watersheds; beneficial use; instream flows

HB2280 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
watersheds; beneficial use; instream flows

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HB 2280

Introduced by

Representatives
Travers: Stahl Hamilton

AN
ACT

amending sections 17-231, 17-298,
45-101, 45-105, 45-151, 45-152.01 and 45-172, Arizona Revised Statutes;
relating to waters.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 17-231, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
17-231.

General powers and duties of the commission

A. The commission shall:

1. Adopt rules and establish services it deems
necessary to carry out the provisions and purposes of this title.

2. Establish broad policies and long-range
programs for the management, preservation and harvest of wildlife.

3. Establish hunting, trapping and fishing rules and
prescribe the manner and methods that may be used in taking wildlife, but the
commission shall not limit or restrict the magazine capacity of any authorized
firearm.

4. Be responsible for the enforcement of laws for
the protection of wildlife.

5. Provide for the assembling and distribution of
information to the public relating to wildlife and activities of the
department.

6. Prescribe rules for the expenditure, by or under
the control of the director, of all funds arising from appropriation, licenses,
gifts or other sources.

7. Exercise such powers and duties necessary to
carry out fully the provisions of this title and in general exercise powers and
duties that relate to adopting and carrying out policies of the department and
control of its financial affairs.

8. Prescribe procedures for use of department
personnel, facilities, equipment, supplies and other resources in assisting
search or rescue operations on request of the director of the division of
emergency management.

9. Cooperate with the Arizona-Mexico
commission in the governor's office and with researchers at universities in
this state to collect data and conduct projects in the United States and Mexico
on issues that are within the scope of the department's duties and that relate
to quality of life, trade and economic development in this state in a manner
that will help the Arizona-Mexico commission to assess and enhance the
economic competitiveness of this state and of the Arizona-Mexico region.

B. The commission may:

1. Conduct investigations, inquiries or hearings in
the performance of its powers and duties.

2. Establish game management units or refuges for
the preservation and management of wildlife.

3. Construct and operate game farms, fish
hatcheries, fishing lakes or other facilities for or relating to the
preservation or propagation of wildlife.

4.
Expend funds

Spend
monies
to provide training in the safe handling and use of firearms and
safe hunting practices.

5. Remove or
permit
allow
to be removed from public or private waters fish
which
that
hinder or prevent propagation
of game or food fish and dispose of such fish in such manner as it may
designate.

6. Purchase, sell or barter wildlife for the purpose
of stocking public or private lands and waters and take at any time in any
manner wildlife for research, propagation and restocking purposes or for use at
a game farm or fish hatchery and declare wildlife salable when in the public
interest or the interest of conservation.

7. Enter into agreements with the federal
government, with other states or political subdivisions of
the
this
state and with private organizations for the construction
and operation of facilities and for management studies, measures or procedures
for or relating to the preservation and propagation of wildlife and
expend funds
spend monies
for carrying out
such agreements.

8. Prescribe rules for the sale, trade, importation,
exportation or possession of wildlife.

9.
Expend
Spend

monies for the purpose of producing publications relating to wildlife and
activities of the department for sale to the public and establish the price to
be paid for annual subscriptions and single copies of such publications.� All
monies received from the sale of such publications shall be deposited in the
game and fish publications revolving fund.

10. Contract with any person or entity to design and
produce artwork on terms that, in the commission's judgment, will produce an
original and valuable work of art relating to wildlife or wildlife habitat.

11. Sell or distribute the artwork authorized under
paragraph 10 of this subsection on such terms and for such price as it deems
acceptable.

12. Consider the adverse and beneficial short-term
and long-term economic impacts on resource dependent communities, small
businesses and
the
this
state
of Arizona
, of policies and programs for the management,
preservation and harvest of wildlife by holding a public hearing to receive and
consider written comments and public testimony from interested persons.

13. Adopt rules relating to range operations at
public shooting ranges operated by and under the jurisdiction of the
commission, including the hours of operation, the fees for the use of the
range, the regulation of groups and events, the operation of related range
facilities, the type of firearms and ammunition that may be used at the range,
the safe handling of firearms at the range, the required safety equipment for a
person using the range, the sale of firearms, ammunition and shooting supplies
at the range, and the authority of range officers to enforce these rules, to
remove violators from the premises and to refuse entry for repeat violations.

