Title 41, Title 41 — Water

Cooperation and agreements with Utah; appropriations to Montana. The state engineer is hereby authorized and empowered to receive and grant applications to appropriate water from streams in Wyoming where such water is to be conveyed and used for beneficial purposes within the sta…

Adjudication of rights to water for use in adjoining state. After issuance of the permit under legislative authority and completion of the work according to the terms of the permit, the board of control may adjudicate said water rights upon proof of beneficial use as provided by …

Adjudication of rights to water for use in adjoining state; permits issued before February 25, 1939. Where ditches or reservoirs have been built under permits issued by the state of Wyoming prior to February 25, 1939, and where water has been diverted by, or stored in such works …

Created; members; location of office; meetings generally; state engineer ex officio president; quorum. There is hereby constituted a state board of control composed of the state engineer and the superintendents of the four (4) water divisions. The board shall have an office with …

Ex officio secretary of the board; duties generally. The ex officio secretary of the state board of control shall be appointed by the board and be an employee of the state engineer. The duties of the secretary shall, under direction of the president of the board, consist of keepi…

Collection of fees generally. (a) The secretary of the state board of control shall collect in advance reasonable fees not to exceed the following: (i) One hundred dollars ($100.00) with each proof of appropriation of water or proof of construction of a reservoir; (ii) For record…

Collection of fees; disposition generally. Said secretary shall, out of the fees so collected, remit with each certificate or order of the state board of control, sent to a county clerk for recording, the statutory fee for recording such instrument and pay all costs of advertisin…

State board of control; additional fees. (a) The secretary of the board of control shall collect fees, not to exceed the following which shall be paid in advance, and turned over to the state treasurer: (i) For making copies of the records of the board of control or of papers or …

Duty at first meeting. It shall be the duty of said board at its first meeting to make proper arrangements for beginning the determination of priorities of right to the use of the public waters of the state, which determination shall begin on the streams most used for irrigation,…

Copies of judgments involving water rights to be sent to board. It shall be the duty of the clerk of each district court in the state of Wyoming, upon the rendering of judgment by such court in each and every case wherein is involved in any way, any question affecting the title t…

Tabulations and supplements of adjudicated water rights; publication generally; contents; appropriations. The president of the state board of control shall upon the taking effect of this act, employ competent assistants to compile and edit revised tabulations of adjudicated water…

Tabulations and supplements of adjudicated water rights; adequate copies to be printed; president to direct. Adequate copies, as determined by the president of the state board of control, of the tabulation of adjudicated water rights and supplements shall be printed under the dir…

Tabulations of adjudicated water rights; distribution and sale of copies; disposition of proceeds. The state board of control is hereby instructed to deposit with the state library five (5) copies for use therein and to distribute sufficient copies for administrative purposes to …

Authority to administer oaths; rulemaking authorized. (a) The members of the board of control shall administer oaths in all cases where it is necessary in the performance of their official duties. (b) The board of control may adopt reasonable rules and regulations to carry out th…

Streams to be first adjudicated. The method of determining the priority and amounts of appropriation to be as follows: the board of control shall decide at their first meeting, the streams to be first adjudicated, and shall fix a time for the beginning of taking of testimony, and…

Notice; by publication; contents; taking of testimony; adjournment of hearings generally. The said board shall prepare a notice, setting forth the date when the engineer will begin a measurement of the stream, and the ditches diverting the water therefrom, and a place, and a day …

Notice; by mail to claimants. It shall also be the duty of said division superintendent to mail to each party having a recorded claim to waters of said stream, by registered mail, a similar notice setting forth the date when the state engineer, or his assistant, will begin the ex…

Notice; all claimants to be notified. In issuing notices to claimants in priority adjudications of the waters of any stream and its tributaries, as provided in W.S. 41-4-305, all parties named in claiming the waters of said stream or tributaries in said transcript shall be notifi…

Notice; enclosure of form for statement by claimant; contents. (a) Said division superintendent shall, in addition, enclose with said notice a blank form on which said claimant shall present in writing all the particulars showing the amounts and dates of appropriations to the use…

Notice; statements to be under oath; administering. Each of said claimants shall be required to certify to his statements under oath, and the superintendent of the water division in which the testimony is taken is hereby authorized to administer such oaths, which shall be done wi…

Notice; payment of printing costs. All bills for the printing of notices to claimants of water in the adjudications provided for in this act shall be paid for by the secretary of the state board of control.

