The establishment of levels and flows pursuant to RCW 90.22.010 shall in no way affect existing water and storage rights and the use thereof, including but not limited to rights relating to the operation of any hydroelectric or water storage reservoir or related facility. No right to divert or store public waters shall be granted by the department of ecology which shall conflict with regulations adopted pursuant to RCW 90.22.010 and 90.22.020 establishing flows or levels. All regulations establishing flows or levels shall be filed in a "Minimum Water Level and Flow Register" of the department of ecology.
RCW 90.22.030
Existing water and storage rights—Right to divert or store water.
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case PUBLIC UTILITY DIST. v. State, Dept. of Ecology (2002)
Most recently applied in Center For Environmental Law & Policy v. State Of Washington (June 2019)
1988 c 127 s 81; 1969 ex.s. c 284 s 5.
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: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.