14. Solicit and accept grants, gifts or donations of
money or other property from any source, which may be used for any purpose
consistent with this title.

15. acquire and lease surface water
rights for watershed HEALTH uses and instream uses. For the purposes
of this paragraph, "watershed Health uses" has the same meaning
prescribed in section 45-101.

C. The commission shall confer and coordinate with
the director of water resources with respect to the commission's activities,
plans and negotiations relating to water development and use, restoration
projects under the restoration acts pursuant to chapter 4, article 1 of this
title, where water development and use are involved, the abatement of pollution
injurious to wildlife and in the formulation of fish and wildlife aspects of
the director of water resources' plans to develop and
utilize
use
water resources of the state and shall have jurisdiction
over fish and wildlife resources and fish and wildlife activities of projects
constructed for the state under or pursuant to the jurisdiction of the director
of water resources.

D. The commission may enter into one or more
agreements with a multi-county water conservation district and other
parties for participation in the lower Colorado river multispecies conservation
program under section 48-3713.03, including the collection and payment of
any monies authorized by law for the purposes of the lower Colorado river
multispecies conservation program.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 17-298, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
17-298.

Expenditures from fund; purpose and amounts; annual report

A. Monies received pursuant to section 5-572
shall be spent as follows:

1. Five percent on public access, including
maintenance and operation expenses.

2. Sixty percent on the identification, inventory,
acquisition, protection and management, including maintenance and operations,
of property with sensitive habitat
, watershed health uses and
instream uses
. At least twenty percent of the monies
available under this paragraph shall be spent to acquire property with
sensitive habitat used by endangered, threatened and candidate
species. Not more than twenty percent of the monies available under
this paragraph may be spent on the operation and maintenance of the acquired
property, including the acquired property's infrastructure. The
commission may dispose of any lands acquired for use as habitat by an
endangered, threatened or candidate species under this paragraph when the
species no longer qualifies as an endangered, threatened or candidate
species. The Arizona game and fish commission shall dispose of the
land in a manner consistent with the preservation of the species of
concern. The disposal may include conservation easements and fee
simple transfers with associated instruments of protection. The
commission shall follow the guidelines established pursuant to section 37-803
relating to the disposition of real property by a state agency. In
addition, disposal shall include a written agreement between the commission and
the purchaser requiring the purchaser to incorporate management actions to
ensure proper maintenance of the species of concern. Management
actions may include maintenance of habitat, selective control of nonnative
species, maintenance of genetic viability, monitoring of populations and
habitat, coordinating conservation activities, funding conservation actions and
assessing conservation progress.
For the purposes of
this paragraph, "watershed Health uses" has the same meaning
prescribed in section 45-101.

3. Fifteen percent on habitat evaluation or habitat
protection.

4. Fifteen percent on urban wildlife and urban
wildlife habitat programs.

5. Five percent on environmental education.

B. All monies earned as interest on monies received
pursuant to section 5-572 shall be spent only in the percentages and for
the purposes described in subsection A of this section or for costs of
administering the Arizona game and fish commission heritage fund in such
amounts as determined by the Arizona game and fish commission.

C. On or before December 31, the commission shall
submit its annual report to the president of the senate, the speaker of the
house of representatives and the chairmen of the senate and house of
representatives committees on natural resources and agriculture, or their
successor committees, and shall provide a copy of this report to the secretary
of state. The annual report shall include information on:

1. The amount of monies spent or encumbered in the
fund during the preceding fiscal year and a summary of the projects, activities
and expenditures relating to:

(a) Property acquisition, operation and maintenance.

(b) Identification, inventory, protection and
management of sensitive habitat.

(c) Habitat evaluation and protection.

(d) Urban wildlife.

(e) Environmental education.

(f) Public access.

2. The number and location of parcels of property
acquired during the preceding fiscal year.

3. For personal and real properties acquired with
fund monies during the preceding fiscal year, the amount of property tax
revenue paid to each taxing jurisdiction during the last full tax year prior to
acquisition.

4. The amount of money spent from the fund during
the preceding fiscal year for employee personal services.

5. The number of full-time employees employed
in the preceding fiscal year in connection with property acquisition, including
survey, appraisal and other related activities.

