Two bills passed recently by the state legislature make rainwater harvesting legal in Colorado, kind of.
In April, Gov. Ritter signed legislation sponsored by State Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, which allows residents not connected to municipal water systems to harvest rainwater from up to 3,000 square feet of rooftops, provided they get a permit from the Colorado Division of Water Resources. Applications may be submitted beginning July 1.
An article in the Colorado Springs Gazette makes it clear that collection is only legal for residents on wells and that cultural understandings of water in the West are unlikely to change quickly:
If you live in the city, don’t install a barrel under your gutter spout just yet. The legislation lets residents on wells collect rain and establishes 10 pilot projects for new developments. Residents on municipal water still can’t legally collect rain, and water suppliers are leery of legislation that would let them.
“All the water was spoken for here in the Arkansas Basin 100 years ago or more,” said Kevin Lusk, water supply engineer for Colorado Springs Utilities. “If the water falls as rain, that’s water that was going to get to the stream system, and somebody already has dibs on it, and if somebody intercepts that, it’s the same as stealing.”
However, a 2007 study cited by the New York Times in their article yesterday on the subject shows that only 3 percent of rainwater falling in Douglas County actually made it into streams and rivers; the vast majority either evaporates or is captured and utilized by plants.
According to the Gazette, proponents of rainwater collection hope that legislation authorizing rainwater harvesting in the 10 development projects will provide data showing minimal impact to streams or downstream water rights, paving the way for residential rooftop collection within municipal boundaries.
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