The Oregon Water Resources Department (WRD) is the chief regulatory agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for management of all surface and ground water in the state, which by statute belongs to the public.
[clarification needed] [1] Following unsuccessful attempts at water rights management as early as 1897, and inability to adequately implement the 1894 federal Carey act, the Oregon Legislative Assembly established the office of State Engineer in 1905.
Over the years, a number of boards, agencies and bureaus were established, specifically or as part of a broader mandate, to address particular water supply related issues ranging from the Desert Lands Board to the Willamette Basin Commission.
[2] In April 2015, the city of Cascade Locks and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife using water for a salmon hatchery, applied with the Oregon Water Resources Department to permanently trade their water rights to Nestle, which does not require a public-interest review.
[3] The 250,000-square-foot, $50 million Nestle bottling plant in Cascade Locks with an unemployment rate of 18.8 percent would have 50 employees and would increase property-tax collections by 67 percent.