Revised Code of Washington

Wash. Rev. Code § 90.14.170 (2026)

✓ current as of May 2026

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Any person entitled to divert or withdraw waters of the state by virtue of his or her ownership of land abutting a stream, lake, or watercourse, who abandons the same, or who voluntarily fails, without sufficient cause, to beneficially use all or any part of said right to withdraw or divert said water for any period of five successive years after July 1, 1967, shall relinquish such right or portion thereof, and such right or portion thereof shall revert to the state, and the waters affected by said right shall become available for appropriation in accordance with the provisions of RCW 90.03.250.

[ 2013 c 23 s 608; 1967 c 233 s 17.]

Notes:

Effective date—1967 c 233: See RCW 90.14.900.

Application to Yakima river basin trust water rights: RCW 90.38.040.

Availability for other uses qualified: RCW 90.14.160.

Implementation and enforcement of chapter—Application of RCW sections to specific proceedings: RCW 90.14.200.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 1 case (1 in the last 5 years), 2023–2023 · leading case: Raymond Reser v. Pollution Control Hearings Bd. (Wash. Ct. App. 2023).

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Raymond Reser v. Pollution Control Hearings Bd. (Wash. Ct. App. 2023). “) RCW 90.14.170 and RCW 90.14.180 provide similar language in that they require relinquishment of water rights when the right-holder ultimately fails to make beneficial use of such rights for five consecutive years without sufficient cause.”

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.