6. The total number of full-time employees
employed in the preceding fiscal year for the programs listed in subsection A
of this section.

7. A list of the grants awarded during the preceding
fiscal year, including information on the recipients, purposes and amounts.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 45-101, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
45-101.

Definitions

In this title, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. "Appropriator" means the person or
persons initiating or perfecting the right to use appropriable water based on
state law, or the person's successor or successors in interest.

2. "Department" means the department of
water resources.

3. "Director" means the director of water
resources, who is also the director of the department.

4. "Effluent" means water that has been
collected in a sanitary sewer for subsequent treatment in a facility that is
regulated pursuant to title 49, chapter 2. Such water remains
effluent until it acquires the characteristics of groundwater or surface water.

5. "Groundwater" means water under the
surface of the earth regardless of the geologic structure in which it is
standing or moving. Groundwater does not include water flowing in underground
streams with ascertainable beds and banks.

6. "Interstate stream" means any stream
constituting or flowing along the exterior boundaries of this state, and any
tributary originating in another state or foreign country and flowing into or
through this state.

7. "Riparian area" means a geographically
delineated area with distinct resource values, that is characterized by
deep-rooted plant species that depend on having roots in the water table or its
capillary zone and that occurs within or adjacent to a natural perennial or
intermittent stream channel or within or adjacent to a lake, pond or marsh bed
maintained primarily by natural water sources. Riparian area does
not include areas in or adjacent to ephemeral stream channels, artificially
created stockponds, man-made storage reservoirs constructed primarily for
conservation or regulatory storage, municipal and industrial ponds or man-made
water transportation, distribution, off-stream storage and collection systems.

8. "Sanitary sewer" means any pipe or
other enclosed conduit that carries, among other substances, any water-carried
wastes from the human body from residences, commercial buildings, industrial
plants or institutions.

9. "Surface water" means the waters of all
sources, flowing in streams, canyons, ravines or other natural channels, or in
definite underground channels, whether perennial or intermittent, floodwater,
wastewater or surplus water, and of lakes, ponds and springs on the
surface. For the purposes of administering this title, surface water
is deemed to include central Arizona project water.

10. "Watershed health uses"
means water that is conserved in a natural watercourse and not otherwise used
and that supports the attributes of watershed health for an individual
watershed as prescribed in the report required by section 45-105, subsection B.

END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Section 45-105, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
45-105.

Powers and duties of director

A. The director may:

1. Formulate plans and develop programs for the
practical and economical development, management, conservation and use of
surface water, groundwater and the watersheds in this state, including the
management of water quantity and quality.

2. Investigate works, plans or proposals pertaining
to surface water and groundwater, including management of watersheds, and
acquire, preserve, publish and disseminate related information the director
deems advisable.

3. Collect and investigate information on and
prepare and devise means and plans for the development, conservation and use of
all waterways, watersheds, surface water, groundwater and groundwater basins in
this state and of all related matters and subjects, including irrigation,
drainage, water quality maintenance, regulation of flow, diversion of running
streams adapted for development in cooperating with the United States or by
this state independently, flood control, use of water power, prevention of soil
waste and storage, conservation and development of water for every useful
purpose.

4. Measure, survey and investigate the water
resources of this state and their potential development and cooperate and
contract with agencies of the United States for such purposes.

5. Acquire, hold and dispose of property, including
land, rights-of-way, water and water rights, as necessary or
convenient for the performance of the groundwater and water quality management
functions of the department.

6. Acquire, other than by condemnation, construct,
improve, maintain and operate early warning systems for flood control purposes
and works for the recovery, storage, treatment and delivery of water.

7. Accept grants, gifts or donations of money or
other property from any source, which may be used for any purpose consistent
with this title. All property acquired by the director is public
property and is subject to the same tax exemptions, rights and privileges
granted to municipalities, public agencies and other public entities.

8. Enter into an interagency contract or agreement
with any public agency pursuant to title 11, chapter 7, article 3 and contract,
act jointly or cooperate with any person to carry out the purposes of this
title.

9. Prosecute and defend all rights, claims and
privileges of this state respecting interstate streams.

10. Initiate and participate in conferences,
conventions or hearings, including congressional hearings, court hearings or
hearings of other competent judicial or quasi-judicial departments,
agencies or organizations, and negotiate and cooperate with agencies of the
United States or of any state or government and represent this state concerning
matters within the department's jurisdiction.

