Oregon Administrative Rules
Chapter 690 - WATER RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
Division 400 - STATE WATER RESOURCES POLICY
Section 690-400-0010 - Definitions

(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:

(10) "Non-Structural" refers to processes that primarily utilize the natural watershed or natural aquifer storage, rather than structural means.

(11)

(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:

(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:

(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.