years before the state initiated proceedings.11Oregon Public Law. OAR 690-017-0800 – Grounds for and Manner of Rebutting a Presumption of Forfeiture Municipal water rights receive additional protection and are generally not subject to forfeiture.
The practical lesson: if you acquire property with a water right, use it. Even partial use of the allocated water can preserve the right. Letting it sit idle for years creates a real risk of losing a valuable property interest that may be impossible to replace.
Transferring or Changing a Right
Water rights in Oregon are appurtenant to the land where they are used. You cannot simply move them to a different property or switch their purpose without state approval.4Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 540 – Distribution and Storage of Water To change the place of use, point of diversion, or type of use, you file a transfer application describing both the current and proposed use, the reasons for the change, and evidence that you have actually used the water right within the past five years or that it is not subject to forfeiture.
The department publishes notice of most transfer applications and opens a protest period. The core standard is straightforward: the commission approves the transfer only if it can be made without injuring existing water rights. A transfer preserves the original priority date, so you do not lose your place in line when you change how or where you use the water.
This process matters most during property sales. When you buy land with an irrigation right and want to convert it to a different use, you need the transfer approved before making the switch. A real estate listing may advertise a water right, but if the right has not been exercised in years or was never certificated, its practical value may be far less than advertised.
Drilling a Well: Start Cards and Licensed Drillers
All wells in Oregon must be constructed by a licensed well constructor. Before any work begins, the driller must submit a start card to the Water Resources Department, filed no earlier than 60 days and no later than 72 hours before work begins. The card requires GPS coordinates, proposed depth and diameter, intended use, and the driller’s license number.12Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 537.762 – Submitting Start Card Before Beginning Work on Well
The start card fee is $350, and the card expires if construction does not begin within 60 days. On the day work actually starts, the driller must notify the department before turning on the rig. These requirements apply whether you need a permit or are drilling an exempt-use domestic well. Skipping the start card or hiring an unlicensed driller puts you on the wrong side of state regulations before you have pumped a single gallon.
Senior Claims That Can Outrank Yours
A new state permit does not sit at the top of the priority ladder. Two categories of senior claims can curtail a junior diversion even in basins where water appears available on paper.
Instream water rights are held in trust by the Water Resources Department for the public and require no physical diversion. They exist to support recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, pollution control, and navigation.13Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 537.332 – Definitions for ORS 537.332 to 537.360 They participate in the same priority system as diversion rights, so an instream right with an earlier priority date than your irrigation permit can trigger curtailment of your diversion to keep water in the stream. This is part of why permit applications in ecologically sensitive basins face heightened scrutiny.
Federal reserved rights, established under the Winters doctrine from the 1908 Supreme Court decision in Winters v. United States, hold that when the federal government created an Indian reservation, it implicitly reserved enough water to fulfill the reservation’s purpose. These rights carry a priority date tied to the creation of the reservation, which nearly always predates state-granted rights in the area, and they cannot be forfeited through nonuse. In Oregon, the Klamath Tribes’ rights were recognized in the United States v. Adair litigation and are being quantified through the Klamath Basin Adjudication, which has directly constrained how much water is available for other users in the basin. If you are acquiring rights in a basin where tribal or federal claims exist, your state-issued permit sits below them, and during shortages those claims are satisfied first.
Federal Permits for Diversion Structures
Building a dam, levee, or other physical structure to divert water can trigger federal permitting on top of Oregon’s state process. Under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, you need a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before placing dredged or fill material in waters of the United States, which includes wetlands, streams, and rivers.14U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Permit Program Under CWA Section 404 Projects with minimal impact may qualify for a general permit with streamlined review. Larger projects need an individual permit and a public interest review, and a major federal action can also trigger environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. None of this replaces the state water right. An approved Oregon permit does not exempt you from federal requirements for the physical infrastructure.