Oregon Water Resources Instream Leases, Transfers, and Conserved Water - Upper Willamette

Instream leases and transfers provided an opportunity for water right holders to voluntarily aid in the restoration and protection of streamflows. This program offers a benefit to streams and habitats by creating a protectable water right instream. These rights were regulated by OWRD staff in the same manner as any other water right, providing critical habitat and flows for fish and improvements to water quality. These benefits to the stream were often during the irrigation season, when flows are most needed for habitat when water would otherwise be withdrawn for out of stream use.
The Allocation of Conserved Water Program also provided benefits to instream flows and critical aquatic habitat. Water users who participated in this program received a percentage of water conserved through efficiency measures as an additional water right. Participants were required to dedicate a minimum of 25%, and as much as 75%, of the conserved water to instream uses.

The goal of this program is to provide an opportunity for water right holders to aid in the protection of streamflows through transferring water rights instream for the benefit of aquatic species and habitat. This can be done either temporarily with a lease or permanently with a water right transfer or Allocation of Conserved Water project. The benefit to the stream comes from increased flows that are protected from withdrawal in areas of critical habitat during the irrigation season when flows are often lowest. Through these programs there are currently 764.51 cubic feet per second of water leased or transferred instream within the Upper Willamette basin on various stream reaches. Note that some of the instream leases and transfers are not from irrigation rights, therefore are not reported in the acreage figure under the B.0.b metric.