The Latest Absurdity in the Fight to Conserve Water: Making Rainwater Harvesting Illegal

To hell with those clowns. No owns the rain.
That is the great thing about fencing your back yard.

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Do we fight this absurd battle to the bitter end trying to decide who owns the rain... or do we recognize the major problem... we have too many people, and too much industry that both use too much water.

We simply cannot keep this up.

www.greenanarchy.org

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on framing. The whole notion of what constitutes the Commons will be defined in these tumulous times.
In the meantime, I am transforming my grey water into a great irrigation system for my big garden.

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We harvest air why not water?

Goofy LIBERALS.

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Funny to be reading about this... I happen to live in Colorado and at one time thought it exceedingly responsible to set out rain barrels under the downspouts of our home for the purpose of collecting rain water in order to hand water my flower beds. Later received a brochure attached to the utility bill advising that it is illegal in Colorado to do what I was doing. So I stopped, natch. Shortly thereafter, we received notice that our city had instituted a stormwater enterprise fee which nobody voted on but all are being forced to pay. Long story short: new developments failed to consider the impact of stormwater runoff to areas lacking proper drainage systems. Here we are then, prohibited from reducing runoff by collecting rain while also being billed for the runoff from our property (measured in square foot of non-porous surface). Ironic, isn't it?

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the PEOPLE had the DECENCY to actually be outraged
over salt or water laws

& actually engaged in peaceful dissent.

but North Americans?
nah... that would be something akin to a human rights revolution....

but then, Americans in the USA believe they WON a revolution...
*game over* right??
soooo

I guess that makes everybody else 'terrorists' or ungrateful pirates.

right?

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Republican or Democrat, it's all about expanding government for the corporate interests. Contrary to what most people mistake about the Libertarian Party, we libertarians don't really stand for corporate welfare and are ready to smash it to pieces once in office. Government that governs the least governs the best. Are you proud of your government for subsidizing Corporate America with your tax dollars even as Corporate America overcharges you even more? That's not a way to govern and the Founding Fathers knew that very well.

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In 2005, the Aspen Ski Co. used 162.4 million gallons of water to make artificial snow. That's enough water to supply the needs of 1000 Denver residents for an entire year. They are concerned about the effects of climate change on the industry and don't want to lose the millions of dollars it brings to Colorado every year, so Colorado is passing laws like this one, because that rainwater is worth way more as powder on a ski slope than it is water on your garden.

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is anyone being prosecuted for this?

I see many ads for rain barrels beside this article (at least there's not an ad for "taking advantage of the coming water crisis; it'll mean better profits than the oil crisis" like the last water article here). My water barrel for about 18 years has been a plain garbage can. The "rain barrels" I see advertised in our area sell for over a $100. Mine cost 13.

Use a watering can to get the water out. Buy a cheap gasoline siphon at the hardware store and attach it to a length of garden hose (it'll fit right together). Use that to transfer water from the tub, etc., to the barrel, or right on to plants. If you take showers instead of baths, you can put the plug in and let the water accumulate, then siphon it. 10 or so squeezes on the bulb and the tub empties in about 10 minutes. Fill a bucket from the bathwater and use that to flush the toilet.

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This is odd, folks. This article's title is strange. "Some" states turns out to mean one state. The "Latest Absurdity" actually means a 100-year-old law that seems in the process of being changed, although not enough. This is not "the latest" trend if it's 100 years old. And if lawmakers are addressing it, and making it legal in some circumstances, including rural users, then things are changing for the better, not worse. Some important quotes from the LA Times article that this article conveniently left out:

Even developers support a change in the law:

"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."

"[Senator] 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."

"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."

IT WAS UNLIKELY THAT SHE WOULD BE CITED.

Why begin an article as if there's yet another horrible big government trend about to start usurping our freedoms? Why not report what is really going on, that there's a very old and stupid law that people aren't prosecuted under and that has bipartisan support for change? There's enough to worry about and enough "information" for people to rally behind in fear of everything and everyone.

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the rain as it rains down from my dick when I say~~

PISS ON THEM!!

I live in WI and, as long we all must tolerate these defective forms of lowlifes, this idiocy will spread.
I will NOT comply.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIPan-rEQJA

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This is a great idea regarding the ownership of rain water. We should also do the same thing with air and sunlight. Meters on our noses and eyes to allow the real owners to charge for these commodities. Sales taxes too. What about what's left of the glaciers? I'm certain some lawyer will figure out a way to sell them for profit.