11. Apply for and hold permits and licenses from the
United States or any agency of the United States for reservoirs, dam sites and
rights-of-way.

12. Receive and review all reports, proposed
contracts and agreements from and with the United States or any agencies, other
states or governments or their representatives and recommend to the governor
and the legislature action to be taken on such reports, proposed contracts and
agreements. The director shall take action on such reports, if
authorized by law, and review and coordinate the preparation of formal comments
of this state on both the preliminary and final reports relating to water
resource development of the United States army corps of engineers, the United
States secretary of the interior and the United States secretary of
agriculture, as provided for in the flood control act of 1944 (58 Stat. 887; 33
United States Code section 701-1).

13. Contract with any person for imported water or
for the acquisition of water rights or rights to withdraw, divert or use
surface water or groundwater as necessary for the performance of the
groundwater management functions of the director prescribed by chapter 2 of
this title.� If water becomes available under any contract executed under this
paragraph, the director may contract with any person for its delivery or
exchange for any other water available.

14. Recommend to the administrative heads of
agencies, boards and commissions of this state, and political subdivisions of
this state, rules to promote and protect the rights and interests of this state
and its inhabitants in any matter relating to the surface water and groundwater
in this state.

15. Conduct feasibility studies and remedial
investigations relating to groundwater quality and enter into contracts and
cooperative agreements under section 104 of the comprehensive environmental
response, compensation, and liability act of 1980 (P.L. 96-510) to
conduct such studies and investigations.

16. Dispose informally by stipulation, agreed
settlement, consent order or alternative means of dispute resolution, including
arbitration, if the parties and director agree, or by default of any case in
which a hearing before the director is required or allowed by law.

17. Cooperate and coordinate with the appropriate
governmental entities in Mexico regarding water planning in areas near the
border between Mexico and Arizona and for the exchange of relevant hydrological
information.

B. The director shall:

1. Exercise and perform all powers and duties vested
in or imposed on the department and adopt and issue rules necessary to carry
out the purposes of this title.

2. Administer all laws relating to groundwater, as
provided in this title.

3. Be responsible for the supervision and control of
reservoirs and dams of this state and, when deemed necessary, conduct
investigations to determine whether the existing or anticipated condition of
any dam or reservoir in this state is or may become a menace to life and
property.

4. Coordinate and confer with and may contract with:

(a) The Arizona power authority, the game and fish
commission, the state land department, the Arizona outdoor recreation
coordinating commission, the Arizona commerce authority, the department of
health services, active management area water authorities or districts and
political subdivisions of this state with respect to matters within their
jurisdiction relating to surface water and groundwater and the development of
state water plans.

(b) The department of environmental quality with
respect to title 49, chapter 2 for its assistance in the development of state
water plans.

(c) The department of environmental quality
regarding water plans, water resource planning, water management, wells, water
rights and permits, and other appropriate provisions of this title pertaining
to remedial investigations, feasibility studies, site prioritization, selection
of remedies and implementation of the water quality assurance revolving fund
program pursuant to title 49, chapter 2, article 5.

(d) The department of environmental quality
regarding coordination of databases that are necessary for activities conducted
pursuant to title 49, chapter 2, article 5.

5. Cooperate with the Arizona power authority in the
performance of the duties and functions of the authority.

6. Maintain a permanent public depository for
existing and future records of stream flow, groundwater levels and water
quality and other data relating to surface water and groundwater.

7. Maintain a public docket of all matters before
the department that may be subject to judicial review pursuant to this title.

8. Investigate and take appropriate action on any
complaints alleging withdrawals, diversions, impoundments or uses of surface
water or groundwater that may violate this title or the rules adopted pursuant
to this title.

9. Adopt an official seal for the authentication of
records, orders, rules and other official documents and actions.

10. Provide staff support to the Arizona water
protection fund commission established by chapter 12 of this title.

11. Exercise and perform all powers and duties
invested in the chairperson of the Arizona water banking authority commission
as prescribed by chapter 14 of this title.

