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Show 648 GROUND WATER RIGHTS first applied the water to a beneficial use; those basing their claims on withdrawals made after the effective date of the act were given a priority as of the date they made application for the water.136 In order to establish a priority, the prospective user was required to file an application with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, which was required to file the application, if in proper form, and notify the applicant of such filing.137 No permit was required or issued except for designated critical ground water areas.138 However, recent legislation has repealed this ground water law and has substituted other provisions.139 Among other changes, the new provisions do not include special procedures for critical ground water areas. The Board, following hydrographic surveys and hearings, shall make determinations of the maximum annual yield of fresh water from each ground water basin or subbasin. Following such a determination for a particular basin or subbasin, persons are required to obtain, and the board may issue, regular permits for nondomestic purposes. Temporary permits may be issued in areas where maximum yield determinations have not yet been made. Short-term special permits may be issued in any area. A regular permit shall allocate to the applicant his proportionate part of the maximum annual yield of the basin or subbasin. But persons shall not be deprived "of any right to use ground water in such quantities and amounts as were used or were entitled to be used prior to the enactment hereof." Oregon It was recognized at an early date in Oregon that rights in percolating ground waters were not subject to the rules applicable to rights in watercourses and subterranean streams.140 This was reaffirmed in the more recent case of Bull v. Siegrist,1*1 in which the court declared that the rule applicable to percolating waters is essentially the American rule of reasonable use.142 In the Ground Water Act of 1955,143 Oregon adopted a scheme subjecting all ground waters, percolating or otherwise, to prior appropriation. Under the act, rights to ground water already in existence through permits or actual use are protected.144 Those basing their claim on actual prior use of ground water were required to file a claim therefor within 3 years after August 136Id. § 1005. 131Id. § 1006. 13*Id. §§ 1007-1015. 139 Laws 1972, ch. 248, § 23, repealing §§ 1001-1019 and substituting §§ 1020.1-.22, effective July 1, 1973. ""Taylor v. Welch, 6 Oreg. 198 (1876). 141 Bull v. Siegrist, 169 Oreg. 180, 126 Pac. (2d) 832 (1942). 142126 Pac. (2d) at 834, citing 3 Farnham, "Water and Water Rights" § 936 (1904). 143Oreg. Rev. Stat. § 537.505 et seq. (Supp. 1969). M4W. §§ 537.575 and .585. |