"rainwater harvesting" -- illegal?

[cryptique]

I almost wish I lived in Colorado so I could violate this law as much as possible.

 

link

 

Who owns Colorado's rainwater?

 

Environmentalists and others like to gather it in containers for use in drier times. But state law says it belongs to those who bought the rights to waterways.

 

_{By Nicholas Riccardi | March 18, 2009}

 

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.

 

What Holstrom does is called rainwater harvesting. It's a practice that dates back to the dawn of civilization, and is increasingly in vogue among environmentalists and others who pursue sustainable lifestyles. They collect varying amounts of water, depending on the rainfall and the vessels they collect it in. The only risk involved is losing it to evaporation. Or running afoul of Western states' water laws.

 

Those laws, some of them more than a century old, have governed the development of the region since pioneer days.

 

"If you try to collect rainwater, well, that water really belongs to someone else," said Doug Kemper, executive director of the Colorado Water Congress. "We get into a very detailed accounting on every little drop."

 

Frank Jaeger of the Parker Water and Sanitation District, on the arid foothills south of Denver, sees water harvesting as an insidious attempt to take water from entities that have paid dearly for the resource.

 

"Every drop of water that comes down keeps the ground wet and helps the flow of the river," Jaeger said. He scoffs at arguments that harvesters like Holstrom only take a few drops from rivers. "Everything always starts with one little bite at a time."

 

Increasingly, however, states are trying to make the practice more welcome. Bills in Colorado and Utah, two states that have limited harvesting over the years, would adjust their laws to allow it in certain scenarios, over the protest of people like Jaeger.

 

Organic farmers and urban dreamers aren't the only people pushing to legalize water harvesting. Developer Harold Smethills wants to build more than 10,000 homes southwest of Denver that would be supplied by giant cisterns that capture the rain that falls on the 3,200-acre subdivision. He supports the change in Colorado law.

 

"We believe there is something to rainwater harvesting," Smethills said. "We believe it makes economic sense."

 

Collected rainwater is generally considered "gray water," or water that is not reliably pure enough to drink but can be used to water yards, flush toilets and power heaters. In some states, developers try to include a network of cisterns and catchment pools in every subdivision, but in others, those who catch the rain tend to do so covertly.

 

In Colorado, rights to bodies of water are held by entities who get preference based on the dates of their claims. Like many other Western states, Colorado has more claims than available water, and even those who hold rights dating back to the late 19th century sometimes find they do not get all of the water they should.

 

"If I decide to [take rainwater] in 2009, somewhere, maybe 100 miles downstream, there's a water right that outdates me by 100 years" that's losing water, said Kevin Rein, assistant state engineer.

 

State Sen. Chris Romer found out about this facet of state water policy when he built his ecological dream house in Denver, entirely powered by solar energy. He wanted to install a system to catch rainwater, but the state said it couldn't be permitted.

 

"It was stunning to me that this common-sense thing couldn't be done," said Romer, a Democrat. He sponsored a bill last year to allow water harvesting, but it did not pass.

 

"Welcome to water politics in Colorado," Romer said. "You don't touch my gun, you don't touch my whiskey, and you don't touch my water."

 

Romer and Republican state Rep. Marsha Looper introduced bills this year to allow harvesting in certain circumstances. Armed with a study that shows that 97% of rainwater that falls on the soil never makes it to streams, they propose to allow harvesting in 11 pilot projects in urban areas, and for rural users like Kris Holstrom whose wells are depleted by drought.

 

In contrast to the high-stakes maneuvering in the capital, Holstrom looks upon the state's regulation of rainwater with exasperated amusement.

 

Holstrom, director of sustainability for Telluride, and her husband, John, have lived on their farm since 1988. During the severe drought at the start of this decade, their well began drying up. Placing rain barrels under the gutters was the natural thing to do, said Holstrom, 51.

 

"Rain out here comes occasionally, and can come really hard," she said. "To be able to store it for when you need it is really great."

 

Holstrom had a vague awareness of state regulations. She decided to test it last summer when she was teaching a class on water harvesting. She called the state water department, which told her it was technically illegal, though it was unlikely that she would be cited.

 

Holstrom is known in southwestern Colorado for a lifestyle and causes that many deem quixotic. The land she and her husband own holds a yurt and tepees to house "interns" who help on their organic farm in the summers. It boasts a greenhouse, which even on a recent snowy day held an oasis of rosemary, artichokes, salad greens and a fig tree.

 

She plucked a bit of greens from one plant and munched on it as goldfish swam in a small, algae-filled pond that helps heat the enclosure. "This has been my passion for a long time -- trying to live the best way I know how," she said.

 

nicholas.riccardi@latimes.com

[dondoboy]

Oh boy, Moss is gonna be all over this.

[isadorah]

ok seriously????

[John Smith]

I have a rather large cistern on my house and they can take my rainwater when they pry it from my wet cold body.

