What is an in-stream flow use/right?
An instream flow water use is water left in a stream for non-consumptive uses, such as preservation of fish or wildlife habitat. The proposed Compact provides instream flow water rights for U.S. Forest Service under state law. There are 77 streams in the Compact itself for which the U.S. Forest Service will get state-based instream flow rights upstream from the National Forest boundary. The listing and quantification of these rights are contained in Table 2 of the Compact. The U.S. Forest Service may also apply for state water reservations for additional instream flow rights. All these instream flow rights will have a priority date of 2007 or later, making them junior to current water uses. Because the majority of National Forest Service lands are upstream of private lands, the U.S. Forest Service instream flow rights will help insure flow to downstream senior water users.
