Like breaking any law, the risks could include a range of responses by regulatory agencies from the issuance of formal orders to stop illegal use, up to, and including monetary penalties. Ecology is directed to escalate the response to illegal use, starting with investigations, then moving to warnings, then to "cease use" orders and finally the use of penalties if all other warnings fail. When Ecology is considering a report of illegal water use, the agency response is built around a consideration of various factors including:
- the extent that there is legal authorization lacking to use the water (does the
person have a permit, certificate or claim?, is a permit exempt well in use?)
- how much water is being used?;
- is there impairment to a senior water user or instream flow?
- is water availability limited?
A resulting regulatory response by the agency will be based on the answers to these and other questions.