Opinion ID: 2604584
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Issue One: Beneficial Use and Relinquishment

Text: A. Beneficial Use A general adjudication is a special form of quiet title action to determine all existing rights to the use of water from a specific body of water. Department of Ecology v. Grimes, 121 Wash.2d 459, 466, 852 P.2d 1044 (1993). The procedure is governed by RCW 90.03.110-.245, and the adjudication may not be used to lessen, enlarge or modify existing water rights. Grimes, 121 Wash.2d at 466, 852 P.2d 1044 (citing RCW 90.03.010). In conducting a water adjudication, the trial court generally considers two elements when confirming existing rights: (1) the amount of water that has been put to beneficial use and (2) the priority of water rights relative to each other. Grimes, 121 Wash.2d at 466-67, 852 P.2d 1044 (footnote omitted). Only the first element, the amount of water that has been put to beneficial use, is at issue here. The principle that water must be used for a beneficial purpose is a fundamental tenet of the philosophy of water law in the West. 1 Wells A. Hutchins, Water Rights Laws in the Nineteen Western States 9 (U.S. Dep't of Agriculture 1971). Under both state and federal law, beneficial use is the basis, the measure and the limit of the right to the use of water. Ickes v. Fox, 300 U.S. 82, 94, 57 S.Ct. 412, 416, 81 L.Ed. 525 (1937); Neubert v. Yakima-Tieton Irrigation Dist., 117 Wash.2d 232, 237, 814 P.2d 199 (1991); 43 U.S.C. § 372 (beneficial use shall be the basis, the measure, and the limit of the [water] right.); see also RCW 90.03.010 (all waters within the state belong to the public, and any right thereto, or to the use thereof, shall be hereafter acquired only by appropriation for a beneficial use....). In its Memorandum Opinion Re: Threshold Issues, the trial court acknowledged beneficial use is the measure of a water right under both federal and state law. Clerk's Papers at 374. DOE accuses the trial court of ignoring its own legal findings. DOE argues the trial court improperly confirmed a water right to YTID of 110,700 a.f. per irrigation season without making a finding of fact as to whether that quantity has ever been beneficially used. The record supports DOE's argument. Instead of basing YTID's water right on its past beneficial use, the trial court appears to have quantified the right by taking the total amount of water specified in the 1945 Consent Decree, 114,000 a.f., and reducing that amount to account for the limitations of YTID's water delivery system. In its entire existence, YTID has never diverted or beneficially used 110,700 a.f. in an irrigation season. The most the District has ever diverted was 109,309 in 1929a year of severe drought. The trial court's use of the capacity of YTID's delivery system as a basis for determining YTID's water right is inconsistent with beneficial use requirements, and it is inconsistent with the trial court's earlier ruling on another irrigation district's claim. In 1993, the court issued its Conditional Final Order for the Kittitas Reclamation District. In addressing whether the Kittitas Reclamation District was entitled to the maximum amount of water it could divert through its irrigation system, the court stated, acknowledging a maximum annual quantity that could have potentially been diverted without requiring beneficial use of that water, would have disastrous implications to the integrity of the Yakima Project.... Clerk's Papers at 848. Even though the trial court, in ruling on YTID's claim, referred to the beneficial use requirement, and even though the trial court correctly applied that requirement in a past ruling, for some reason the court based its quantification of YTID's water right on the quantity of water the District could potentially divert, without requiring past beneficial use of that water. The trial court must be reversed on the quantification of YTID's water right. There is no evidence in the record to support a finding that YTID has ever beneficially used 110,700 a.f. We do not know how much water the court would have confirmed, or the method it would have used to calculate YTID's water right, had it based the right on actual evidence of beneficial use. On remand, the trial court must calculate beneficial use based upon diversion and actual use, as required by the law of this state. The parties argue extensively about the effect of the 1945 Consent Decree and water delivery contracts on the trial court's quantification of YTID's water right. This issue is irrelevant. No party disputes that beneficial use is the sole measure of a water right. The allocation of water in the 1945 Consent Decree and water delivery contracts resulted from a settlement agreement between the parties. That agreement may be binding as to the respective rights and priorities amongst the parties, but the agreement cannot be used to avoid statutory requirements and create a state-based water right to any of those parties absent such right being based on actual beneficial use. B. Relinquishment When, in a general water adjudication, a court determines a water claimant's water right based upon evidence of historic beneficial use, the question will often arise whether the claimant has continued to use the same quantity of water up to the present day. If a claimant used a large quantity of water in the first half of the century, but currently uses far less, the court must determine whether the claimant has abandoned or relinquished all or part of the water right. The issue of abandonment and relinquishment is complex. Prior