100 years of water law: A history of Washington state water rights

For generations, our state's water has been essential for our homes, farms, industries, and recreation. Water is essential to life, but not an unlimited resource. That's why Washington State has a water code to protect future water supplies. The origins of Western water law date back to the 1800s, before Washington was even a state. Western settlers took the water they needed from rivers and streams when and where they wanted it, and that worked for decades. But with the gold rush of the 1850s, water became scarce in some areas of the western United States with growing populations and dry climates. In fact, mining law became the model for early water law in the West, including Washington. You claimed a source of water as your own, just like you staked a claim to gold and other minerals. Placing a notice on a tree or post showed that you were the first one to use the water from a river or stream at that location, and gave you the first right to use it in the future. By the early 1900s, the population of cities and towns grew, and industry and agriculture were already expanding. Reports about conflicts over water were making the news. In 1905, members of an irrigation district tried to dynamite an irrigation company's dam. The dam owner said, the water was ours by right of appropriation and storage. With conflicts over water on the rise, and the need to protect future water supplies, the state legislature passed the Washington Water Code in 1917. The law regulates and preserves water from rivers, streams, and lakes. A few decades later, the legislature adopted protection for groundwater. With the Surface Water Code and the Groundwater Code, Washington law ensures that holders of the oldest water rights in our state will have water for their homes, businesses, and farms. Today, a hundred years later, water right permits protect the water supplies of cities, towns, and irrigators. Agriculture alone contributes more than $10 billion annually to the economy of our state. In other videos marking 100 years of water law, we'll look at common misperceptions about land ownership and water use, where our water comes from, and what we are doing now to protect our water supplies in a changing climate. To find out more about Washington water law and water rights on the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Water Code, visit Ecology's website at www.ecy.wa.gov.