After 100 years of water law, we’ve finally found the internet.
Thanks to our brand-new Water Right Application Portal, water right applicants can apply for new water rights from their phones, desktops and other devices. For those who think the old ways are best, paper applications are still available.
“The online app portal provides our customers with an opportunity to fill out a water right application, pay, sign, and submit online,” said Chelsea Jefferson, project lead for the Water Rights Application Portal. “I am proud of all the work that went into the online portal, and I am optimistic that these advancements will improve internal processes and provide a welcome option for customers who prefer to use online resources.”
Using the Water Right Application Portal will ensure the application makes it to Ecology personnel a little quicker. Applicants will be able to pay online, and the portal requires no supplemental report. This makes the process easier than completing our old 11-page paper form and allows applicants to track the status of their applications through an online dashboard.
The portal is now open for new water right applications. Eventually, all of our applications will be available: change application, seasonal change, reservoir, managed aquifer recharge, and aquifer storage and recovery.
We’ve modernized the application process, but we haven’t made more water available. The requirements for obtaining a water right have not changed and water must be both physically and legally available before a water right can be granted.
To save you time and money, and to learn more about water availability in your area, we strongly recommend a pre-application consultation before applying for a water right. A pre-application meeting is an opportunity for you to talk with Water Resources staff about your project and what opportunities for water supply may exist before paying nonrefundable fees and filing an application. Water rights can be difficult and expensive to obtain, and the process can take many years. The average pre-application meeting takes one to two hours.
The new application portal was made possible by a $163,900 Innovation and Modernization Grant from Washington Technology Solutions.