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Colorado makes it legal for homeowners to harvest rainwater
Residents of some Western states are considered water thieves if they install rain catchment systems.
Wed, Jun 03 2009 at 11:50 AM
Photo credit: wonderferret/Flickr
In the eyes of the law, Karl Hanzel was a water thief. Colorado homeowners who captured and stored water that fell onto their own roofs were considered to be stealing because that water technically belonged to the owners of streams and aquifers beneath the homeowners’ properties. If caught, they faced fines up to $500 a day.
Luckily for Hanzel and other homeowners, a change in Colorado law legalizes this kind of water collection. But homeowners in other states who just want to use less tap water still face legal barriers.
In the Southwest, one of the fastest growing regions in the country, water is a precious commodity – one that people are willing to fight over. Water laws, which were created in the 1800s, give those who were first in line for water rights precedence over the rest of the population.
"I struggle to understand the argument for these laws. It doesn't really make sense to me," says Hanzel. "The water that I'm detaining here, I'm not exporting it to Mars … We have a leach field; we water the garden; that water is still returned to the earth … We're just holding some of it for awhile."
Tim Pope, owner of Northwest Water Source and president of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association, is still in violation of the law. As a Washington state resident, it isn’t likely he’ll be legally allowed to collect rainwater any time soon. Recent efforts to get minor exceptions to the ban on rainwater harvesting in Washington and Utah failed.
Pope believes it’s time that water laws were updated.
"It needs to be based on need — it needs to be based on proper use of water. We don't need to be using drinking water to wash cars and water lawns and gardens and flush toilets," he says.
Also on MNN:
• 2009 legislation: Hits and misses from the Colorado legislature
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I better keep flushing my toilet there is a lot of water stored there.
This is such ludicrous. Ownership of RAIN?!?!?! You've got to be kidding me. Next thing you know people who breathe too much will be taxed because the air belongs to the private airline companies. God, people can't just let something go unclaimed, everything has to be property.
WTF people this is plain WRONG. They tried this in some south american country (see the movie 'the corporation') and those people put up one hell of a fight and stopped them from claiming ownership of water in la la land. We need to stop these freaking crazy greedy people and corporations and gov't from dictating to us inalienable access to the blessings of this earth like duh...water that comes from teh sky. When will this crap end????????????
First it was income tax to pay for a war that was supposed to be stopped which hasn't. Next it was a tax on everything else, now its WATER THAT they say we can't have, now its HEALTHCARE they say we MUST HAVE even if we are healthy and haven't been to a hospital sense birth.
A police state is forming like in Europe. This is bullcrap, Government keep your fingers out of my cookie jar.
There's a stark contrast between the American police state and the European Union.. One is for the people in power, the other is for the people
There's a stark contrast between the American police state and the European Union.. One is for the people in power, the other is for the people
I thought harvesting rainwater was highly encouraged.
sooo - what constitutes a container?
What if you accidentally leave a barrel outside, and forget about it?
if you have trees, plants, grass etc that take the water via osmosis, where does that stand?
What IF you put a barrel out side, put a really fine pinprick drip hole in the bottom, and pack the base with filters effectively letting it drain, just reeeeally slowly?
What a total load of sh*te
And you thought you owned yourself. Your birth certificate number tells who owns you and everything you produce.
If I fart in the elevator, shell I make the others pay for breathing it????
retarded yanksXDDDD
By this logic, a homeowner should be able to sue the aquifer owners for any property damage ever caused by rain.
The law in Colorado only appeared to change. If you read the statute, you'd find out that there were so many restrictions added to the law that it keeps rainwater harvesting illegal for more than 95% of the state's population.
In order to qualify to collect rainwater under the "new" law, you have to have:
1. An existing well permit.
2. May not be connected to a water utility of any kind.
3. It is residential, not agricultural zoned.
http://water.state.co.us/pubs/pdf/RainWaterBills.pdf
Stupidest law ever! made me laugh that this is illgeal. And those rain catchers are the size of a large keg barrel sometimes not even. That is not enough to make a dent. How about this for every rain that person catches. He can piss on his mayors lawn! :P
Let me read the article to form an opinion rather than covering up your content with a "Do a survey" box. Super annoying.
Invite some of these lawmakers onto your property them proceed to sue them as the water in their body is being detained by their cells, despite being over your land. Lets see what happens.
All they'd have to do is whip out the old dongles and urinate.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/4a5a8p/www.opednews.com/articles/Can-it-ra...
Rainwater harvesting can help reduce the stress on the water distribution system. This is important as fresh water reserve levels have depleted drastically over the past few years. If you go to http://bit.ly/B461Y you can see how much the reserve water levels have dropped since 2006. This site also gives valuable information on how to save water, a water meter calculator that can help determine the water you need for your garden etc.
Glad I'm an enslaved social democratic Canadian, and not a "Free" American! Do you guys have to pay to spit in the woods too?
stop being a hater and get over yourself.
Lawns are functional. Besides preventing erosion, like all vegetation, grass makes oxygen. Field grass lawns are part an important part of our area's eco system, clover feeds bees, for example. Laws to prevent water polution make sense but owning a water resource, whether it's a river, a lake or an ocean shouldn't be possible. To claim ownership of the rain is as silly as claiming ownership of the air. I know, that's probably coming, too. A breathing tax.
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