INFORMATION, RULES AND REGULATIONS HANDBOOK
AUTHORITY
These
Rules and Regulations have been adopted by the Board under the authority of the
Irrigation District Laws of Oregon and contractual obligations to the United
States Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (USBR).
In any case where these Rules and Regulations conflict with or are in
derogation of the Laws of the State of
During
the construction period and up until 1926 the system was operated by USBR as the
east division of the Umatilla Project. In
1926 HID was formed and took over operations and maintenance of the system with
a repayment contract with USBR. Since
the 1926 contract the District has entered into modified contracts with USBR to
establish a new payment schedule in 1954 and a boundary adjustment contract in
2003. In addition to these contracts
the District has a repayment contract with USBR for the safety of dams’ work
that was required on Cold Springs Reservoir during the mid 90’s, this contract
took effect in 1997.
A
project called the Umatilla Basin Plan was introduced in 1988 which provides
infrastructure and the ability to exchange
DISTRICT
INFORMATION
HID
serves approximately 1,200 water users and irrigates about 10,000 acres with 90
miles of canals, ditches and pipelines. In
addition to the delivery system there is a 26 mile feed canal used to fill Cold
Springs Reservoir which has a holding capacity of 38,000 acre feet.
The irrigation season runs from early April into September or until the
water supply has been used. The feed
canal runs from November 1st until Cold Springs Reservoir is full or
IRRIGATION SEASON
INTENTION
Adoption
of Rules:
By the adoption of these rules and regulations it is hoped that they will
give every water user a clearer understanding of the duties and intentions of
the operating officials.
General Meeting: A
general meeting of all water users will be held annually in the month of
February.
Election
of Directors:
An election shall be held on the second Tuesday in November of each year,
at which one or more directors shall be elected.
Openings for the Board of an irrigation district shall be advertised in a
newspaper of general circulation within the boundaries of the District for which
the candidate would be elected or posted in three public places within the
District at least 60 days prior to the election.
All
nominations shall be filed with the secretary of the Board not more than 75 nor
less than 35 days before the date of election.
If, after expiration of the date for nomination, only one qualified
candidate has been nominated for the office to be filled, it shall not be
necessary to hold an election. (Reference
ORS 545.137)
Public
Participation at Board Meetings:
At the discretion of the Board Chairman, guests will be given the
opportunity to speak to the Board during the Board meetings.
The Chairman may set a limit on the amount of time for each guest to
speak depending on the available time and agenda for each meeting. Requests
made to the Board will be heard, but except for emergency situations, no action
will be taken on requests until a following meeting.
In order to have organized meetings, guests wishing to speak at Board
meetings are encouraged to contact the District office before the meeting to
have their name added to the agenda.
PAYMENT
OF ASSESSMENTS
Yearly
irrigation water assessments are established by the Board and are assessed on a
calendar year basis. Assessments are
based on the costs of operation and maintenance of the system and have no
bearing on amount of water available or used.
Assessments
are mailed out in February and are due by March 1 of each year.
The Board does allow patrons to pay their assessments in two installments
when needed. Under this payment
arrangement the first half of the assessment is still due by March 1 however,
the second half may be paid by July 1 without any penalties or interest.
Any
assessments not paid in full by July 31 are considered delinquent and are
subject to collection procedures as follows:
March 31
Begin charging a $2 per month statement fee plus 1.33% interest monthly,
16% annually, on all accounts that do not have at least the first half of
assessment paid.
July
31
Begin charging 1.33% interest monthly on full assessment balance.
August
1 Send
out Fair Debt Act Letter with statement. Any
patron in dispute must submit their dispute in writing by August 31 or will be
subject to further collection procedures.
September
1 Notice of Claim of Lien
is filed with the Umatilla County Court. A
minimum $165 fee is added to each parcel on the account.
January 1
A “No Water List” is issued to
all District employees. Any patron
with an outstanding account balance from the previous year is put on the list
and is not entitled to use water until the account is paid in full.
Any use of water will be considered theft of water and handled
accordingly.
DITCH
RIDERS
Ditch
riders are the best contact for water users when they have questions about
delivery of their water or scheduled times for use.
