You Rotten Rain-Harvester…
Posted by Jeremy Herzer on August 2, 2009
Ok, let’s just dive in here. Did you know it’s illegal to harvest rainwater in Denver? In fact, it’s illegal in most of Colorado. Check out the LA Times article on the subject here. Now, before I go further, let me say that I’ve tried to read the Colorado water law, but I found it pretty freaking confusing. Ultimately, Colorado’s water law says that if you were here before me, then your claim to water supercedes mine. And since the rainwater that falls on our beloved lawns and gardens and is not absorbed runs off into rivers and streams, flowing downstream to someone with a potential legal right to the water that is greater than mine, I am not allowed to sequester the water in a cistern, rain barrel, or any other storage mechanism. This post is just an FYI. The whole reason I started this blog was to chronicle my ongoing education about what’s real and what’s fantasy regarding sustainability. So there you go – - I learned something.
2 Cents
Let me just say, I think it’s ridiculous. Makes me mad. Imagine the state government telling you that you cannot harvest sunlight or wind. The city of Austin, TX actually offers city residents a voucher for credit towards the purchase of a rain barrell. Now, Colorado has taken a step forward, allowing residents to harvest rainwater if they would have to dig a well or have water trucked in just to have water. But this is still a lame statute, in my opinion. Honestly, I’m skeptical as to how much of the rain that falls on our property (meaning yours and mine) actually makes it to the drain. Seems like most of it either soaks in or evaporates. I do understand the “first in line” business, but I don’t really care, and don’t think that’s a valid method of determining who gets water. If you have a water right that superceds mine, and you NEED it, ok, let’s talk. But the fact is that according to Denver Water (Click Me!) at least 55% of our household water usage is used outdoors. Beautiful, lush, green lawns and sparkling clean cars are not items of NEED, and if that’s what most of our water is used for, seems to me that the government should be happy if we use harvested rainwater instead of treated water for those purposes, reducing the strain on the overall water supply system.
So there it is. I wish I had a cistern, and I wish you had one, too.
jeremy.