12. Provide staff support to the Arizona water
banking authority established by chapter 14 of this title.

13. In the year following each regular general
election, present information to the committees with jurisdiction over water
issues in the house of representatives and the senate.� A written report is not
required but the presentation shall include information concerning the
following:

(a) The current status of the water supply in this
state and any likely changes in that status.

(b) Issues of regional and local drought effects,
short-term and long-term drought management efforts and the
adequacy of drought preparation throughout the state.

(c) The status of current water conservation
programs in this state.

(d) The current state of each active management area
and the level of progress toward management goals in each active management
area.

(e) Issues affecting management of the Colorado
river and the reliability of this state's two million eight hundred thousand
acre-foot allocation of Colorado river water, including the status of
water supplies in and issues related to the Colorado river basin states and
Mexico.

(f) The status of any pending or likely litigation
regarding surface water adjudications or other water-related litigation
and the potential impacts on this state's water supplies.

(g) The status of Indian water rights settlements
and related negotiations that affect this state.

(h) Other matters related to the reliability of this
state's water supplies, the responsibilities of the department and the adequacy
of the department's and other entities' resources to meet this state's water
management needs.

14. Not later than December 1, 2023 and on or before
December 1 of each year thereafter, prepare and issue a water supply and demand
assessment for at least six of the fifty-one groundwater basins established
pursuant to section 45-403. The director shall ensure that a
water supply and demand assessment is completed for all groundwater basins and
initial active management areas at least once every five years. The
director may contract with outside entities to perform some or all of the
assessments and those outside entities shall be identified in the assessment.

15. On or before December 31 every
three years after the initial preliminary survey, issue a report that includes
an assessment of the overall health of each watershed in this
state. Any agency or political subdivision of this state that has
information relevant to developing the survey and report prescribed by this
paragraph, including the determinations, assessments and recommendations
prescribed by this paragraph, shall cooperate with the director and shall
timely provide information requested by the director. The assessment
of the overall health of each watershed in this state shall be based on an
evaluation of the following attributes of the watershed:

(
a
) Hydrology.

(
b
) Landscape
condition.

(
c
) Habitat
condition.

(
d
) Geomorphology.

(
e
) Water
quality.

(
f
) Biological
condition, including the biodiversity of PLANTS, animals and aquatic species.

(
g
) Threats to
or vulnerabilities of the watershed that impact the attributes prescribed by
this paragraph.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 5. Section 45-151, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
45-151.

Right of appropriation; permitted uses; water rights in
stockponds

A. Any person,
the
this
state
,
of Arizona

INCLUDING the Arizona game and fish department,
or a
political subdivision
thereof
of this state

may appropriate unappropriated water for domestic, municipal, irrigation, stock
watering, water power, recreation, wildlife, including fish, nonrecoverable
water storage pursuant to section 45-833.01
,

or
mining uses
or watershed health uses
,
for
his
personal use or for delivery to
consumers. The person,
the
this

state
of Arizona
or a political subdivision
thereof
of this state
first appropriating the water shall have the
better right.

B. To effect the beneficial use, the person,
the
this
state
of Arizona

or a political subdivision
thereof
of this
state
appropriating the water may construct and maintain reservoirs,
storage facilities pursuant to chapter 3.1 of this title, dams, canals,
ditches, flumes and other necessary waterways.

C. A water right in a stockpond, certified pursuant
to article 10 of this chapter, shall be recognized as if such water had been
appropriated pursuant to this article.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 6. Section 45-152.01, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
45-152.01.

Instream flow applications; process; definition

A. In addition to the information prescribed in
section 45-152, any person, including the United States, this state
, including the arizona game and fish department, a POLITICAL
subdivision of this state
or a municipality, who files an instream flow
application after
the effective date of this section
August 2, 2012
shall comply with the following:

1. The applicant shall submit at least five years of
streamflow measurement data to support the proposed beneficial use which shall
be submitted at the time the application is filed.� The director shall not
accept for filing an instream flow application that is not accompanied by at
least five years of continuous streamflow measurement data. The
streamflow data submitted shall consist of gauged on-site measurements of
available water flow from the area in which the claimed beneficial use occurs.

2. The instream flow application shall describe the
proposed beneficial use and shall specify both of the following:

(a) The amount of streamflow required for the
proposed beneficial use.

(b) The availability of the requested flows during
claimed periods of beneficial use.