They may be reached by cell phone or by personal contact as they ride the
canals and ditches. Their duties
require them to regulate and distribute water through out the District which can
become a difficult balancing act to perform.
Your cooperation in notifying them of your needs well in advance will
give them a much better opportunity to meet your needs. A
ditch rider’s responsibility for your water ends at the point of delivery,
from that point on it is your responsibility to use, control and manage the
water appropriately.
If
you have questions or complaints about your water or that of others, contact
your ditch rider. Neighborly
disputes that do not directly relate to your irrigation water are not the duty
or responsibility of the ditch rider. Remember
the ditch rider is not a police officer; do not ask him to be one.
DUTIES
OF WATER USERS
Wastewater:
No one may dump either live or waste water into a District system without
the prior written approval of the Board and USBR.
Flooding:
Water users are required to insure that no flooding or other damage
occurs to public or private property as a result of the user's improper use of
their water or the user shall be liable for all damages others may sustain by
reason of the user's improper use. Water users shall not allow run off or tail
water to leave their property.
Schedules:
Schedules and arrangements for irrigating will be furnished to all water
users by their ditch rider. The
District will notify all patrons of their ditch rider prior to the irrigation
season.
Pumps:
All water users using pumps for the purpose of lifting water from the
canals and laterals of the District will be subject to these rules and
regulations. Any pump user with a
pump over 5 hp must notify the ditch rider a minimum of 12 hours in advance of
starting or stopping the pump. All
such installations must be approved, in writing by the District Manager.
Pumping rate should not exceed 8½ gallons per minute per acre.
Non-liability:
Pumping by water users of District water is done at the user's risk and
the District assumes no liability for damages to pumping equipment or other
damages as a result of a water shortage, excess of water or other causes.
WATER
USE
Main
Purpose of Water:
The District was organized for the purpose of supplying irrigation
service for farm crops. The water
quality and District facilities are not suitable for domestic use, raising fish,
watering livestock, or use for industrial or commercial purposes, etc.
Unauthorized
Uses:
Any person who takes water out of their turn, and without the knowledge
and permission of the ditch rider, shall forfeit his right to water for the next
scheduled turn and furthermore may be subject to criminal prosecution.
Use
on Land Without Water Rights:
It is unlawful for water users to place their allotted share of water on
lands which does not have water rights. Use
of water on land not authorized for irrigation by the District may result in
prosecution for theft or other legal action brought against the user.
Swimming
and Recreational Use Prohibited:
It is dangerous and the District prohibits swimming or other recreational
use of the waterways.
Transfer
Prohibited:
No transfer or sale of District water is allowed without the prior
written approval of the Board and OWRD.
CONSERVATION
AND WASTING WATER
Wasting
Water: Water
must not be wasted. Careless and
wasteful use of water will be sufficient grounds for the ditch rider to reduce
the size of the water delivery amount to what he believes the irrigator can
handle economically. If after
reduction of the water delivery amount, the irrigator is still careless and
wasteful the water will be shut off from such user until they are prepared to
make better use of the water, to the satisfaction of the ditch rider or Manager.
Every
water user shall be responsible for their runoff, and all damages caused by
their intentional, negligent or careless acts.
Persons wasting water on roads or vacant land either willfully,
carelessly or because of defective ditches, poorly prepared land, poorly
maintained sprinkler systems or who flood certain portions of land to an
unreasonable depth to properly irrigate other portions, or who use water on land
not authorized for irrigation may be refused the use of water until such
conditions are remedied.
STOCK,
SPRAY, DUST AND FROST CONTROL
The
District has no responsibility for delivering water through its system for frost
control. Water delivered through the
system is not authorized for use as stock water, spray purposes, dust control,
etc.
“Beneficial
use” is the use of irrigation water to produce a crop, grass, or landscape
area. This means that the irrigation
water will be used on land that has been designated for this purpose.
Water may not be used on rock piles, driveways, roadways or under
structures.
TAIL
WATER AND WASTE
You should
only use the water that you need. If
you irrigate to the point that water “runs off” of your land onto a
neighboring parcel, that is called tail water.
By
The
District is becoming more developed and the parcel sizes are becoming smaller.
This creates situations where a neighbor may not desire tail water as in
years past. Please be conscious of
your responsibilities with managing your water rights properly.
