City of Union Gap v. Department of Ecology

¶1 The owner of a water right relinquishes that right to the state if the water right is not used beneficially for five years. But the owner does not relinquish that right, despite nonuse, if it is claimed for some “determined future development” or for “municipal water supply purposes.” Here, a developer bought water rights, intending to sell them to a city. We conclude that the sale did not take place within the required five-year period before the developer relinquished the water rights. Nor did the developer satisfy the requirements of either the “determined future development” or the…