BILL REQ. #:  H-0083.2 

Prefiled 01/03/11. Read first time 01/10/11.   Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources.

     AN ACT Relating to clarifying that water conservation practices are considered a beneficial use of water for purposes of relinquishment; and amending RCW 90.14.160.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 90.14.160 and 1981 c 291 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Any person entitled to divert or withdraw waters of the state through any appropriation authorized by enactments of the legislature prior to enactment of chapter 117, Laws of 1917, or by custom, or by general adjudication, who abandons the same, or who voluntarily fails, without sufficient cause, to beneficially use all or any part of said right to divert or withdraw for any period of five successive years after July 1, 1967, shall relinquish such right or portion thereof, and said right or portion thereof shall revert to the state, and the waters affected by said right shall become available for appropriation in accordance with RCW 90.03.250.
     (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, and in addition to RCW 90.14.140, water conservation practices by all water users are encouraged and are considered a beneficial use of the water for purposes of relinquishment.