ACCESS
TO LANDS AND DITCHES
DISTRICT
EASEMENTS AND RIGHTS-OF-WAY
Rights
of Use:
The canals, pipelines and improvements within the District are either on
Width
of Rights-of-Way:
There is a right-of-way on both sides of most of the District's canals,
laterals, drain ditches and pipelines. They
vary from 20 feet to 100 feet on each side (measuring from the center of the
canal). The other portions of the District's improvements are owned by the
United States. Major canals such as
the
Before
you Build:
You must contact the District prior to placing any structures including
fences, irrigation systems, out buildings, etc. near a District ditch, canal,
pipeline or other facility. The
District will make a field inspection and confirm with you the location and
width of any District rights-of-way or easements.
Existing
Structures:
The District is aware that there are many structures including barns,
outbuildings and fences built within the District's rights-of-way without prior
approval. These are considered trespassing structures.
The District and the USBR has the right to require removal at anytime of
any unauthorized trespassing structures. No
new fences, outbuildings, barns, sheds or other improvements may be built on
or within the rights-of-way. For
further information refer to the current Resolution of Encroachments, which may
be obtain at the District office.
Canal
Roadways:
The rights-of-way authorize the District's and USBR's employees,
representatives and agents vehicle and equipment access along all ditches,
canals and pipelines. No gates or
barriers may be placed on any of the canal roads without the written consent
of the District and USBR. The
employees must have immediate and unrestricted access to all canals and
pipelines for maintenance and especially for emergencies, such as breaks, which
could result in flooding.
Encroachments:
The District and/or the United States Department of Interior, Bureau of
Reclamation (Reclamation) own easements to allow for the delivery of irrigation
water by means of the District’s water delivery system.
An underlying landowner cannot unreasonably interfere with the rights of
the District and Reclamation in these easements.
The District must have access and an open way for the inspection,
operation, management, repair, and improvements of the District’s water
delivery system in order to fulfill its statutory obligations as contained in
Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) chapter 545.
Encroachments
into the easements pursuant to which the District delivers water make it
difficult for the District to carry out its water delivery responsibilities.
Encroachments, whether in the form of temporary or permanent physical
obstructions into the easement or otherwise, increase the amount of time it
takes District employees to inspect, operate, manage, repair, and improve the
District’s water delivery system. Encroachments
also increase the District’s overall operating costs in the way of extra
employee time and the costs and expenses associated with extra travel required
to drive around obstructions (e.g., an unauthorized locked gate on a ditch
access road can result in a District employee having to backtrack on the access
road and circle around from the other direction).
The
Board, by resolution, has authority to impose a charge on all persons receiving
District-delivered water to help defray the expenses to care for, inspect,
operate, manage, repair, and improve the District’s water delivery system.
ORS 545.471(1). Moreover, in
establishing its charges the Board may consider the imposition of additional
charges for special services which require proportionately greater maintenance
and operation and may also consider other factors the Board considers reasonable
and appropriate. ORS 545.471(2).
Finally,
the Board may pass on charges against individual water users when the District
incurs charges, fees, fines, or similar expenses for extraordinary services that
are incurred by reason of some action or failure to act by the water user.
ORS 545.471(3). The Board
finds that the most efficient method to help defray the additional cost and
expense related to encroachments on the easements pursuant to which the District
delivers water is to establish a policy imposing graduated and minimum charges
for various degrees of encroachments, pursuant to ORS 545.471 and other
applicable statutes.
Private
Property Rights/Trespassing: Many of the District's
canals, roadways and facilities are on private lands over which the District has
rights-of-way. The rest is on
property owned by the United States. As
a result most canal roadways are on private property, and no persons
other than District employees, officers, or agents are authorized to use the
roadways without the consent of the landowner.
Use without the consent of the landowner and the District may result in a
trespass action being brought against the offender.
Property owners may only restrict access to roadways and District
rights-of-ways with written consent of the Board and the USBR.
Such consent may be given for emergency purposes or during hunting season
where continuing trespass problems are occurring.
WHAT
IS A WATER RIGHT
A water
right gives you permission and an obligation to beneficially irrigate a very
specific area (generally measured in acres or a portion thereof).