[mfwahl]

According to their logic, collecting the heat of the sun would be stealing from people who own solar panels. Next step:

[uncool2pillow]

I imagine this is just the tip of the iceberg as water shortages lead to real problems out west. Tens of millions of people have upped and moved to the desert in the past few decades. How many of them do you think seriously considered the ramifications on the water supply when they did so?

[mfwahl]

NASA invented a system to turn urine into water. We'll all be fine.

[HungryHippo]

so, if it doesn't rain for like a month, will these farmers, who own the rain, take God to court?

[NightOfJoy]

I plan on sueing god over the flood we had a few weeks ago.

 

God, in all its glory, gave me TOO much water.

 

I want my carpet replaced dammit and someone's gonna pay!

[miss jayne]

Let the revolution begin in the garden

[Good Old Neon]

This country has lost its collective-fucking-mind.

[NightOfJoy]

Hey you, step AWAY from my water!!

[Good Old Neon]

I would imagine that if citizens were to challenge the law, they, with a little help from like, a climatologist or a meteorologist or a climate scientist or anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the hydrologic cycle, could poke it full of holes.

 

[M. (hristine]

You think that's crazy, you should read this.

 

Native Americans had no concept of owning land. Soon every resource will have a price tag/law.

[Good Old Neon]

You think that's crazy, you should read this.

 

Native Americans had no concept of owning land. Soon every resource will have a price tag/law.

 

Well, as an oxygen prospector, I

[M. (hristine]

Well, as an oxygen prospector, I

[bleedorange]

While this Colorado case is more than a little suspect as far as collecting rainwater goes, y'all seem to have no appreciation for the importance of water rights in general, especially out west. That doesn't make sense.

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

Yeah, I ran this by a friend of mine who lives in Colorado and is somewhat of an expert on water rights. He said most western states have laws along these lines and that taking account of those downstream/down runoff from you legally is needed to keep water clean and available. For what it's worth.

[cryptique]

Yeah, I ran this by a friend of mine who lives in Colorado and is somewhat of an expert on water rights. He said most western states have laws along these lines and that taking account of those downstream/down runoff from you legally is needed to keep water clean and available. For what it's worth.

Yes, but ... it doesn't really sound to me like the water stakeholders' claims are backed by science/reality.

 

Romer and Republican state Rep. Marsha Looper introduced bills this year to allow harvesting in certain circumstances. Armed with a study that shows that 97% of rainwater that falls on the soil never makes it to streams, they propose to allow harvesting in 11 pilot projects in urban areas, and for rural users like Kris Holstrom whose wells are depleted by drought.

These people are defending their claims based on longstanding laws, but if this 97% figure is true (or even if it's significantly lower but still a respectable number), I don't see any real validity to those claims or laws, and I think the right of the individual property owner to use the rain that falls on his/her land should trump the right of any water-rights claimant.

 

It's not as if the property owners are harvesting every drop that falls on their land -- they're filling rain barrels with a small percentage of the total rainfall. Do you really want some asshole from downstream to be able to tell you that you can't do that?

 

Is anyone who owns a swimming pool in Colorado violating the law every time it rains into the pool?

[caliber66]

It's not as if the property owners are harvesting every drop that falls on their land -- they're filling rain barrels with a small percentage of the total rainfall.

...and presumably using the harvested rainfall (in most cases) on their property just as they would if it had fallen as rain, in which case, it would be eventually going through the same processes and reaching the same final destination as if it had not been harvested.

[Good Old Neon]

Which one of y

[Good Old Neon]

...and presumably using the harvested rainfall (in most cases) on their property just as they would if it had fallen as rain, in which case, it would be eventually going through the same processes and reaching the same final destination as if it had not been harvested.

 

Exactly, if anything, collection simply delays the water from achieving its final destination. And any evaporation that occurs while the water is being held captive, would simply make its way back into the atmosphere.

[embiggen]

Which one of y

[cryptique]

any evaporation that occurs while the water is being held captive, would simply make its way back into the atmosphere.

I'm guessing that the atmosphere is breaking the law, too.

[NightOfJoy]

Do you really want some asshole from downstream to be able to tell you that you can't do that?

 

I live on a small lake that eventually flows into a golf course. Last year the golf course had a shit fit because we were having the lake treated for weeds, like we've done every year since 1975. They actually threatened to arrest the guys who were servicing the lake! They said we couldnt treat our lake any more because they use a portion of that water that flows through the course to water their grass and greens. After I stopped laughing (I'm the president of the lake association), I basically told them to go fuck themselves sideways. If they need water, drill a well like I and everybody in my subdivision had to do. We eventually got things worked out, mainly because the chemicals used become inert fairly quickly and the place they draw water from, according to EPA guidelines, was too far enough away from my lake to be worried about. I still get pissed off thinking about it.