You can stop hiding the rain barrels now

It's no longer illegal in Colorado to collect rain water:

It will be legal for homeowners to use rainwater for fire protection, animals, irrigation and household use. It's a touchy issue in the state, which does not import water from other states or regions and is forced by law to send it on to other states downstream.

"People are shocked that some developer or water provider owns the water that falls out of the sky," said Rep. Marsha Looper, a Republican from rural Calhan, southeast of Denver, who sponsored the legislation.

"Every drop of water that hits the ground belongs to someone," said Kevin Bommer, a lobbyist for the Colorado Municipal League, which opposed past attempts to ease the rules.

This should come as a big relief to those of us who were furtively redirecting the water pouring from our gutters (and there has been plenty o' that lately) into cisterns and flowerbeds, looking over our shoulders for the arrival of the SWAT team to drag us away for this heinous crime.

OK, maybe not.  It's not like anyone was prosecuted for "stealing" rainwater.  That such a ban even existed is indicative of the Byzantine water rights plaguing the state.  The concept that a gift of nature falling on someone's property could belong to someone else by government decree is one of the more twisted examples of forced redistribution I've come across.

Still, as laws go, this one is far more benign than the other new laws mentioned briefly in the story: a hike on hospital fees (so the state can feed more deeply at the Federal Medicaid trough) and on vehicle registration fees to pay for highway and bridge work.  Apparently the state thinks money flows like, uh, water.

Comments

[severin]

I might go to home depot and buy a large barrel for collecting water, just because I can! I might also mention this to our HOA as I know we tend to spend thousands a year on water and we may be able to figure out a way to offset some of that community expense with collected rain water.