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Colorado Legalizes Rain Water Harvesting. Kind Of. |
5 Comments |
| By Michael d'Estries in Climate Change, Green Living, Water | June 3, 2009 | ||
Back in June of last year, we dropped the story that harvesting rain water in Colorado was actually an illegal activity. We commented on just how dumb this law was — and over 100 comments later, many of you agreed. Almost a year later, the Colorado legislature has revised the draconian law to give some homeowners rights the water that falls from their roofs. But not everyone will be happy. From the article,
If you live in the city, don’t install a barrel under your gutter spout just yet. The legislation lets residents on wells collect rain and establishes 10 pilot projects for new developments. Residents on municipal water still can’t legally collect rain, and water suppliers are leery of legislation that would let them. “All the water was spoken for here in the Arkansas Basin 100 years ago or more,” said Kevin Lusk, water supply engineer for Colorado Springs Utilities. “If the water falls as rain, that’s water that was going to get to the stream system, and somebody already has dibs on it, and if somebody intercepts that, it’s the same as stealing.”
The same as stealing? Give me a break. If a homeowner owns property, they should have rights to use the water that falls on that parcel. “If you can just use what’s coming out of the sky, it saves energy costs, it saves transportation costs, and ultimately, at the end of the day, it should save us on using forms of water that have to be treated,” said CO State Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan. I agree with her 100%.
Even with the new laws, you’ll still need to fill out a stupid application if you’d like to legally collect rainwater on your property. For more details on how to jump through the hoops, click here.
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Is It Illegal to Collect Rainwater In Your State? | Keetsa Mattress Store - Keetsa! Blog - Eco-Friendly and Green News said,
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Dan Aragon said,
I had no idea that something this simple and environmentally friendly could actually be illegal. The benefits of harvesting rain water would provide a convincing justification from many aspects not just environmentally.
Paul said,
“Kevin Lusk, water supply engineer for Colorado Springs Utilities. “If the water falls as rain, that’s water that was going to get to the stream system, and somebody already has dibs on it, and if somebody intercepts that, it’s the same as stealing.”
Wow, ok….so if someone else has dibs to the water that falls off of my roof……shouldn’t they then be expected to pay for any damages to my property caused by falling precipitation [whether it is rain, snow, or hail]….because something they own has damaged something I own????
Craig said,
Mr. Lusk apparently does not recognize (or admit) that watersheds in developed areas functioned much differently 100 years ago, and they continue to change as development increases. The built environment increases the percentage of impervious surface in an area, which in turn increases runoff. So there is really no justification for his statement that rain water harvesting is stealing because water rights were established years ago when the watershed had a low percentage of impervious area. Much water falling in an urban area today that makes it to a stream system would not have made it to that stream system 100 years ago – it would have been utilized by vegetation (evapotranspired back into the atmosphere).
One thing that the homeowner can do to passively harvest rainwater without attracting much attention is to reduce impervious surface as much as possible and landcape their site such that most runoff soaks in and is used by trees that can shade their home and produce food.
Perfect Pergola Store said,
This is just amazing. I had no idea that government could control what you could do with rain that fell onto your property. As a gardener in the dry midwest, I have been using my grandaughter’s little swimming pool to catch rainwater to use on my flowers. I felt I was being enviromentally friendly. Thanks for the information, very interesting.