Current through Vol. 42, No. 1, September 16, 2024
(a)
General.
(1) In determining prior rights to
groundwater the Board shall make use of all data available to it.
(2) Such data shall include, but shall not be
limited to, the names and last known mailing address of all applicants or
claimants for the use of groundwater of record with the Board, including
application number and date thereof, the legal description of the location of
the well or wells and place of use, the quantity of water applied for or
claimed in gallons or acre-feet per year, purposes of use, and amount of water
actually put to beneficial use each year.
(3) Such information shall be compiled and
made a matter of record in the office of the Board.
(b)
Tentative order of prior
groundwater rights.
(1) As soon as
data on any county has been compiled, the Board shall make an order listing the
applicants or claimants who, in the Board's opinion from the information then
available to it, are holders of prior water rights to use groundwater by virtue
of the bases described in
785:30-11-1(c).
(2) Said order shall set out the priority
date, place of well(s), parcel of land upon which the prior right was
established, and the purpose and amount of water proposed to be determined for
each applicant or claimant in the county.
(3) This order shall be plainly marked
"Tentative Order Recognizing Prior Rights in...County."
(4) The tentative order shall be an
alphabetical listing of each applicant and claimant known to the
Board.
(5) The tentative order
shall include the amount of groundwater the Board determines the applicant or
claimant has established as a prior right, the purpose of the prior right, the
location of the well or wells, and the legal description of the land on which
the prior right was perfected.
(6)
A subsection shall be included in the tentative order listing all applicants
and claimants who, according to information on file at the Oklahoma Water
Resources Board, did not perfect a prior right at the time the tentative order
was prepared as determined by the Board.
(7) In determining the amount of groundwater
used by an applicant or claimant to set out in the prior rights order, the
Board shall use the following information and presumptions absent specific
evidence to the contrary:
(A) When the amount
of water is reported by number of inches over number of acres, the water will
be calculated as such.
(B) Where
the amount of water is reported by number of acres times the number of
applications, each application will be computed as four (4) inches up to six
(6) applications, three (3) inches per application from seven (7) to ten (10)
applications; two (2) inches per application from eleven (11) to fifteen (15)
applications; and one (1) inch per application when more than sixteen
applications are applied.
(C) Where
there is evidence that groundwater was put to beneficial use, however the
number of inches applied or the number of applications is not known, the Board
will consider one (1) application or four (4) inches was applied when the
tentative order is prepared provided the number of acres irrigated is
known.
(8) Where an
application was filed for two (2) acre-feet per year when the intention was to
file for two (2) acre-feet per acre per year, the Board will consider the
application to be for two (2) acre-feet per acre per year.
(9) The following standards have been
established in order to determine prior groundwater rights:
(A) When based upon making application to the
Board prior to July 1, 1973, the amount of groundwater actually taken and
placed to beneficial use will be calculated to the last day of the second or
fifth year.
(B) When based upon
taking and using groundwater without an application to the Board prior to July
5, 1961, the priority date will be the last day of the year when the date of
first beneficial use is known only to that year, and the amount of water
actually taken and placed to beneficial use will be calculated to the last day
of the fifth year. If a crop was reported as having been irrigated the year of
first beneficial use, the priority date will be established the first day of
the growing season for that crop. The following dates shall be considered as
the beginning of the respective growing season:
(i) Winter Wheat-September 1
(ii) Sorghum-May 1
(iii) Cotton-May 1
(iv) Corn-April 1
(v) Maize-April 1
(vi) Alfalfa-March 15
(vii) Pasture-March 15
(C) Where more land was irrigated than was
requested by the application prior to July 5, 1961, and there is no indication
that the extra land is owned or leased by the applicant, the water will be
split according to the amount of water applied to the excess acres in order to
perfect the second prior right.
(c)
Notice by registered or certified
mail of hearing on tentative order. As soon as the tentative order as
determined by the Board is prepared, a copy of said order shall be forwarded by
registered or certified mail to each applicant or claimant to the use of water
within the area in which prior rights are to be determined, and a notice of a
hearing to be held thereon shall be enclosed which shall contain a statement of
the intended action, a description of the subject and issues involved, the time
when, the place where, and the manner in which interested persons may present
evidence thereon.
(d)
Published notice by newspaper of hearing on tentative order.
(1) The Board shall also give notice of such
hearing by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in each county in
which prior rights to groundwater are to be determined in the proceedings, once
a week for two (2) consecutive weeks prior to the hearing; and the last notice
shall be published at least thirty (30) days prior to the date set for the
hearing.
(2) The published notice
shall contain the date and place of the hearing together with a general
description of the location in which prior rights to the beneficial use of
ground water are to be determined and the address to which requests for a copy
of the tentative order may be sent.
(e)
Requests for tentative
orders. A copy of the tentative order shall be sent to any person
requesting same in writing to the Board.
(f)
Appearance at hearing.
(1) Any person claiming a prior right to the
beneficial use of groundwater within the area for which prior rights are to be
determined may appear at the hearing in person or be represented by legal
counsel.
(2) For an applicant or
claimant to submit evidence in support of the amount of groundwater use unknown
to the Board, said individual must sign a sworn statement setting out the
amount of groundwater used each year.
(g)
Impairment of rights. Any
party may present evidence in support of or opposition to the tentative order
of prior rights to ground water under consideration at the hearing and shall
file at the hearing, or to the Board at its office prior to the hearing, the
following:
(1) The name and post office
address of the applicant or claimant.
(2) The location of the well or wells to
which the claim relates.
(3) The
amount of water claimed or disputed.
(4) The purpose for use of the water claimed
or disputed and the place of its use.
(5) The dates of applications, if any, and
the dates of beneficial uses made.
(6) A description of the land irrigated if
the claim or contested claim relates to irrigation, together with a designation
of the number of irrigable acres in each forty (40) acre tract or fractional
part thereof.
(7) The population
served by the amount of the claim if the claim or contest relates to municipal
use.
(8) The type or kind of
industrial use if the claim or contest relates to such use.
(9) Any additional information the Board may
require.
(h)
Tentative order hearing.
(1) At
the hearing the Board shall hear the evidence of any person interested
party.
(2) The hearing record will
be left open for sixty (60) days from the hearing date to insure every party
the opportunity to submit additional evidence concerning groundwater put to
beneficial use under the requirements of the groundwater laws prior to July 1,
1973.
(3) All such evidence shall
be considered by the Board in its determination of prior rights to the
beneficial use of groundwater.
(i)
Final order determining prior
rights to groundwater. As soon as possible after the hearing, the Board
shall make and approve a final order for each county determining the prior
rights to such applicants, claimants, and contestants and the dates, place of
wells, parcels of land upon which the prior rights were established, purposes
and amounts of their prior rights, and shall notify all applicants, claimants,
and contestants as to the contents of such final order.
(j)
Service of final notice.
Service of such final notice shall be deemed completed:
(1) Upon depositing a copy of such final
order in the post office as registered or certified mail addressed to each
applicant, claimant, and contestant whose name and address is known to the
Board; and
(2) Upon the filing of
two (2) or more copies of the final order in the office of the county clerk of
each county in which prior rights were determined by the order.
(k)
Final order
conclusive. After the final order establishing prior groundwater rights
has been completed pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act (75 O.S. 1981,
§§301 et seq., as amended), no further prior groundwater rights shall
be determined within the county.
