Oregon Owns Water

According to Oregon water laws, all water is publicly owned. Therefore, anyone who wants to store any type of water on their property must first obtain a permit from state water managers.

A rural Oregon man was sentenced in 2012 to thirty days in jail and over $1,500 in fines because he had three reservoirs on his property to collect and use rainwater.

Oregon law that says all of the water in the state of Oregon is public water and if you want to use that water, either to divert it or to store it, you have to acquire a water right from the state of Oregon before doing that activity. The law states that the city of Medford, Oregon holds exclusive rights to “all core sources of water.”