Oregon Revised Statutes

Or. Rev. Stat. § 540.020 (2026)

Watermasters; appointment; removal; powers of Water Resources Director

✓ current as of May 2026

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540.020 Watermasters; appointment; removal; powers of Water Resources Director. (1) The Water Resources Director shall appoint one watermaster for each water district. The watermaster shall hold office until removed by the director, and shall be subject to any applicable provision of the State Personnel Relations Law. The director shall fill all vacancies which occur in the office.

(2) The director, or any duly authorized assistant, shall have the powers and authority of a watermaster in the distribution of water in any water district. [Amended by 1985 c.421 §5]

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 2 cases, 1956–1996 · leading case: Teel Irrigation Dist. v. Water Resources Dep't, 919 P.2d 1172 (Or. 1996).

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Teel Irrigation Dist. v. Water Resources Dep't, 919 P.2d 1172 (Or. 1996). “010 provides that the Water Resources Commission shall divide the state into water districts, and ORS 540.020 provides that the Water Resources Director shall appoint one watermaster for each water district.”

Smyth v. Jenkins, 299 P.2d 819 (Or. 1956). “Learning in 1941 that they held no permit for their dam and reservoir nor a right to appropriate waters from the reservoir for irrigation purposes, and being advised by the county watermaster (an appointee and serving at the will of the state engineer: ORS 540.020) of the…”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.