Guide to OWRD's Contested Case Order Archive
What is the Contested Case Order Archive?
The Contested Case Order Archive collects the following types of final, unappealable Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) orders: (1) final orders issued after contested case hearings; and (2) final orders based on settlement agreements to resolve hearing requests. The orders are categorized by the types of water right transactions they concern, and OWRD has assigned “keywords" to the orders based on the main issues the orders address.
Important note: Many final orders that OWRD issued in the past after contested case hearings or based on settlement agreements are not yet included in the Contested Case Order Archive. OWRD likely will add more previously issued final orders to the archive as staff resources are available to collect and upload them. OWRD will also add new orders to the archive as they become final.
How to Use the Contested Case Order Archive
Accessing orders: To download and review a copy of an order, click on the order's title in the “Document Title" column.
Finding orders by water right transaction type: To find orders about a particular transaction type, you may: (1) click on the name of the water right transaction in the menu bar on the left side of the page; or (2) open the “filter" drop down menu, select the “category" option, select the box(es) for the desired transaction(s), and click the “Add Filter" button. If no orders come up, the Contested Case Order Archive does not contain any orders concerning the selected transaction(s). However, the archive at this time does not contain all final orders OWRD has issued after contested case hearings or based on settlement agreements. So, the fact that the archive does not contain orders concerning the selected transaction does not mean that OWRD has not issued orders concerning the selected transaction.
Finding orders by issue type: To find orders about particular issues regardless of transaction type, open the “filter" drop down menu, select the “Alt Keywords" option, select the box(es) for the desired issue(s), and click the “Add Filter" button.
Using the search function: The search function cannot scan the orders' text - the “search" function searches only the information displayed for each order on the Contested Case Order Archive page, rather than the orders' text.
Using the filter function: Filters applied to the list of orders displayed on the Contested Case Order Archive page are shown on colored bars immediately above the list of orders. To remove a filter, click the “x" button on the colored bar. If a filter is in place and you use the search function or add another filter, your search or new filter will only apply to the subset of orders that meet the conditions of the existing filter. To apply a search or filter to all orders in the Contested Case Order Archive, make sure there are no filters in place before you run the search or add the filter.
Communicating problems or suggestions: If you notice an error, see something missing, or have suggestions to improve the Contested Case Order Archive, please contact Will Davidson at
will.d.davidson@water.oregon.gov.