Laws Against Keeping Rainwater!

'The Idea is, you can't obstruct it from anyone downstream. However the same laws apply to them as well. Therefore all the way down the line nobody gets to use it. At least until it reaches the lake that their corporate buddies have polluted. Then in turn can be sold to you at outragous prices with other peoples urine and meds in it! Brilliant! Absolutly marvolous!'

Making Rainwater Harvesting Illegal

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times described the latest absurdity in the never-ending search to quench the thirst for water: ownership of rainwater and, more precisely, the illegality of rainwater harvesting. Residents and communities in parts of Colorado are turning to this ancient practice of collecting and storing rain to fulfill their domestic water needs, including flushing toilets and watering lawns. Using this “grey” water, as it is called, relieves pressure on water resources and can be extremely efficient.

Many long-time water users, however, object to the practice.

Read more...

Who Owns Colorado's Rainwater?

Every time it rains here, Kris Holstrom knowingly breaks the law.

Holstrom's violation is the fancifully painted 55-gallon buckets underneath the gutters of her farmhouse on a mesa 15 miles from the resort town of Telluride. The barrels catch rain and snowmelt, which Holstrom uses to irrigate the small vegetable garden she and her husband maintain.

But according to the state of Colorado, the rain that falls on Holstrom's property is not hers to keep. It should be allowed to fall to the ground and flow unimpeded into surrounding creeks and streams, the law states, to become the property of farmers, ranchers, developers and water agencies that have bought the rights to those waterways.

Read more...