RAC moves to replace vague 'manage' language with 'change or forego use' in water‑use agreement definition

The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) Water Acquisition Grant Program RAC voted informally to replace the draft rule's wording that described grant terms as a way to “manage” water with a clearer phrase, “change or forego use of,” in the definition of a water use agreement.

Brian Volcott, a water acquisitions and grants coordinator who led the rule review, proposed the exact replacement: “It would be replaced the word manage with change or forego use of.” Steve Perrette of DEQ had earlier flagged that “manage” could be vague and that phrases like “curtail beneficial use” risked implying a reduction of beneficial uses rather than converting beneficial use types. The RAC discussed alternatives and settled on the new phrasing to better reflect contractual changes to how water is used.

Members noted the edit also replaces multiple references to “water rights” with “water use” and adds quantification language to the definition to better tie water‑use agreements back to the program’s conservation purpose. Several RAC members signaled agreement without objection. Brian said staff would capture the agreed phrasing in the working draft and carry it forward into the posted rule text.

This wording change is intended to make the program’s purpose—securing environmental benefits through contractual changes to use—clearer in the rules, rather than relying on a general term that reviewers worried might be interpreted inconsistently.