7882

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7882
• Author: Natural Resources Law Center.
• Title: Instream Flow Protection in the Western United States
• USFW Year: 1988.
• USFW - Doc Type: A Pratical Syposium, March 31-April 1, 1988.
• Copyright Material: NO

natural character of the river. As in Oregon, however, an

~ exception was carved out to allow for new domestic water

diversions if needed.

~

~

Prohibiting new water withdrawals is an effective way to

maintain existing instream flow levels with a minimum of

administrative red tape. This strategy, however, can prove too

restrictive for streams which, during certain seasons and wet

years, carry sufficient water for new diversions without injuring

the instream values. Consequently, a number of states have

developed more flexible alternatives for instream flow

protection.

B. WATER USE PERMIT DENIAL AND CONDITIONS
Every western state requires that an application be filed in
order to obtain a new, protectable water right. The applications
for new diversions undergo various review procedures, and the
states generally issue a permit for the new water right if it
meets approval criteria. Also, the issuing agency may condition
the permit with restrictions to prevent injury to other water
users or to promote the public interest. A number of states have
used these permit review processes as avenues for instream flow
protection.
The explicit right to protect instream flows during the
water use permitting process first appeared in the West in 1949.
In that year, the Washington state legislature empowered the
water administrative agency to deny a permit application if the
new water use might result in lowering the stream flow below the

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