H-1815.2 _______________________________________________
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1582
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State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1991 Regular Session
By House Committee on Agriculture & Rural Development (originally sponsored by Representatives H. Myers, Rayburn, Peery, Ballard and Rasmussen).
Read first time February 20, 1991.
AN ACT Relating to water rights; and adding a new section to chapter 90.14 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 90.14 RCW to read as follows:
A person may file with the department of ecology not later than August 31, 1991, a statement of claim as provided in RCW 90.14.051 (1) through (8) if: The statement embodies a claim of right to divert public waters with a priority date that is prior to June 6, 1917; and the statement is accompanied by a notarized affidavit or affidavits, relating to and supporting the rights claimed in the statement, which satisfy the requirements of this section.
Affidavits accompanying a statement filed under this section shall be signed by a person or persons who attest in the affidavit to having: (1) Witnessed personally a posting of a notice of intent to establish a water right at the point of diversion of such claimed right; and (2) direct knowledge of the diversion of waters associated with that right, through conveyance systems, to the places of beneficial use without interruption each year for the fifty-year period immediately preceding the effective date of this section.
The department shall accept any statement of claim which satisfies the requirements of this section and file the same in the water rights claims registry established by RCW 90.14.111.
Reopening the period for filing a statement of claim for a water right as provided by this section shall not affect or impair in any respect whatsoever any water right existing prior to the effective date of this section.