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Water Rights
Water Right Mapping FAQ

1.0 Basic Information
1.1 Legal Issues

2.0 Using Water Rights Mapping Program by Township
2.1 Location
2.1.1 Township and Range
2.1.2 Sections
2.1.3 Scale
2.1.4 Radius
2.2 Layers
2.3 Criteria
2.3.1 Priority Date
2.4 Output
2.4.1 Your E-Mail Address
2.4.2 Screen Output Formats
2.4.3 Optional Map Formats

3.0 Using Water Rights Mapping Program by Stream
3.1 Finding a Stream Basin
3.2 Choosing a Stream
3.3 Location
3.3.1 Stream Basin
3.3.2 Township and Range
3.3.3 Sections
3.3.4 Scale
3.3.5 Radius
3.4 Layers
3.5 Criteria
3.5.1 Selected Water Rights
3.5.2 Priority Date
3.6 Output
3.6.1 Your E-Mail Address
3.6.2 Screen Output Formats
3.6.3 Optional Map Formats

4.0 Picking up your output

5.0 How does this program work

1.0 Basic Information

Oregon Water Resources Department maintains Water Right maps for the State of Oregon. These maps include rights for Surface Water, Groundwater, and Instream rights. Public access to these records are being provided free of charge. Please read the following section outlying the legalities concerning the use of this information.

1.1 Legal Issues

The water rights shown on this map and in the accompanying report have been interpreted by the Department's staff from information in the Department's files and are intended to represent that interpretation graphically. Locations shown are only approximate and should not be used in legal, financial, or real estate decisions. For more accurate legal location information, please contact the Department.

2.0 Using Water Rights Mapping Program by Township

2.1 Location

You must specify a location that defines the extent of the map. The primary method for doing this is by identifying a township, range, and section that you wish to map.

2.1.1 Township and Range

Township and Range are required fields and must be entered to create a map. Township and Range lines were defined by Public Land Surveyors in the late 1800's. They define a grid for Oregon and Washington from which all other land surveys are ultimately based. Townships run North to South and Ranges run East to West. In Oregon Township numbers span from 41 South to 9 North and Range numbers span from 16 West to 50 East. While slightly confusing, the combination of a Township number and a Range number uniquely identify a square called a Township.

The surveyors where not perfect in laying out this grid, which resulted in gaps in the grid. Once these gaps were located, they were labeled as fractional Townships. You can specify a fractional Township such as this by using it's decimal equilivent. For example:

2.1.2 Sections

Each Township is broken down into 36 sections. You have the option of selecting certain sections to map, or to map the entire Township. The option box at the top of the location section controls how this works. If you choose the option "Map SELECTED sections within a Township", it will define the extent of the map based on the sections you enter. The maximum number of sections you can specify is 6.

If you choose the "Map ENTIRE Township" option, the section fields will be ignored and the the entire Township will be mapped.

2.1.3 Scale

A map's scale defines a relationship between the size of the mapped area and size of the area on the ground. This relationship is expressed in terms of a ratio. For example, 1:24,000 is means that 1 unit of measure on the map is the same distance as 24,000 units of the same measure in real life.

If you have a map at the 1:24000 scale and measure 1 inch on the map, the actual distance that represents is 24000 inches (2000 feet) in real life.

As you reduce the size of the ratio, the map has to get bigger to display the information at that scale. If you get down to a 1:1 scale, 1 unit of measure on the page is equal to 1 unit of measure on the ground.

The option box for scale let's you create a map at any scale that you desire. But, be careful of how you specify this, because you may end up with a HUGE map.

2.1.4 Radius

The radius option allow you to extend your map extent by a distance (in miles) around the Township,Range, Sections you have entered.

2.2 Layers

You have the ability to turn off and on the types of features you would like to appear on the map. To have the feature type displayed on your map click on the "ON" button, if you like to leave the feature off of the map, click on the "OFF" button associated with that feature.

Current Features Available:

2.3 Criteria

It is often usefull to limit the amount of information displayed on the map. The criteria section allows you to do this for your map.

