“But Tom Paul, administrator of the Oregon Water Resources Department, claims that Harrington has been violating the state’s water use law by diverting water from streams running into the Big Butte River.”
also,”Yet Paul admitted the 1925 law does apply because, he said, Harrington constructed dams to block a tributary to the Big Butte, which Medford uses for its water supply.”
This is not clear cut at all.
It appears that this is the case. He may have constructed dams on streams that ran THROUGH his property and not entirely ON his property.