The District and the State of
Your water
right also has a “rate” which is the amount of water that flows to your land
measured in gallons per minute or cubic feet per second (CFS) during the
irrigation season. To receive a
higher rate or duty of water is a violation of the water right and can lead to
forfeiture.
A water
right remains valid as long as an irrigator beneficially uses the water at least
one year out of every five years. Failure
to beneficially use a water right may force the District to confiscate the water
right or it will be forfeited to the Sate and lost from the District.
Converting land to another use (road, parking lot, building, etc.) can
also result in the forfeiture of a water right.
Prior to converting land to another use, please see the water transfer
section.
TRANSFER
OF WATER RIGHTS
If you wish
to purchase or sell a water right or a portion of a water right, or if you plan
on converting any land to another use, please contact the District office.
A transfer requires an application to Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD)
and must be filed in conjunction with the District.
A fee is required to process the transfer.
If your
land mass is five acres or more, you will be required to “map” the water
right “on” or “off” of your property.
If you are purchasing a water right, you will also be required to have
your land prepared to receive the water at the time the transfer is processed.
CHANGE
OF OWNERSHIP
The
District is required by law to keep detailed records of water rights and
landowners. To keep our records
current, if a water user sells all or a portion of their property, please notify
our office. Having your escrow agent
or yourself provide HID with a copy of the recorded document helps to keep
expenses down.
APPORTIONMENT
OF WATER TO PARCELS OF LAND
Whenever a
parcel of land lying within the District is subdivided into parcels the owners
of those parcels shall be responsible for apportioning water among those
parcels. If the owners fail to
properly apportion the water to the various parcels in the subdivision, the
District may employ a competent person to distribute and apportion water for
such parcels. The reasonable cost of
such services shall be apportioned and charged by the District as a special
charge against the subdivided parcels. The
special charges so levied and apportioned shall be a lien upon the subdivided
parcels of land and shall be collected in the same manner as all other charges
are levied and collected by the District.
RESPONSIBILITY
FOR WATER DELIVERY AND
MAINTENANCE
FOR PRIVATE DITCHES
The
responsibility of the District for the water delivery ends at the District’s
point of delivery, measuring weir or head gate.
The water then becomes the responsibility of the water user or users on
that ditch or delivery system.
This is one
of the most common misunderstandings. Many
small acreages have received their allotment as a portion of a larger water
delivery made to an older farm which has been subdivided.
In such cases the user may be some distance from the weir or gate that
marks the termination of the District’s responsibility.
The users along such private ditches have both a right and a
responsibility to work with their neighbors to maintain these private ditches.
When problems occur, the District is able to assist the water users to
clarify issues or suggest solutions, but the responsibility ultimately lies with
the water users along that ditch.
With
increasing urbanization, it is important that users have recorded easements for
their private ditch deliveries. Often
prescriptive rights exist; that is, rights acquired due to continued use over
time. However, such rights may not
clearly define the right to access, repair and maintain, or the full scope of
such easements, such as width of easement or even the actual location of the
easement. All easements should
specify the actual width. The
District requires that all easements be recorded with the County for any land
use action, such as a land partition.
Private
ditch users are cautioned to protect easements.
Be aware of encroachments on your ditch, such as crossings, buildings,
trees and vegetation, or fences being constructed to close to the ditch to allow
for proper access and maintenance.
PRIVATE
LATERALS AND PIPELINES
All water
gates on private ditches shall be subject to District access and inspection when
used by more than one water user. Nevertheless,
the District will not construct, maintain, or control private delivery systems.
Privately
maintained laterals and other facilities served by the District must be in good
condition so as to prevent loss of water and permit regular flow.
The District shall not permit delivery of water into facilities that are
not adequately prepared and maintained. The
District will not be responsible for defects in privately maintained facilities.
The owners of private ditches shall provide suitable locking devices on
all private gates and checks with the District having access.
When more
than one water user is on a private lateral, each water user shall provide their
own diversion facilities at its
It shall be
the duty of each user of a private lateral to patrol said lateral from their
point of delivery to the main lateral as many times each day as necessary to
remove obstructions and stop all leaking while irrigating.
Water users
shall not turn water down a private lateral without first making satisfactory
arrangements with the water users next in rotation to receive the water.
The last one on the private lateral should notify the District’s office
when all water users on the private lateral have completed the irrigation so the
ditch rider can turn the water back to the main canal.
Oregon
Revised Statutes state, “In all cases where ditches are owned by two or more
persons the one or more persons and one or more of such persons fails or
neglects to do a proportionate share of the work necessary for the proper
maintenance and operation of the ditch, or to construct suitable head gates or
measuring devices at the points where water is diverted from the main ditch, the
owner desiring the performance of such work may, after having given 10 days’
written notice to the other owner who has failed to perform a proportionate
share of the work, perform such share, and recover therefore from the person in
default the reasonable expense of the work”.
Water users
that lift or divert the District’s water supply from natural stream courses or
depressions, do so at their own risk. The
District accepts no liability for damages to irrigation equipment, stream or
creek relocation, maintenance or Endangered Species Act issues on these private
facilities. The District, in most
cases, delivers water from its storage and delivery systems for use by the
District water users from various stream systems.
The District does not do any maintenance of natural streams.
FAILURE
TO MAINTAIN PRIVATE LATERALS AND PIPELINES
When
privately maintained laterals and other facilities are not maintained in good
condition so as to prevent loss of water and permit regular flow, the Board may
construct, repair or maintain such private laterals and pipelines or may stop
delivery to the private delivery system. The
Board is authorized pursuant to the Oregon Revised Statutes to levy and collect
charges upon all tracts of land specifically benefited by the improvements in
order to defray the whole or any portion of the cost and expense incurred in
maintaining private laterals or pipelines (ORS 545.287).
PRIVATE
CROSSINGS
Any person
wanting to cross the District’s canals, laterals, easements, etc. with fence,
bridge, pipe or construct anything around the District’s facilities needs to
acquire a crossing permit from the District and the USBR.
Contact the District office well in advance of the proposed crossing
project so that the paperwork can be completed and sent to the USBR, along with
the applicable fees required by USBR and the District.
HID accepts no liability for any type of private crossing.
PONDS
FOR IRRIGATION PURPOSES
Ponds, in
rare instances, may be allowed by the District.
The District requires all water users in the District to fill out a Pond
Application and pay the applicable fee prior to the installation of any pond.
Part of the Pond Application process includes the requirement that the
water user must also contact the OWRD prior to filing the application with the
District.
Each Pond
Application will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
For the District to approve a Pond Application and to make water
deliveries to a pond, the pond must meet the following criteria:
1.
Involve a
usage plan that is clearly an improvement over the existing method of applying
water to the property.
2.
The pond
must be properly sealed so that it does not leak.
3.
The use
of the pond must be for irrigation purposes only.
A pond used for aesthetics or maintained at full capacity all the time is
not considered a beneficial use of water.
4.
The
District does not have the authority to allow a private pond to store or
carryover water from one year to the next. This
authority resides with the OWRD and must be applied for separately to them.
All
liability for ponds rests solely with the landowner.
To obtain a Pond Application and find out the current fee schedule for
filing the application, please contact the District office.
NON-LIABILITY
OF DISTRICT
Delivery
of Water:
Most of the water furnished by the District flows through miles of open
ditches, and is subject to pollution, shortages, fluctuation in flow, and
interruption in service. District
employees are forbidden to make any agreements binding the District to serve an
uninterrupted, constant supply of water. All
water furnished by the District will be on the basis of irrigation deliveries
and every consumer putting the water to other use does at his own risk.
Water users assume all liability for, and agree to hold the District, and
its officers, and employees free and harmless from liability and damages that
may occur as a result of the defective water quality, shortages, fluctuation in
flow, and interruptions in service.
POINT
OF DELIVERY AND EASEMENTS
Private
Easements and Access Required:
Any person(s) or their successors in interest, dividing land currently on
the District's assessment roll, is responsible for providing necessary easements
for irrigation water to any part of the original tract.
All existing encroachments must be removed.
Any
person who sells, contracts to sell, leases, purchases or contracts to purchase
any part of a subdivided tract, shall not look to the District to provide
rights-of-way, water transmission facilities, or maintenance of said facilities
from the original point of delivery or the original undivided tract.