B. Applications that are submitted after
the effective date of this section
August 2, 2012

shall be rejected if the application does not comply with this section.

C. For the purposes of this section, "instream
flow application" means an application for a permit to make an
appropriation of water for purposes of
watershed health,
recreation
or wildlife, including fish, in a specific stream reach without diverting the
water from the stream.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 7. Section 45-172, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
45-172.

Transfer of water rights; application; limitations; required
consent

A. A water right may be severed from the land to
which it is appurtenant or from the site of its use if for other than
irrigation purposes and with the consent and approval of the owner of such
right may be transferred for use for irrigation of agricultural lands or for
municipal,
watershed health,
stock watering, power and
mining purposes and to the state or its political subdivisions for use for
recreation and wildlife purposes, including fish, without losing priority
theretofore established, subject to the following limitations and conditions:

1. Except as otherwise provided in this section
no such

a
severance or transfer shall
not
be made unless approved by the director, and the approval
of the director shall prescribe the conditions of the approval.

2. Vested or existing rights to the use of water
shall not be affected, infringed
upon nor

on
or
interfered with, and
in no event shall
the water
diverted or used after the transfer of such rights
shall not
exceed
the vested rights existing at the time of such severance and transfer, and the
director shall by order so define and limit the amount of water to be diverted
or used annually subsequent to such transfer.

3. The water rights sought to be transferred shall
have been lawfully perfected under the laws of the territory or
the
this
state
of Arizona
and shall not have
thereafter been forfeited or abandoned.

4.
No such
A

severance or transfer of water rights shall
not
be
permitted or allowed from lands within the exterior boundaries of any
irrigation district, agricultural improvement district or water users'
association without first having obtained the written consent and approval of
such irrigation district, agricultural improvement district or water users'
association.

5.
No
A

right to the use of water on or from any watershed or drainage area
which

that
supplies or contributes water
for the irrigation of lands within an irrigation district, agricultural
improvement district or water users' association shall
not
be
severed or transferred without the consent of the governing body of such
irrigation district, agricultural improvement district or water users'
association. All proposed applications for the severance and
transfer of a right to use water of or from any watershed or drainage area
which

that
supplies or contributes water
for the irrigation of lands within any irrigation district, agricultural
improvement district or water users' association shall be submitted to the
governing body of such irrigation district, agricultural improvement district
or water users' association
prior to

before

the filing of such application with the director. Within
forty-five days after the receipt of the application such governing body
shall reject or approve the proposed application.
The

failure of such governing body to approve or reject the proposed
application within forty-five days after receipt shall constitute
approval of the proposed application by such governing body.
No
An
application for the severance or
transfer of a right to the use of water of or from any watershed or drainage
area
which

that
supplies or
contributes water for the irrigation of lands within any irrigation district,
agricultural improvement district or water users' association shall
not
be accepted for filing by the director unless accompanied
by the written consent of the governing body of such irrigation district,
agricultural improvement district or water users' association to the proposed
application or by satisfactory evidence that such governing body failed to
either accept or reject the proposed application within forty-five days after
receipt by such governing body.

6. A severance and transfer of an irrigation water
right appurtenant to lands within the boundaries of an irrigation district to
other lands within the boundaries of the same irrigation district for
agricultural use may be accomplished by the exclusion of lands to which a water
right is appurtenant from within the boundaries of an irrigation district, and
the inclusion in lieu of other lands within the boundaries of such irrigation
district. Such severance and transfer of a water right shall require
the consent of only the irrigation district within which the affected lands are
situated and of the owners of the lands affected by the severance and
transfer. No proceedings before
nor

or
approval by the director shall be required to accomplish
such severance and transfer.

7. An application for severance and transfer of a
water right shall be filed with the director. The director shall
give notice of the application by publication once a week for three successive
weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county or counties in which
the watershed or drainage area is located. The notice shall state
that any interested person may file written objections to the proposed
severance and transfer with the director within thirty days after the last
publication of the notice. In appropriate cases, including cases in
which an objection has been filed, an administrative hearing may be held before
the director's decision on the application if the director deems a hearing
necessary.

B. Section 45-114, subsections A and B govern
administrative proceedings, rehearing or review and judicial review of final
decisions of the director under this section.
END_STATUTE