US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

                                  TITLE  42
                       IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE -- WATER
                            RIGHTS AND RECLAMATION
                                  CHAPTER 17
                       DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES --
                             WATER RESOURCE BOARD
    42-1734F.  RIGHTS NOT AFFECTED. (1)  No provision of this chapter, or any
rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to this chapter, shall in any way
limit, restrict, or conflict with approved applications for the appropriation
of water or with vested property rights existing on the date a waterway is
designated for protected river status or interim protected river status.  For
the purpose of this chapter, nonvested rights shall include, but not be
limited to, pending applications for state mining permits or mineral leases,
and pending applications for the appropriation of water.
    (2)  No provision of this chapter, or any rules or regulations promulgated
pursuant to this chapter shall bar a water user or his agent from cleaning,
maintaining or replacing a water diversion structure existing on or before the
date a river is designated as protected.  A water user or his agent may remove
any obstructions from the stream channel, if such obstruction interferes with
the delivery of, or use of, water under any existing water right.  The
provisions of this section do not relieve a person from complying with any
other applicable laws.
    (3)  Nothing in this act shall prevent or restrict the relicensing of
existing hydropower projects that have been previously licensed by the federal
energy regulatory commission and which have generated electricity. Any
designation of waterways as interim protected rivers or protected rivers shall
not affect the operation or relicensing, including but not limited to the
expansion of capacity which does not enlarge existing boundaries or project
impoundments of any hydropower project existing and that has been previously
licensed by the federal energy regulatory commission and which have generated
electricity as of the date of the designation.