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

[Stephen Shimatzki]

In Toledo, ( lucas county Ohio) they tax you on the size of your house and
how much impenterable surface area you have.  The idea being that rain then
runs into the storm sewers then eventually to the lake.  So they argue
someone has to pay for that system...   I argued that i had rain barrels
and overflow to the sandy/grassy back yard so no runoff going to the storm
sewers from my property but was still taxed.  Btw, that tax is added on the
water bill.

Glad we moved to the country, city folks are crazy, i think its from all
the lack of rain in their drinking water.  ;)

-Steve

On Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:01 PM Don Halterman <donhalterman at comcast.net wrote:

>   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/
> >
> >
>
>
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