Taking of testimony generally; taking of proof. Upon the date named in the notice provided for in the preceding sections, the division superintendent shall begin the taking of testimony and shall continue until the testimony shall be completed; provided, that in case the division…

Notice on completion of testimony; inspection of evidence. Upon the completion of the taking of evidence by the division superintendent, it shall be his duty to at once give notice, in one (1) issue of some newspaper of general circulation in the county where such determination i…

Duty of claimants to appear; failure to comply; time limits for appearance; rights of claimant not notified of adjudication. Whenever the state board of control shall, as provided by law, proceed to adjudicate and determine the rights of the various claimants to the use of water …

Others contesting rights of original claimants; when permitted; procedures generally. Whenever the rights to the use of the waters of any stream and all its tributaries within the state have been adjudicated as provided by law, and it shall appear by the records of such adjudicat…

Others contesting rights of original claimants; notice to superintendent; time limits; affidavit; notice of hearing generally. Should any person, corporation or association of persons owning any irrigation works, or claiming any interest in the stream or streams involved in the a…

Others contesting rights of original claimants; when hearing to be held; notice; powers of superintendents; proceedings generally. Said superintendent shall also fix the time, both as to the day and hour, for the hearing of said contest, which date shall not be less than thirty (…

Others contesting rights of original claimants; daily deposit required during hearings; cost of preparation of transcript; disposition of moneys deposited upon close of hearing. The superintendent shall require a deposit of eight dollars ($8.00) from each of the contestants and c…

Others contesting rights of original claimants; duty of superintendent to transmit evidence and testimony to board of control; issuance and costs of new certificate. (a) Upon the completion of the testimony and evidence taken in contests initiated under the provisions of this act…

Examination and measurement of capacity of streams and works diverting water; maps or plats. It shall be the duty of the state engineer or some qualified assistant, to proceed at the time specified in the notice to the parties on said stream, to be adjudicated, to make an examina…

Determination of priorities to streams; limitations on amount of water to be allotted; disposition of excess water generally. At the first regular meeting of the board of control after the completion of such measurement by the state engineer, and the return of said evidence by sa…

Surplus water; defined. For the purpose of this act, surplus water is hereby defined to be that quantity of water belonging to the state of Wyoming flowing in the natural channel of any main stream or a tributary of a main stream within the boundaries of Wyoming, at any time in e…

Surplus water; regulation and control. It shall be the duty of the state engineer, water superintendents and water commissioners and their assistants to divide, regulate and control the diversion and taking of surplus water from any stream in a manner that all applicants will be …

Surplus water; rights of use generally. (a) A right to the use of surplus water as herein defined in the amount of one (1) cubic foot of water per second for each seventy (70) acres of land having an adjudicated water right or a water right under permit is hereby adjudicated to a…

Surplus water; who may divert. Surplus water, as herein defined, may be diverted by anyone having either an adjudicated appropriation or a permit granting a right to divert and take from said stream and/or its tributaries a quantity of water for beneficial use.

Surplus water; limitations on use. Each applicant shall be entitled to divert for beneficial use such quantity of surplus water as he can so use, not in excess of one (1) cubic foot of water per second of time for each seventy (70) acres of land irrigated therewith, and not in ex…

Surplus water; senior priority. When anyone has applied surplus water to beneficial use, as herein provided, he shall be entitled thereafter to divert and beneficially use his proportionate share thereof, and such diversion and beneficial use, when accomplished, is hereby declare…

Surplus water; construction of W.S. 41-4-317 through 41-4-324. Nothing in this act shall be so construed as to permit, authorize or make lawful the diversion or taking of any water other than surplus water as herein defined.

Contents of certificate of priority; recording; fees; transmittal of appropriation; fees for proofs submitted at hearings; disposition. As soon as practicable after the determination of the priorities of appropriation of the use of waters of any stream, it shall be the duty of th…

Conclusiveness of final decrees of board. The final orders or decrees of the state board of control, in the proceedings provided by law for the adjudication and determination of rights to the use of the public waters of the state, shall be conclusive as to all prior appropriation…

Rehearing after final order of board. After any final order of the board of control adjudicating the priorities upon any stream, any party interested therein may within one (1) year thereafter apply for a rehearing for reasons to be stated in the application; and upon the filing …

Authority to modify order and correct testimony. Upon such hearing the board shall have authority to modify or alter the original order in such respect as shall appear just and proper. But it shall not be necessary for an application for rehearing to be filed to entitle any party…

Excess water; defined. For the purpose of this act, excess water is hereby defined to be that quantity of water belonging to the state of Wyoming flowing in the natural channel of any main stream or a tributary of a main stream within the boundaries of Wyoming, at any time in exc…

Excess water; rights of use generally. (a) A right to the use of excess water as defined by W.S. 41-4-329 in the amount of one (1) cubic foot per second for each seventy (70) acres of land having an adjudicated water right or a water right under permit, except those having a prio…

Excess water; senior priority. When anyone has applied excess water to beneficial use, as herein provided, he shall be entitled thereafter to divert and beneficially use his proportionate share thereof, and the diversion and beneficial use, when accomplished, is hereby declared t…

Rights of appeal to district court. Any party or number of parties acting jointly, who may feel themselves aggrieved by the determination of the board of control, may have an appeal from the board of control to the district court of the county in which the stream or streams, invo…