to 1967, water rights could be lost, or abandoned, by nonuse under the common law. See Miller v. Wheeler, 54 Wash. 429, 435, 103 P. 641 (1909). A party challenging abandonment under the common law must show the water user intended to abandon, and actually did relinquish, all or a portion of the water right. Jensen v. Department of Ecology, 102 Wash.2d 109, 115, 685 P.2d 1068 (1984) (The intent to abandon and an actual relinquishment must concur, for courts will not lightly decree an abandonment of a property so valuable as that of water in an irrigated region.) (quoting Miller, 54 Wash. at 435, 103 P. 641). Any challenger who asserts abandonment by YTID, based on YTID's nonuse of water in the years prior to 1967, must satisfy the common law standard for abandonment. In 1967 the State Legislature enacted statutes codifying the common law principles of abandonment. Laws of 1967, ch. 233, §§ 13-18, at 1125 (codified at RCW 90.14.130 -.180). As of the effective date of the 1967 law, any water right holder who, for a period of five successive years, voluntarily fails, without sufficient cause, to use beneficially all or any part of the water right, will relinquish such right or a portion thereof. RCW 90.14.160. The Legislature created a narrow list of exceptions to the relinquishment statute. RCW 90.14.140. If a water user's reason for nonuse of all or part of its water right falls under an enumerated exception, such nonuse will not result in relinquishment of that water right. A challenge to YTID's water right based on nonuse after 1967 must rely on the statutory standards for relinquishment. Once a party has shown that YTID has failed to use any or all of its right for five successive years, YTID has the burden of showing how its nonuse falls under one of the narrow categories in RCW 90.14.140. In its threshold memorandum and in its rulings on YTID's water right, the trial court refers to the relinquishment issue; but it is unclear whether the court actually made a finding of non-relinquishment with regard to YTID's water right. In its threshold memorandum, the trial court discussed whether an irrigation district could theoretically relinquish a water right under RCW 90.14.160. The court first examined the statutory requirement that an entity abandon or voluntarily fail to use a water right. Citing to the fact that the BOR controls the amount of water that is released at any given time, the court stated that it would be very difficult for DOE to prove that an irrigation district had abandoned or voluntarily failed to use its full water right. The court also discussed whether a federal irrigation district would have sufficient cause, under RCW 90.14.140(1)(e), for nonuse of a portion of its water right. The court held that `sufficient cause' for nonuse of a portion of the water is present within the districts and the Basin. Clerk's Papers at 395. In its later ruling on YTID's claim, the court never discussed if the evidence demonstrated whether or not YTID had abandoned or voluntarily failed to use a portion of its water right. Instead, in its Report of the Court, it states no party asserted that YTID had abandoned or voluntarily failed to use this water. However, both the court's Supplemental Report and DOE's Response Brief indicate DOE did argue the relinquishment issue below. In its Supplemental Report of the Court, it responded to an exception by DOE regarding quantification and relinquishment by stating, [T]here is no way to know if relinquishment is an issue. Clerk's Papers at 743. Given that the court never entered findings of fact regarding whether YTID had abandoned or voluntarily failed to use a portion of its water right, we are unable to enter any rulings on this issue. DOE is not estopped from asserting forfeiture on remand. The trial court must employ a two-step analysis when quantifying YTID's water right. It must first determine YTID's vested water right, based on evidence of past beneficial use. It should then examine DOE's claim that YTID has forfeited a portion of its right through abandonment or voluntary nonuse. As discussed above, the trial court stated in its threshold memorandum that, because a federal irrigation district receives its water from the BOR, it has sufficient cause under RCW 90.14.140(1)(e) for nonuse of its water. Clerk's Papers at 395. The court's interpretation of the statute is questionable. The cited subsection excuses nonuse of water if such nonuse is a result of [f]ederal laws imposing land or water use restrictions either directly or through the voluntary enrollment of a landowner in a federal program implementing those laws, or acreage limitations, or production quotas. RCW 90.14.140(1)(e). It is unclear from the record whether an irrigation district, by the mere fact of its receiving water from the BOR, can rely on the cited subsection as an excuse for nonuse of water. The issue, however, is not ripe for review at this time. Until the trial court specifically finds, based on the evidence, whether YTID has forfeited a portion of its water right, this court has no basis for knowing what legal standard the trial court will actually apply to the facts. Although the trial court discussed this issue in its threshold memorandum, the court's interpretation of the statute will not become ripe for review until it relies upon that legal standard as a basis for quantifying a water right. If and when an aggrieved party appeals on such a basis, this court will be able to consider the issue thoroughly, with the advantage of a detailed record and adequate briefing from the parties.