Rain Water Belongs to Big Business

[HuskyCaucasian]

WTF?

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."

[NorthSideSox72]

These laws on water were intended originally to stop people from impeding the natural flow of streams/rivers, stopping or changing springs, damming waterways, etc. Further, one modern aspect that is important is that you DO have to be careful (in urban areas particularly) to allow water to get back into the ground. On an urban scale, some western cities have learned the hard way how this is necessary... they build arroyos and other ways to get water through the city and into large rivers, thus not allowing it to soak in, thus depleting the water tables much more quickly.

 

Now, on a small scale like this, no one is going to go after you for collecting rain water from your gutters. Nor should they. Its a responsible way to conserve water and money, and will have very little effect on things like river levels and water tables. So while the law technically says they are in violation, they'll never make an issue of it.

 

Water laws are very complicated, and as time goes on, the battle for water on this planet will far surpass the battle for oil.

 

[Jenksismyhero]

These laws on water were intended originally to stop people from impeding the natural flow of streams/rivers, stopping or changing springs, damming waterways, etc. Further, one modern aspect that is important is that you DO have to be careful (in urban areas particularly) to allow water to get back into the ground. On an urban scale, some western cities have learned the hard way how this is necessary... they build arroyos and other ways to get water through the city and into large rivers, thus not allowing it to soak in, thus depleting the water tables much more quickly.

 

Now, on a small scale like this, no one is going to go after you for collecting rain water from your gutters. Nor should they. Its a responsible way to conserve water and money, and will have very little effect on things like river levels and water tables. So while the law technically says they are in violation, they'll never make an issue of it.

 

Water laws are very complicated, and as time goes on, the battle for water on this planet will far surpass the battle for oil.

 

Actually that's not true. A buddy of mine lives out in Denver. His bro-in-law just got a ticket for having a rain catcher. They take this stuff very seriously out there.

 

I think it's pretty telling how ridiculous this is when the argument goes "we need that water to reach streams and rivers" but the evidence says 97% of that water never reaches any stream or river.

[NorthSideSox72]

Actually that's not true. A buddy of mine lives out in Denver. His bro-in-law just got a ticket for having a rain catcher. They take this stuff very seriously out there.

 

I think it's pretty telling how ridiculous this is when the argument goes "we need that water to reach streams and rivers" but the evidence says 97% of that water never reaches any stream or river.

Wow. That's an example of taking a law too far in its enforcement. That is just counterproductive.

 

[DABearSoX]

wow...

 

The reservoirs that give Denver/surrounding areas water have been extremely low for the past 3-5 years. There are billboards everywhere about scaling down your water consumption...I guess this would be a reason why they are enforcing these laws....