As used in this chapter, “Water Rights Act” means and embraces ORS 536.050, 537.120, 537.130, 537.140 to 537.252, 537.390 to 537.400, 538.420, 540.010 to 540.120, 540.210 to 540.230, 540.310 to 540.430, 540.443 to 540.491, 540.505 to 540.586 and 540.710 to 540.750.
ORS 537.010
Known as the Ground Water Act
The act spans §§ 537–537 (229 sections).
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Fort Vannoy Irrigation District v. Water Resources Commission (2008)
Most recently applied in East Valley Water v. Water Resources Commission (August 2025)
Amended by 1985 c.673 §183; 2019 c.390 §22
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Oregon State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Oregon statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.