While water may be physically present in a stream or well, it is only legally available if you have the right to use it.
Diverting and using surface water — the freshwater from streams, lakes, or river sources — always requires a water right. In general, pumping groundwater from a well requires a water right permit unless it falls under the groundwater permit exemption, which limits most uses to less than 5,000 gallons per day.
Additional considerations
Early decades of water rights management focused on issuing and managing water rights and compliance. But as environmental scientists learned more about water’s limited availability, our work expanded to include the protection of the state’s water resources for the people, farms, and fish that depend on them.
As we look to the future, water availability studies include consideration of:
Due to Washington’s varied land uses, hydrology, and precipitation levels, the amount of water available for new water right permits varies dramatically across the state.
History of water rights
Washington follows Western Water Law, which gives priority to those who first put a water source to a beneficial, continuous use. This approach is called “prior appropriation,” also known as “first-in-time, first-in-right,” which was codified by the Washington Legislature in 1917. Learn more about Washington water rights on The history of water law page.