[Rockhounds] This Is Why It’s Illegal to Collect Rainwater in Some States

[Don Halterman]

  Indeed it's a rural western thing.  In Nevada I have the right to 
drill a domestic well with rights to 2 acre-feet a year, which is pretty 
generous.  However I do not have the right to impound any flowing 
surface water--not that there is any except during spring runoff.  I 
also cannot collect rainwater--all 11 inches of it a year in Elko 
County--though the state website says that this not generally enforced.

LOL Kitty I don't think Hawaii would have any water issues... plenty of 
rain water there I'm sure.  :)

Don


On 11/28/2018 10:48 AM, Tim Fisher wrote:
> I hadn't even read the article but I immediately knew what it would have to say about Oregon. And I also knew that the news media had screwed that one up, royally. He can't build ponds to collect the water without numerous state and federal permits, which for that size pond would easily take a year and thousands of dollars to obtain. Somehow this got twisted into "collecting rainwater is illegal". Building structures to impound a stream, spring, seep, wetland, surface runoff, or just plain old rain from the sky without any permits or water rights whatsoever is as illegal as it gets in the west. Even a removal/fill permit (not necessarily from the Corps, that usually applies in flowing water or wetland situations) is necessary to move that much dirt (in our county anything deeper than 2 feet). Googling it, even Snopes has weighed in. Which is news to me, and a great summary of exactly while the guy had the book thrown at him.
>   
> https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/man-gets-prison-sentence-for-collecting-rainwater-on-his-own-property/
>
>