Water resource allocation concerns everyone in our state. Its common use for household consumption, agriculture, manufacturing and hydroelectric power makes water a highly coveted resource. While of concern to all, those most acutely affected by developments in our water law live in the more arid portions of our state east of the Cascade Range. The two cases before this court today concern land east of the Cascades and involve the status of riparian rights in Washington water law. See Department of Ecology v. Adsit, 103 Wash. 2d 698, 694 P.2d 1065 (1985). In this case, the State appeals from a trial court ruling reversing a referee's determination at a 1982 stream adjudication and issuing a partial summary judgment declaring a riparian's common law rights to water undiminished by the 1917 water code. We reverse the trial judge and hold that the 1917 water code established prior appropriation as the dominant water law in Washington. After 1917, new water rights may be acquired only through compliance with the permit system and existing water rights not put to beneficial use are relinquished. The permit system, modified over time to require a permit for all water put to beneficial use, allows the State to efficiently implement the state water policy, most recently articulated by the Legislature in 1979:
