UPDATE: Collecting Rainwater in Colorado will be legal beginning on August 10, 2016. Please see our new post regarding the use of Rain Barrels in Colorado, and House Bill 16-1005.
Two new legislative bills were passed in Colorado this summer that seem to be causing some confusion regarding water rights. Senate Bill 09-080 and House Bill 09-1129 allow for the collection of rainwater- but only in very limited circumstances.
Many businesses and homeowners are looking for ways to be more sustainable, to save water, and to conserve resources to help their bottom line. I have been surprised to find that many people are not aware that collecting rainwater- even in a simple “rain barrel” system from your roof for use in watering a garden, is illegal in Colorado.
Historical Precedent
I think the Colorado Division of Water Resources website summarizes well the historical precedent in layman’s terms: “Colorado water law declares that the state of Colorado claims the right to all moisture in the atmosphere that falls within its borders and that ‘said moisture is declared to be the property of the people of this state, dedicated to their use pursuant’ to the Colorado constitution. As a result, in much of the state, it is illegal to divert rainwater falling on your property expressly for a certain use unless you have a very old water right or during occasional periods when there is a surplus of water in the river system. This is especially true in the urban, suburban, and rural areas along the Front Range. This system of water allocation plays an important role in protecting the owners of senior water rights that are entitled to appropriate the full amount of their decreed water right, particularly when there is not enough to satisfy them and parties whose water right is junior ro them.”
The New Laws
Senate Bill 09-080, which was passed by the general assembly and signed into law by the governor this summer, allows for limited collection and use of precipitation, but ONLY if the following conditions are met:
- The property on which the collection takes place is residential property, and
- The landowner uses a well, or is legally entitled to a well, for the water supply, and
- The well is permitted for domestic uses according to section 37-92-602, C.R.S., and
- There is no water supply available in the area from a municipality or water district, and
- The rainwater is collected only from the roof, and
- The water is used only for those uses that are allowed by, and identified on, the well permit.
ALL of the above criteria must be met. That does not allow anyone who is connected to a municipal water supply (ie. most homeowners) to do this. I don’t really understand the reasoning behind this law. I have a hunch that they set out to create this law to allow the average residential homeowner to collect a limited mount of rainwater, but then in the negotiations the bill was paired down to its current form- and we ended up with a meaningless law that effects only a handful of people.
Regardless, there is a lot of confusion about this law that should be cleared up. Many people I have talked to now believe they are allowed to collect rainwater when in fact they are not. Soon after the law passed, Home Depot even began selling rain barrels in their Front Range stores (and they have over 10 different models to choose from on their website). I have found the reaction of most people when they find out this is illegal is first surprise, and then usually a comment such as “well, I would probably do it anyway”, and “they would never know.”
If you are so inclined to install a rain barrel (do so at your own risk), here is a tutorial I discovered on how to make your own. Another good alternative (and perfectly legal) is to create a bioswale in your landscape.
House Bill 09-1129 has the potential to make a much bigger impact. This law allows for developers to apply for approval to be one of 10 statewide pilot projects that will capture rainwater for use in non-essential use in the subdivision. The Sterling Ranch development, in Douglas County, was one of the early applicants for the program. The developer hopes to save the development’s use of municipal water by 50%. It will be interesting to see the results of these pilot projects, especially for those of us in the planning, design, and engineering community.
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If householders don’t collect rainwater for their own use but instead let the water flow through stormwater channels or through the ground, streams and rivers to water storages and then use it via the municipal water and their garden taps you can imagine that somewhere along the way there will be quite a bit of water wasted through evaporation and other means (leaky pipes etc). So it stands to reason the for every 100 gallons of water that falls on your roof as isn’t collected, that maybe 10, 20, 30% or even more may be wasted or not even accessable to be used again by households and those that own the water rights. Therefore it stands to reason that if households collect and store rainwater (cut out the middle inefficient process) it will take the pressure off water storages and as a result there would be more water available to those who do own the water rights and take water from the rivers etc.
It all just comes done to use of efficient practices for the use of water.
If people collect their own rainwater, it won’t be available for Big Brother to sell back to them. The very old water rights which were referred to in the article were established ‘way back in a time when most Americans were free — before governments discovered that they could hoodwink the citizens into paying for things which were provided by Mother Nature. In this, as in most things, one must follow the money.
