After the application for allocation of conserved water has been approved, the applicant begins construction and completion of the project. There is no time requirement for completion. Once the system is operational, the water user may request time to test the system and confirm that it provides enough water to meet the beneficial use outlined in the original water right certificate. If the water user does not request time to confirm the system, the Department issues a certificate to begin using the reduced quantity of water in the new system. At this point conserved water may not be used, nor may the water user apply water to additional lands.
All conserved water is placed instream until finalization occurs.
The water user may take up to five years to complete testing of the system. After the request for finalization is received, the Department issues a new certificate for the original place of use. This certificate has the same priority as the original certificate with a reduced quantity reflecting the conserved water system. The priority date of these rights may be identical or one minute junior to the original certificate. The instream and conserved water must have the same priority date.