2.3.1 Priority Date

Water Rights are assigned a "Priority Date" which is used to determine who has primary rights in times of water shortages. To display only those water rights that fall into a date range, simply fill in the starting and ending priority dates in MM/DD/YYYY format. If you do not specify a starting priority date, it will show all water rights before the ending date. Likewise, if you do not specify an ending priority date, it will show all water rights after the starting date. If no dates are entered, all selected rights will be shown.

2.4 Output

The Output section is where you will find those items dealing with graphic formats and E-mail addresses.

2.4.1 Your E-Mail Address

Your E-Mail Address is a critical piece of information and is required to submit a request to the program. The types of maps you are creating can take many minutes to complete. Since it is unlikely you want to tie up your computer while it processes, the program creates the map as a batch process. Once the map is completed, it will send you an E-mail message letting you know that it is ready to be picked up. With out your E-mail address, it would not be possible to inform you when the map was completed. IMPORTANT: Be sure that the address you type in is your correct address.

2.4.2 Screen Output Formats

The mapping program creates a Compuserve GIF format file which can be viewed using your web browser. The higher the resolution you choose, the larger the files will be. This will make it easier to read the details of the map on the screen, but can result in a large graphic that takes a long time to download. Also, larger graphics may require scrolling around the screen to see the entire map.

2.4.3 Optional Map Formats

Optional Map Formats allows you to choose a type of printer output you would like to create. These files can be large and will be compressed to reduce the amount of time required to download them. They are compressed using the unix utility "zip". These zip files are compatible with PKZIP available for Windows and MSDOS.

Output Formats Currently Supported:

3.0 Using Water Rights Mapping Program by Stream

The Water Rights Mapping Program by Stream allows you to specify water rights within a watershed. You can use this program to have the stream define the area you want to map (Location), and/or to have the stream define which water rights to display (Criteria).

3.1 Selecting a Stream Basin

There are over 40,000 streams in Oregon and thus can be difficult identify which stream you wish to locate. To make this easier the program has a stream name search option. The first item you must select is which basin the stream is located. Choose the basin by clicking on the radio button associated with the appropriate basin.

3.2 Finding a Stream

After choosing the appropriate basin, you can type in the name of the stream. The program will search for all occurances of the search string you enter so enter only the primary name of the stream. Leave off all other parts of the name such as: river, creek, fork, canal, branch, north, south, east, west, etc. For example, it is recommended to enter "Willamette" instead of "North Fork of the Willamette River".

Click on the Search button to initiate the search. You will then be presented with a page listing all the streams that match that criteria. The format for this list is: "Stream Name #1 > Stream Name #2". Stream Name #1 is the name of the stream you are planning to work with and Stream Name #2 is the stream that it flows into. This gives you the ability to identify streams that have the same name as other streams.

Example:

3.3 Location

You must specify a location that defines the extents of the map. The primary method for doing this is by identifying a stream basin or a township, range, and section that you wish to map.

3.3.1 Stream Basin

If you choose "Map ENTIRE Selected Stream Basin", the Township and Range location selections will be ignored. Instead, the area mapped will be defined by a box around the entire stream. Be carefull when choosing this option, for example, choosing to map the Entire Willamette River can result in a VERY large map.

3.3.2 Township and Range

Township and Range are only used if you choose "Map Selected Township". Township and Range lines were defined by Public Land Surveyors in the late 1800's. They define a grid for Oregon and Washington from which all other land surveys are ultimately based. Townships run North to South and Ranges run East to West. In Oregon Township numbers span from 41 South to 9 North and Range numbers span from 16 West to 50 East. While slightly confusing, the combination of a Township number and a Range number uniquely identify a square called a Township.

The surveyors where not perfect in laying out this grid, which resulted in gaps in the grid. Once these gaps were located, they were labeled as fractional Townships. You can specify a fractional Township such as this by using it's decimal equilivent. For example:

3.3.3 Sections

Each Township is broken down into 36 sections. You have the option of selecting certain sections to map, or to map the entire Township. The option box at the top of the location section controls how this works. If you choose the option "Map SELECTED sections within a Township", it will define the extent of the map based on the sections you enter. The maximum number of sections you can specify is 6.