All private delivery systems from the original point of delivery are the
sole responsibility of either the developer or the individual land owners.
The District’s obligation to deliver water shall cease at the point or
points of delivery for the property prior to subdivision.
Approval
Required:
State and county laws require that before a parcel of land lying within
the District may be subdivided or partitioned the owner must first obtain
approval of the District. The
approval will be based upon the rules at set forth in the following section of
this document.
LAND
DIVISIONS, PARTITIONS AND SUBDIVISIONS
1.
Owner(s)
must pipe to meet District specification from HID’s point of delivery to each
parcel or lot created, to include an outlet on each parcel or lot.
2.
Owner(s)
must provide and record an easement of at least 10-feet on each side of the
pipe, 20-feet overall minimum. No
easements may be split by parcel property lines.
3.
Owner(s)
must pay material and installation costs for installation or modification of a
diversion box or pipeline to accommodate the new pipeline.
4.
For land
with full water rights, the owner(s) must sign a Consent of Transfer to allow
for a minimum of ½ acre less water right than the acreage in each parcel or lot
of 1 acre or more. For lots of less
than 1 acre ½ or less or the area may retain a water right.
5.
For land
with a partial water right, owner(s) must designate irrigated acreage to be
placed on each parcel or lot and sign a Consent of Transfer and a Request for
Transfer to allow the transfer to be completed.
6.
All
associated fees must be paid including the mandatory state filing fee, the
District’s transfer fees, the review fee and the current irrigation
assessments.
7.
Owner(s)
of land with private ditches or pipeline, which serves others down stream of the
property, must record a minimum of a 20-foot easement to protect down stream
water users.
8.
One of
the following options to provide protection of easements must be selected and
carried out:
A)
Installation
of a 6’ chain link fence or other fencing approved by the District, on the
edge of the easement on all property being divided or built upon within the
Hermiston urban growth boundary. No
PVC fencing will be allowed. Lands
outside of the urban growth boundary will be required to fence at the edge of
the easement with appropriate fencing to keep livestock out of canals and
ditches.
B)
Lots one
acre or less in sized where a buried pipeline exists may have fencing on the
easement provided that no post is closer than 8 feet from the centerline of the
pipe and a minimum of a 16 foot opening which is 90° perpendicular to the pipe
is available when a swinging or rolling gate or gates are open.
No locking devices which prevent free access by district personnel may be
used on gates.
C)
Sign and
record an easement agreement for areas where a buried pipeline exists and
landowners do not wish to fence the easement through their property.
FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT
Water
Regulating Devices:
The District, at its option, may lock any or all water regulating devices
and District employees only will be allowed to open head gates or valves, adjust
or place flash boards in checks. Any
person who, in any way, interferes with the setting or adjustment of such water
regulating devices shall be held strictly liable for any damage resulting from
such operation. The ditch rider may
grant permission for a specified time to a water user to allow them to regulate
their water.
Laterals:
The District will maintain laterals to last District established point of
delivery. The District will absorb
all water losses in the lateral to each point of delivery, unless rate of flow
is low enough to create excessive losses. The
water user must provide access to laterals adequate for maintenance and water
delivery. The water user must also
provide a separate head ditch as irrigating from laterals will be prohibited.
Damage
to Laterals:
A water user is responsible for any damage to a lateral as a result of
the water user violating the above rules pertaining to laterals and water
regulating devices and is liable to the District for the cost of necessary
repairs.
Control
of Animals:
The District may require a landowner to construct a fence along the
District's right-of-way to prevent damage to the District's facilities by
animals on or in the District's rights-of-way or canals.
VOTING RIGHTS
Land owners in the district have voting rights in any
matter requiring or allowing a vote of the owners of land or the electors of a
district.
An owner of land or elector may vote according to the
total amount of acreage within the district owned by the owner or elector that
is subject to the changes or assessments of the district on the basis of (A) one
vote for up to 40 acres; (B) two votes for 40 acres or more but not more than
160 acres; and (C) three votes for more than 160 acres.
(Reference ORS 545.007)
The district is divided into 5 divisions for the
purpose of election of directors. Following
is a listing of the areas in each division.
