Limiting the Domestic Well Exemption

Most Western states allow an exemption from water right permitting for domestic wells.  In New Mexico this exemption was recently challenged as being inconsistent with the prior appropriation doctrine.  Other western states seek to legislatively limit the scope of such exemptions.

Oregon which has perhaps the broadest statutory groundwater exemption is seeking in this legislative session to reduce the allowable group domestic exemption.  Given the pressure to establish critical and limited groundwater areas in Oregon, such a reduction should be given some environmental and practical consideration.

Interestingly, the opponents to the reduction come from the agricultural sector, those who are most affected by group domestic withdrawals which impact aquifer recharge and thus critical and limited groundwater area water rights.  One must presume that the natural law rights to domestic water weigh heavier in the minds of the opponents than the allocation issue.