State law requires the State Engineer to conduct hydrographic surveys of each stream system in the state, beginning whith those most used for irrigation, to gather information for adjudication suits. During a survey, data are collected to help the court decide how much water to adjudicate to each water right claimant. Before any field work takes place in a survey, State Engineer Office staff review water right records for the survey area and plan the acquisition of ortho-rectified imagery. Cropping patterns and crop irrigation requirements are computed. Municipal, industrial, stock and domestic water uses are analyzed.
Land ownership is investigated.
Although a hydrographic survey gathers information on land ownership, it does not establish legal ownership or property boundaries. The investigations only produce evidence on the location, amount and ownership of water rights. Following this work, the staff conduct a field check of all water uses and draw maps depicting the areas of water use. The maps and other data are compiled into a report which lists all the known uses of water in the survey area. The complete report, available to the public upon request, is then sent to the State Engineer Office legal staff, and the legal phase of the adjudication process begins.