G’day, It’s nice to stumble upon a good site like this one. Do you care if I use some of the info here, and I’ll leave a link back to you?
Delphine,
Thanks for your kind words- please share and link back!
Hi, I live in Australia and find it amazing that you have areas where this is so difficult. Here it is crucial and a necessary part of life. We personally have a tank which holds 100,0000 litres and we are glad we have it as we don’t have to rely on anyone for our water. It has now become mandatory here in our state for all new houses to also have a rainwater supply installed. Our water is crystal clear and perfect for drinking, showering and all washing. I just hope that America realises that they too need to go down this path. 🙂
Jay- Thanks for reading, and for your comment. I hope you will keep following the blog!
It is great to get a new perspective on this from someone in Australia. I know that you are struggling with a drought down there right now. Our neighboring state of Arizona now allows rainwater collection tanks like the one you are talking about- so hopefully some day we will be allowed to have such a system here. In the meantime we are trying to work around it in several ways such as designing bioswales and sunken landscape islands, etc.
I’m simply shocked that this is legal. Hooray for the mighty dollar.
How in the world does the government or the city or any type of government think that they own the rain that falls from the sky. They have to out of their dam mind. How do they figure that what God gave us it theirs to control. Screw our government. The so called “government” has gone to crap. It use to work for the people not against them.
IF the State can declare that:
“Colorado water law declares that the state of Colorado claims the right to all moisture in the atmosphere that falls within its borders and that ‘said moisture is declared to be the property of the people of this state, dedicated to their use pursuant’ to the Colorado constitution.
Then:
The state of Colorado could also just declare that the OXYGEN in the atmosphere is theirs, thus gaining the “right” to charge you for breathing your own air.
This needs to be tested in courts outside Colorado.
There is no way this could stand legal challenge
I just moved to Colorado after 20 years in the military and I have to say silly laws like this make my fellow Colorado buddies look crazy. It is illegal to collect rainwater to put on my lawn but it is not legal to smoke dope. Really. This calls into question there ability to make good decisions.
I will remember who the rain water belongs to the next time my basement floods!
Jim dixon;
You have a good point. IF that rainwater, that belongs to the state, now invades your home and causes damage, FILE a g-damned lawsuit against the state and see what they say. Here’s a guess, dear homeowner, the flooding of your basement was an act of God; therefore when the water we claim we own and falls out of sky causes damage it’s GOD’S water; if you collelct it in a barrel it’s OUR water.
I happened across this web site. After reading the comments, some people should take a lesson in Colorado water law. Although Colorado makes “claim” of all water the State does not own it. Rather, the State has created extensive law and a water court to allocate the water as water rights owned pursuant to a court decree. The water that runs off and/or percolates from a property into the acquifer is owned by someone. Thus, anyone capturing this water without the water rights is stealing. The notion that if one does not collect runoff from their rooftop is wasting water is false. These concepts are consistent with prevailing water doctrine in the Western States and which differs from the Eastern States.
This country was founded on social disobedience. Remember the Boston tea party? I saw a great t shirt that said”Stop Bitching and Start a Revolution”. Reminds me of the 60’s but nobody does anything about it now. I will continue my non violent social disobedience until some sense can be made of this issue. WWTJ say. That’s Thomas Jefferson.
as of the present me my husband and 3 year old daughter are currently staying with friends in Loveland Colorado and if people haven’t noticed that its flooding here do to high rain precipitation. washing out roads and flooding the rivers onto main bike routes and other such places. if the people in Colorado were given the opportunity to collect the rain water even from there rooftops it would save a lot of the water running into the drainage systems and adding to the damage that’s still being done them maybe. they could save some of the hundreds of tax dollars that go into the fixings of roads and bike routes damages caused by the excessive rain fail. not to mention that the government could still claim the water that’s collected and say give the people something for their help in collecting the rain water like maybe allowing them to keep a percentage of the water that way everyone wins in my opinion.
And yet Colorado “seeds” the clouds for the ski industry, they are, according to their own laws, stealing rain from others.
So, if my home sustains water damage from heavy rains, the State of Colorado should be liable, being that they ‘own’ the water, yes?
could the author of this article edit it and add a date? This is fantastic information, however I am not sure how current it is with the new legislation of 2016.
Adam,
We recently posted new information about the latest legislation regarding rain barrels in Colorado.
Thank you for your comment.