Bill seeks to make rain barrels legal in Colorado

[PoliticAverse]

DENVER – A bill passed a state House committee Monday that would allow all residents to use rain barrels to store water to be used for outdoor irrigation.

"Many of the people I've spoken to think I'm joking when I tell them that the collecting of the rain off of your roof is illegal," bill sponsor Rep. Daneya Esgar (D-Pueblo) told the committee.

Currently, the practice of collecting rainwater is illegal, unless your property has a well. The thought process behind the law is that diverting rainwater on your own property stops the water from flowing to where it naturally would go, thus stealing the water from those who it naturally belongs to.

Read the rest at: http://www.9news.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/16/bill-seeks-to-make-rain-barrels-legal-in-colorado/24877499/

[Warpy]

1. Stupid reasoning.

What they might have been concerned about when the ban was passed is plagues of mosquitoes living in rain barrels.

That isn't as big a problem with modern collection systems.

[DetlefK]

2. That reasoning is bullshit.

"The thought process behind the law is that diverting rainwater on your own property stops the water from flowing to where it naturally would go, thus stealing the water from those who it naturally belongs to. "

So, whom does it naturally belong to? The last guy in line, obviously!
The guy one foot down the river?
The guy 1 mile down the river? The guy with a well 1 mile away?
The guy 10 miles down the river? The guy with a well 10 miles away?

[djean111]

3. Nestle. Nestle believes that water should be privatized and that no one is entitled to water unless

they can pay whatever the market demands.

[world wide wally]

4. Water laws in the west are wild (for lack of a better word)

Since water is a scarcity, even as you are inundated back east, countless hours are spent in court fighting over water out here. Actually, the first to claim it has rights to it. Therefore, we in Colorado, are required to not take any water from the Colorado River until California gets what it has claimed because they have first rights.
That is where the logic of not collecting from your roof and preventing it from where it is "supposed to go" enters the picture.

At least until the shit hits the fan, as is happening now. Then it goes to "possession is 9/10 of the law. It will be playing out shortly unless California starts getting some serious rain.

[bluedigger]

5. The West, where water is for fightin', and liquor is for drinkin'.

I hope this passes. Water rights are everything here, but if the water is to be used for outdoor irrigation then it will get to where it belongs eventually.