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Show METHODS OF APPROPRIATING WATER OF WATERCOURSES 337 short duration in a particular locality, such as drilling an oil well or highway construction. It does not vest in the holder any permanent right to use water and expires in accordance with its terms.554 (c) In Washington, a temporary permit may be granted upon a proper showing to the administrator. It is valid only during the pendency of an application for a regular permit. A preliminary permit may be issued by the Washington administrator to an applicant who does not furnish sufficient information upon which the administrator may make his findings necessary for action upon the application. The preliminary permit is issued for not to exceed 3 years. Within this time the applicant is required to make the necessary investigations and progress reports.555 The Washington preliminary permit corresponds in a measure to the former Texas presentation, except that the latter was applied for by the intend- ing appropriator before making his application for a permit (see "(2) Exceptional preapplication provisions." above). (d) The Utah State Engineer may issue a temporary permit to drill a water well at any time after the filing of an application to appropriate water therefrom.556 (6) Permit: Effect on preexisting rights. A permit is the permission granted by the State to appropriate unappropriated public water. It is not permission to appropriate water already appropriated by someone else. The authorized appropriation, when perfected, takes its place in the line of priorities that attach to the particular source of supply, and it is junior to all those already established. This is a fundamental principle of the doctrine of prior appropriation. Under the administrative system of appropriating water, determining water rights, and distributing water, the new permit appropriation is served with water after all adjudicated or determined prior rights have re- ceived the quantities of water to which they are entitled. But this may be sub- ject to certain restrictions and preference provisions. See "Restrictions and Pref- erences in Appropriation of Water," below. That the granting and exercise of a permit shall not interfere with existing rights is the intent of the legislature. The Nevada water rights statute devotes a two-paragraph section to the declarations that every permit and every certificate of appropriation relating to water of an adjudicated system shall be subject to: existing rights, the decree of adjudication, and regulation and control by the administrative agency. On unadjudicated streams, they are requirements of this chapter relating to the use of water and shall have priorities as against each other as of the time of making application therefor." Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 7467c (Supp. 1970). S54Tex. Water Rights Comm'n, supra note 551, rule 205.3. Rule 205.4 provides that a "term" permit may be issued for a specific number of years (which apparently may exceed 3 years) that expires automatically under its terms. sssWash. Rev. Code § § 90.03.250 and 90.03.290 (Supp. 1961). SS6 Utah Code Ann. § 73-3-5 (1968). 450-486 O - 72 - 24 |
