§ 11.7 - General Adjudication (Determination) of Water Rights

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§11.7 GENERAL ADJUDICATION (DETERMINATION) OF WATER RIGHTS

Historically, most lawyers' first contact with water rights law has been in the context of a general adjudication proceeding. A "general adjudication" of water rights is a specially tailored form of quiet title action found in the water rights law of most of the western states. State Dep't of Ecology v. Acquavella, 100 Wn.2d 651, 674 P.2d 160 (1983). The ultimate objective of a court in a general adjudication is to enter a final judgment that confirms all existing water rights relating to a water body, with each confirmed right qualified and correlated with every other confirmed right in terms of priority. See generally 3 Clesson Selwyne Kinney, A Treatise on the Law of Irrigation and Water Rights and the Arid Region Doctrine of Appropriation of Waters ch. 79-80 (2d ed. 1912); see also Rettkowski v. State Dep't of Ecology, 122 Wn.2d 219, 858 P.2d 232 (1993); Acquavella, 100 Wn.2d 651. Since the enactment of the 1917 surface water code, 96 general adjudications have been processed in the state court system, almost of all of which were processed in the 1920-1930 and 1960-1980 periods. The largest of these, in terms of geographic area covered and number of claimants, relates to the surface waters of the Yakima River Basin. See Acquavella, 100 Wn.2d 651, which was filed in October, 1977—34 years later, the Acquavella adjudication is now in a final decree processing stage in the Yakima County Superior Court. See Dep't of Ecology, Acquavella—List of Court Documents Filed, http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/rights/Images/pdf/09012011_acquavella_lop.pdf (last visited Sept. 27, 2011).

RCW 90.03.110 through 245 contain the procedures for conduct of general adjudications in Washington. The procedures initially enacted in 1917 (with minor amendments along the way) have been applied to in all of the aforenoted 96 adjudications. Of special note, the procedures of RCW 90.03.110 through were significantly amended in 2009. See Laws of 2009, ch. 332. That amended process includes the major elements discussed below.

(1) Triggering a general adjudication

A general adjudication proceeding is triggered in one of two ways. First, "[u]pon the filing of a petition with [DOE] by a planning unit or by one or more persons claiming the right to any waters within the state...," DOE has a "duty" to initiate a superior court proceeding. RCW 90.03.110. Second, when DOE believes the "public interest will be served" by...