The division boundaries are also shown on the map which is the center
fold of this booklet.
Division 1: 4N28
sections 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11
5N28 sections 15, 16, 21, 22, 27, 28, 33 and 34
5N29 sections 19, 29, 30, 31 and 32
5N30 section 31
Division 5: 4N28
sections 1, 12 and 13
4N29 sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 12
Discarding
any glass, cans or other trash, rubbish, debris or litter on land within 100
yards of any waters of the state, as defined in the Oregon Revised Statutes,
other than in receptacles provided for the purpose of holding such trash,
rubbish, debris or litter.
Any
person, including a person in the possession or control of any land, discarding
any dead animal carcass or part thereof, excrement, putrid, nauseous, noisome,
decaying, deleterious or offensive substance into or in any manner befoul,
polluting or impairing the quality or any spring, river, brook, creek, branch,
well, irrigation drainage ditch, irrigation ditch, cistern or pond of water.
Intentionally
damaging or destroying property of the District directly or by intentionally
interfering with, obstructing or altering in any manner, the service of the
District; or intentionally using, manipulating, arranging or rearranging the
property of the District.
Intentional
Damage or Theft:
The laws of Oregon prohibit any person from intentionally or willfully
cutting, breaking down, injuring, destroying or removing any water ditch, canal,
flume, drain pipe or reservoir or any other thing used for conveying, receiving
or holding water used or designed to be used for irrigation, or any dam,
reservoir, gate, flume, flashboard, cable, lock or other appurtenance used or
designed for any of said purpose. Nor
may any person without authority obstruct, draw off, or use any portion of the
water flowing through or contained in any water ditch, canal, trench, pipe, dam
or reservoir, or other receptacle used for containing such water.
Such conduct may constitute criminal mischief and/or theft.
Any such action may also allow the District to pursue civil action
against the offender under Oregon laws prohibiting the unauthorized taking of or
tampering with utility services.
Dumping:
It is illegal to dump sewage, lawn clippings, shrubbery, rubbish,
garbage, or other refuse, including all containers both empty and full, and
specifically those that will contaminate water, or animal matter into any ditch,
canal or canal right-of-way or upon District property.
Such conduct may result in the filing of a criminal or civil complaint
against the offender.
GOVERNMENT
REPORTS
Reclamation
Reform Act of 1982:
All water users who own or lease property which is served by a USBR water
project and which property separately or combined has more than 40 acres of USBR
project water must comply with the reporting requirements of the Reclamation
Reform Act of 1982. Water users in
the District who are subject to the Act may pick up the required reporting or
certification forms at the District office.
Water users should contact the District office if uncertain that the Act
pertains to user's circumstances. Any
water user who fails to file the required forms will be denied District water.
Water users should also be aware that there may be substantial penalties
for not complying with the Act. These
individual forms are confidential.
RULES
AND REGULATIONS EFFECTIVE
Adopted:
The foregoing rules and regulations were adopted by Resolution of the
Board of the Hermiston Irrigation District this 5th day of December,
1991, in regular session.
Readopted:
The forgoing Rules and Regulations were revised and readopted by Resolution of
the Board of the Hermiston Irrigation District this 9th day of
Readopted:
The forgoing Rules and Regulations were revised and readopted by Resolution of
the Board of the Hermiston Irrigation District this 14th day of
September, 2006, in regular session.
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CONVERSIONS
1 cubic foot of water = 7.4805 gallons = 62.37 pounds
of water
1 acre foot = enough water to cover 1 acre of land 1
foot deep = 43,560 cubic feet = 325,850 gallons
1,000 gallons per minute = 2.23 CFS 4.42 acre feet
per day
1,000,000 gallons = 3.0689 acre feet
1,000,000 gallons per day (mgd) = 1,122 acre feet per
year
1 cubic foot per second (CFS) = 1.9835 acre feet per
day
448.83 gallons per minute
26,930 gallons per hour
646,315 gallons per day
CONTACT INFORMATION
District
Office
District
Fax
District
E-Mail
HID@eoni.com
District
Website
HermistonID.org
Field
Manger Cell Phone
Ditch
Rider (
Ditch
Rider (
Ditch
Rider (Relief)