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.”