If you choose the "Map ENTIRE Township" option, the section fields will be ignored and the the entire Township will be mapped.

3.3.4 Scale

Note: Scale is only used when you choose the "Map Selected Township" option above.

A map's scale defines a relationship between the size of the mapped area and size of the area on the ground. This relationship is expressed in terms of a ratio. For example, 1:24,000 is means that 1 unit of measure on the map is the same distance as 24,000 units of the same measure in real life.

If you have a map at the 1:24000 scale and measure 1 inch on the map, the actual distance that represents is 24000 inches (2000 feet) in real life.

As you reduce the size of the ratio, the map has to get bigger to display the information at that scale. If you get down to a 1:1 scale, 1 unit of measure on the page is equal to 1 unit of measure on the ground.

The option box for scale let's you create a map at any scale that you desire. But, be careful of how you specify this, because you may end up with a HUGE map.

3.3.5 Radius

Note: Radius is only used when you choose the "Map Selected Township" option above.

The radius option allow you to extend your map extent by a distance (in miles) around the Township,Range, Sections you have entered.

3.4 Layers

You have the ability to turn off and on the types of features you would like to appear on the map. To have the feature type displayed on your map click on the "ON" button, if you like to leave the feature off of the map, click on the "OFF" button associated with that feature.

Current Features Available:

3.5 Criteria

It is often usefull to limit the amount of information displayed on the map. The criteria section allows you to do this for your map.

3.5.1 Selected Water Rights

You can choose to display water rights in the given area for ONLY the stream you have selected or for the SELECTED stream and ALL of it's tributaries. This allows you to limit the water rights displayed on the map.

3.5.2 Priority Date

Water Rights are assigned a "Priority Date" which is used to determine who has primary rights in times of water shortages. To display only those water rights that fall into a date range, simply fill in the starting and ending priority dates in MM/DD/YYYY format. If you do not specify a starting priority date, it will show all water rights before the ending date. Likewise, if you do not specify an ending priority date, it will show all water rights after the starting date. If no dates are entered, all selected rights will be shown.

3.6 Output

The Output section is where you will find those items dealing with graphic formats and E-mail addresses.

3.6.1 Your E-Mail Address

Your E-Mail Address is a critical piece of information and is required to submit a request to the program. The types of maps you are creating can take many minutes to complete. Since it is unlikely you want to tie up your computer while it processes, the program creates the map as a batch process. Once the map is completed, it will send you an E-mail message letting you know that it is ready to be picked up. With out your E-mail address, it would not be possible to inform you when the map was completed. IMPORTANT: Be sure that the address you type in is your correct address.

3.6.2 Screen Output Formats

The mapping program creates a Compuserve GIF format file which can be viewed using your web browser. The higher the resolution you choose, the larger the files will be. This will make it easier to read the details of the map on the screen, but can result in a large graphic that takes a long time to download. Also, larger graphics may require scrolling around the screen to see the entire map.

3.6.3 Optional Map Formats

Optional Map Formats allows you to choose a type of printer output you would like to create. These files can be large and will be compressed to reduce the amount of time required to download them. They are compressed using the unix utility "zip". These zip files are compatible with PKZIP available for Windows and MSDOS.

Output Formats Currently Supported:

4.0 Picking up your output

After your Request has been completed, you will be E-mailed a message letting you know that it is done and where you can pick it up. Reports are .TXT files, Web Viewable graphics are .GIF files, and optional outputs are .ZIP files.

5.0 How does this program work

This program utilizes CGI-BIN Perl scripts to create request files. A batch job on a Unix machine, picks up the request and runs a series of Arc/Info programs to create the maps and reports. Image Alchemey is used to convert the maps to the output format specified by the customer. The batch job then e-mails the customer to let them know that the job has completed.