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Unfortunately most Americans believe that fighting our "Revolutionary War" guaranteed Americans their freedoms from 1776 till forever. Some of us now know that freedom can never be taken for granted. We have to fight daily to maintain it. There are people in this country that are no more in favor of individual freedoms than Joseph Stalin or Adolph Hitler, and many of them are now in our government. The names may be different, but the aim is the same: reduce the average American to a serf or a peasant again.I'm not sure what we will have to do to get our lost freedoms back, but one thing I know--we can't give up the fight. For starters--the Internet is a great way to contact others. Also, guerrilla economics (learning how to bypass these totalitarian laws) helps. The people of Colorado should follow Ghandi's advice for making salt--Everyone with a rain spout should begin catching rainwater. The rest of us should do the same even though we are not under that ridiculous law. What about dam building? That regulates water distribution to the ones in control of the dam.

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Taking the rain from the roofs of homeowners and from the soil of landowners, and giving that same rain to certain rich people downstream and their heirs in perpetuity, so that the rich can waste the water on inappropriate water-thirsty crops at bargain prices, is crazy.

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Bechtel tried to outlaw rainwater collection in Bolivia, after successfully lobbying to take over water mgmt and an ensuing debilitating rate hike. Riots followed, and populist Evo Morales overwhelmingly won the next election over the corrupt incumbent Eduardo Rodriguez, a Harvard grad with plenty of business ties. good for them!

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When the laws are unjust, it is an individuals responsibility to disobey rather than abide by it. That is the central premise of civil disobedience.

With that said, who is going to notice if I re-engineer my gutter system to flow into my basement or crawl space where there are water barrels instead of outside into the yard?

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Hasn't the president added desalination as part of the "green jobs" project? There's a lot of rising unemployment in the coastal areas and with all the water shortages going on everywhere, desalination along with cutting down on subsidizing king corn would go a long ways to putting people out of too many water chores.

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The politicians in Colorado remind me of King Canute who stood by the ocean shore and commanded the tide to stay out. Well guess what? You're right, it came rushing in as per usual. What do the water cops think they're going to do, get a warrant to search everyone's backyard to see if they have a rain barrel? How truly foolish is that?

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It's all about control (and the money that corporate/governmental control brings)

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I lived in that idiot's den because I WOULD setup rain barrels and collect whatever rain I could to deal with incidental water needs - and F*CK anyone who tells me I can't.

Let's see you just TRY and steal my rain barrel.

But I don't live in that moron breeder state so all I can do is fantasize...

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So if a person plants a new tree, that will disrupt rainwater flow into the river.
If an industrial area is built, the heat island effect increase may disrupt rain fall.
If a butterfly flaps it's wings in China, it might not rain in your town?
If a suburb is built, with paved areas and storm drains, the rainfall will more directly and efficiently channel to the river. The water right holders should be compelled to pay a share for that bonus to them.
The rain falls on my property. I believe ( though Atheist), such events are classified by many laws as acts of God. If there is a success in claiming the rain as owned, then I posit that all acts of God clauses might be on shaky legal ground?
Oh, should I not be reimbursed for my stewardship of the rain falling on my land, if it belongs to someone else? If the rain floods my property on it's way to the person who supposedly owns it, should they pay the damages?

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If the rain is your property, you better have a lot of insurance, to cover the damage it does to others property.

A shorter point to ny earlier post.

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its the ONLY way to get fresh rainwater.

funny how when this happened in India & Cocachamba...
non-Americans seemed to epitomize the spirit of a FREE PEOPLE in an ethical society when they stood up & said

KNOCK OFF THIS PRIVATIZED, CORPORATIZED BULLSHIT




perspective, people.


Perspective.

The Jeff Farias Show: streams FREE & LIVE Mon-Fri, 6-9pmEST

FREE podcast

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The American way! I suggest you read Steinberg's 2002 book, Down To Earth: Nature's Role in American History, which speaks to our belief in ownership of nature and how that has affected our history and that of indigenous and financially poor people in this country. I walked away from the book quite shaken and am not surprised at what is happening in Colorado.

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enforced is when golf courses start to turn brown. Until then nobody cares.

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Here in Australia, the government gives households $500 for installing a rainwater collection system, and the goal is for every house to have one by 2020. They're being installed in pretty much all new houses. It just makes sense.

As an American living here, it's getting harder and harder to want to come home...

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watch FLOW: FOR THE LOVER OF WATER on Comcast on demand on 199 and see the horrors these corporations are perpetrating.

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To use all those guns. LOL! Making collection of rainwater illegal? Absurd. My friends in Japan will get a real good laugh out of this one. What in the hell is going on in the States these days?

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dc

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