Page:Report of the Oregon Conservation Commission to the Governor (1908 - 1914).djvu/158

20 of necessary headgates and measuring devices for the enforcement of orders or decrees.

If water is stored in a reservoir at the head of a stream. it is the duty of such water master, by regulating headgates, to protect such water when released into a natural channel, permitting its diversion by the rightful owner, less that lost by seepage and evaporation in transit.

No right to the use of water can hereafter be acquired without compliance with the law of 1909. This law abolishes the old system of posting a notice on the bank of the stream. Priority of appropriation and beneficial use are the basis of all rights hereafter acquired, and water appropriated for irrigation is made appurtenant to the land irrigated.

The right will date from the recent of an application in the office of the State Engineer. The State Engineer ha authority to return the application for correction, which does not become a permit to appropriate water until it receives his approval, He is authorized in making such approval to reduce the amount of the appropriation, or limit the time, so as to conform with the intent of the law.

A graduated scale of fees for examination and approval of applications is provided in order that the cost of administering the law will he borne by those benefited.