Who owns the rain? ( Archived) (19)

Man Gets Prison Sentence For Collecting Rainwater On His Property

Collecting rainwater on your own property in the U.S. can now lead to jail time, as has been proven by a man from Oregon who was sentenced to prison for doing just that. Who owns the rain? The US government, apparently.

Not so long ago, it was common practice across much of the world to collect rainwater into man made wells on your property to use for farming, irrigation and having fresh clean water. It was just as common as canning your own food, having knowledge of at least some basic survival skills, and being self-sufficient.

It wasn’t even that many generations ago that all of this was common practice – people born before WWII were pretty adept at these skills, as they were a necessity to survival. One of the main (and easiest) ways to ensure survival was to collecting rainwater on your own property. The practical uses for storing and collecting rainwater are numerous and many people across the world in rural areas still do it today for all of the reasons listed above. However, over the past few years, laws making the collection of rainwater illegal have been causing an uproar across the US.

Now, a man from Grey Point, Oregon has been sentenced to thirty days in prison for storing collected rainwater on his very own property – and the public is outraged.

yournewswire.com/man-gets-prison-sentence-for-collecting-rainwater-on-his-own-property/

Interesting post "Dedo". Now here where I live in Portland Oregon it is kind of interesting...sometimes a bit maddening. Let me explain.
For instance. Here our water bill and our sewer bill are combined.
So when I went away for a few months I literally turned off my water at the main and inside at another main. This means that no water, nit even a drop was able to pass and I also wrote the number from the meter so I would know that in fact no water was used.
when I returned I was surprised that I had a water bill that was not very different than usual. In fact if memory serves me it was a bit higher than the month before. So I talked with the Water Bureau and Billing.
They explained to me that I must pay for water that disperses from my property when it rains and then of course makes the way back to some sewer or even just into the ground!. Yes, I was not impressed. but like many things it is just the way it is. But kinda lame.

Here is the other one that is crazy, especially in what they did to the person in the OP. We have the option to collect water from our downspouts and then keep it contained in such a way that no mosquitoes can put their larva their as that would not be good. Then we can tap into that water for watering plants and so on. They will actually reward you in doing this and give you directions on how to do it successfully and without problems. I think they may even give you the barrels to catch the water but that may have changed.
Wow! , right before I posted this I realized the guy lives in Oregon. So I did a little more research and found on "Snopes" that though it may be true it is not exactly the way it sounded. I am now wondering how different each city or county in Oregon deals with this. here is the link to "Snopes"


Very interesting though Dedo

Lo Gents...
I responded to a similar post, on Facebook, a while back...also in Oregon, but this dude build himself a massive dam...and stocked with fish and had boating /canoing going on.
Whatever...but he gets my vote..! His land...and the rains that fall upon it belong to him...end of argument!
If it's the laws of the land, then the laws need to be changed! I said as much in my Facebook post also. Peoole can change it!
Back home I built a 30 000 liter dam (gold fish & flora)..collect rainwater from roof via downpipes and also top up my 100K liter swimming pool! If it becomes a law here like in Oregon...they'll have to carry me out in a body bag..!

The FB ref here:-

Yes, I can tell you read a lot more of it then I did but I did read enough to see that it was more than a bit of grabbing some of the runoff for watering the lawn in a dry spell. But especially because here in Oregon I have to pay for the water that falls on my home and land it seems that I would be able to do what I want with it as long as I was not breaking some other law or creating a hardship on my neighbors. But of course this is just one of the very incredibly unfair and strange laws that I have seen others fall prey to. For instance I say where a Barber that was well past the age of retiring trying to keep himself as a self sufficient human in this time where many just give up and/or might be unable to make it so end up on the street or losing their home Fined and also barred from continuing to be a Barber because of not renewing a particular license that though is the law it seems like they just made it impossible for him to make reasonable amends and continue on. It is maddening.

In the UK the water board own the water and it's metered and sold to you.

Although you can collect water in water butts, from the roof and this is used for watering gardens, and is not charged for.

What is the state's explanation? Surely drinking/collecting rainwater is not the crime in and of itself unless it could be argued that it's disturbing the waterways and the ecosystem in some way?

This would never have happened in the old Soviet Union or China. Want a river pointing in a different direction? Blow up the town and mountain standing in the way. Nothing in the natural world was off limits to a commie.

The earth is common property. Now you can take that as the commies did as a license to do whatever you want with it or you could take that like the Native Americans did as an obligation to look after the natural world as you are only leasing the natural whilst your alive and you have a duty to leave the land in tact for your posterity.

Does the fact that it belongs to all make the earth a gimmedat free-for-all or a matter of shared responsibility?