States Banning Rainwater Collection

[WhitneyBrat]

You may have heard of incidents where state authorities drained private water reservoirs, ordered collection of rainwater to cease, etc.

This has come to my attention a few times, often with a prepper/anti-government slant that I feel misses some basic legal, environmental, and economic issues such laws are created around.

Forestation and potable water is an important factor in agriculture and public land, especially in the Pacific northwest. It is a matter of other people's property (such as people nearby or down-river) and public environments which can be damaged by excessive collection or rechanneling of water. The same issue happens with irrigation.

It would probably be reasonable to allow personal reservoirs below below certain size, but the land water issue isn't just just question of 'why can't can't keep water that fell on my yard'. Ensuring runoff and a high water table is not a tyrannical measure, though I'm not necessarily endorsing the laws or enforcement in practice, just explaining why these laws exist.

 

[David]

I know I collect rainwater in two 55-gallon barrels for my flower garden.

 

[WhitneyBrat]

I know I collect rainwater in two 55-gallon barrels for my flower garden.

It's perfectly legal in a lot of places, and hardly enforced in others. I just think people can get get bit ahead of themselves when trying to understand laws against it exist.

 

[bobinfaith]

Hello, everyone;

I'm hearing the problems and arguments of water but in my personal life I have never had a problem getting a glass of water from the faucet, take a shower or other water uses in our country and overseas. In other countries we had the blessings of bottled water.

But through the years I have heard in the news talks of territorial water dams, rivers especially on this side of the country. We were instructed to refrain from washing our cars and watering our gardens, but we were never depleted of water.

Getting perspective of God's provisions He gave / give humans the responsibility to care for the earth including water. Unfortunately, in history water resources became scarce, droughts, depleted aquifers, have frequently been viewed as poor mismanagement like pollution and not entirely God's judgment.

I can still pour a glass of water from the faucet, but am I missing something? I'm listening.

Bob