74th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2007 Regular Session
 
NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
 { +  braces and plus signs + } .
 
LC 432
 
                         House Bill 2100
 
Ordered printed by the Speaker pursuant to House Rule 12.00A (5).
  Presession filed (at the request of Governor Theodore R.
  Kulongoski for Water Resources Department)
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
 
  Provides that use of water for nonemergency fire-fighting
training is exempt from requirements for application, permit or
certificate.
 
                        A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to nonemergency fire-fighting training; amending ORS
  537.141.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
  SECTION 1. ORS 537.141 is amended to read:
  537.141. (1) The following water uses do not require an
application under ORS 537.130 or 537.615, a water right permit
under ORS 537.211 or a water right certificate under ORS 537.250:
  (a) Emergency fire-fighting uses;
  (b) Nonemergency fire-fighting training   { - conducted by
public fire departments and rural fire protection districts - } ,
provided:
  (A) The source of the water is existing storage and the use
occurs with permission of the owner of the stored water; or
  (B) If the source of water is other than existing storage, the
use occurs with the prior written approval of the watermaster in
the district where the training will take place and subject to
any conditions the watermaster determines are necessary to
prevent injury to existing water rights and to protect in-stream
resources;
  (c) Water uses that divert water to water tanks or troughs from
a reservoir for a use allowed under an existing water right
permit or certificate for the reservoir;
  (d) Fish screens, fishways and fish by-pass structures, as
exempted by rule of the Water Resources Commission;
  (e) Land management practices intended to save soil and improve
water quality by temporarily impeding or changing the natural
flow of diffuse surface water across agricultural lands when
storage of public waters is not an intended purpose. Such
practices include but are not limited to:
  (A) Terraces;
  (B) Dikes;
  (C) Retention dams and other temporary impoundments; and
 
 
  (D) Agronomic practices designed to improve water quality and
control surface runoff to prevent erosion, such as ripping,
pitting, rough tillage and cross slope farming;
  (f) Livestock watering operations that comply with the
requirements under subsections (2) and (3) of this section;
  (g) Forest management activities that require the use of water
in conjunction with mixing pesticides as defined in ORS 634.006,
or in slash burning;
  (h) The collection of precipitation water from an artificial
impervious surface and the use of such water;
  (i) Land application of ground water so long as the ground
water:
  (A) Has first been appropriated and used under a permit or
certificate issued under ORS 537.625 or 537.630 for a water right
issued for industrial purposes or a water right authorizing use
of water for confined animal feeding purposes;
  (B) Is reused for irrigation purposes and the period of
irrigation is a period during which the reused water has never
been discharged to the waters of the state; and
  (C) Is applied pursuant to a permit issued by the Department of
Environmental Quality or the State Department of Agriculture
under either ORS 468B.050 to construct and operate a disposal
system or ORS 468B.215 to operate a confined animal feeding
operation; and
  (j) Surface mining practices that result in the removal of
water from a surface mine subject to an operating permit or
reclamation plan approved by the State Department of Geology and
Mineral Industries, unless the water is used for a subsequent
beneficial use.
  (2) The use of surface water for livestock watering may be
exempted under subsection (1) of this section if:
  (a) The water is diverted from a stream or other surface water
source to a trough or tank through an enclosed water delivery
system;
  (b) The delivery system either is equipped with an automatic
shutoff or flow control mechanism or includes a means for
returning water to the surface water source through an enclosed
delivery system; and
  (c) The operation is located on land from which the livestock
would otherwise have legal access to both the use and source of
the surface water source.
  (3) If the diversion system described in subsection (2) of this
section is located within or above a scenic waterway, the amount
of water that may be used without a water right is limited to
one-tenth of one cubic foot per second per 1,000 head of
livestock. Nothing in this section shall prevent the Water
Resources Commission from approving an application for a water
right permit for a delivery system not qualifying under
subsection (2) of this section.
  (4) The Water Resources Department, in conjunction with local
soil and water conservation districts, the Oregon State
University Extension Service, the State Department of Agriculture
and the State Department of Fish and Wildlife and any other
organization interested in participating, shall develop and
implement a voluntary educational program on livestock management
techniques designed to keep livestock away from streams and
riparian areas.
  (5) To qualify for an exempt use under subsection (1)(g) of
this section, the user shall:
  (a) Submit notice of the proposed use, including the
identification of the proposed water source, to the Water
Resources Department and to the State Department of Fish and
Wildlife at the time notice is provided to other affected
agencies pursuant to ORS 527.670; and
 
 
  (b) Comply with any restrictions imposed by the department
pertaining to sources of water that may not be used in
conjunction with the proposed activity.
  (6) Except for the use of water under subsection (1)(i) of this
section, the Water Resources Commission by rule may require any
person or public agency diverting water as described in
subsection (1) of this section to furnish information with regard
to such water and the use thereof. For a use of water described
in subsection (1)(i) of this section, the Department of
Environmental Quality or the State Department of Agriculture
shall provide to the Water Resources Department a copy of the
permit issued under ORS 468B.050 or 468B.215 authorizing the land
application of ground water for reuse. The permit shall provide
the information regarding the place of use of such water and the
nature of the beneficial reuse.
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