The truth about this issue was posted here earlier in the week. This guy was diverting the river into the ponds, not just rainwater.
As I read it (and no doubt my info is incomplete) but the OR govt’s position is that every little transient rivulet in every little gully or topogrphic wrinkle that comes from a downpour or snowmelt is a “tributary”.
I think the State was accusing him of diverting water from his property from flowing into the creek, not that he was diverting water running across his property that came from a source upstream of his property.
“The truth about this issue was posted here earlier in the week. This guy was diverting the river into the ponds”
Yeah, in Colorado this is right up there with cattle thieving. Essentially, all water in Colorado is privately owned, ownership being determined by who grabbed and used it first back in the day, and subsequent grabs thereafter. Water rights are owned, bought, and sold like real estate, and water companies are very similar to condo associations in the way they are operated by the shareholders.
We have a saying in Colorado: “You can steal my wife, but not my water”