Water Belongs to the Public
The Washington State Dept of Ecology Water
Resources web page states:
"The
waters of Washington State collectively belong to the public
and cannot be owned by any one individual or group. Instead,
individuals or groups may be granted rights to use them. A water
right is a legal authorization to use a predefined quantity of public
water for a designated purpose. This purpose must qualify as a beneficial
use. Beneficial use involves the application of a reasonable
quantity of water to a non-wasteful use, such as irrigation, domestic
water supply, or power generation, to name a few. An average
household uses about 300 gallons of water per day." <emphasis
added>
Ecology publication
98-1812-WR states that to keep a water right, it must be put to
continuous beneficial use or the right will be relinquished, with the
exceptions for municipal water supply and some extraordanary
circumstances. A notice of this is
printed on each adjudicated water right.