Ridenbaugh Press/Water Rights

A few months back Washington and Colorado loosened the law regulating collection of rain water – water that otherwise would fall and flow into tightly-regulated streams, where water rights might be needed to use it. Now, Utah may be joining the group.

On February 1, the Utah Senate passed a measure which would allow residents to collect rain water in barrels without a water right. They would, however, have to register any barrel they use, through the state Division of Water Resources.

The measure was sent to the House, where it faces some possible adjustment.

[see Salt Lake (UT) Tribune, February 1]

A simple guzzler, collecting water for wildlife

Most water is tightly regulated in prior appropriation states, but what about rain water, the water that falls on your roof? In some states, the rule is still clear: This is water that simply hasn’t yet gotten to a stream but will get there, and when it does it probably has been accounted for by someone’s water right – so you can’t have it. But in some other states, the rule is less clear.

On October 12, Washington’s Department of Ecology issued an Interpretive Policy Statement that clarifies the long-standing water right ambiguity associated with rainwater harvesting.

it declared a purpose “to 1) clarify that a water right is not required for on-site storage and use of rooftop or guzzler collected rainwater, and 2) identify the Department of Ecology’s intent to regulate the storage and use of rooftop or guzzler collected rainwater if and when the cumulative impact of such rainwater harvesting is likely to negatively affect instream values or existing water rights.”

Put another way, the department will continue evaluation of whether rainwater collection has a significant impact on the rest of the water use system, and take action if it does.

Colorado and Utah, two of the dryer states, long have banned collection of rainfall – even on personal property – because even rain is subject to the prior appropriation system. As Kevin Lusk, an engineer for Colorado Springs Utilities said, “All the water was spoken for here in the Arkansas Basin 100 years ago or more. 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.”

But some redefinition is underway.

This year’s Senate Bill 80, signed into law on April 22, changes that state law contruct, though not absolutely. The state legislative summary:

This bill allows for the collection of precipitation from up to 3,000 square feet of a roof of a residence that is not connected to a domestic water system serving more than 3 single-family dwellings. The collected water must be used for:
< ordinary household purposes;
< fire protection;
< watering of animals and livestock; and
< irrigation of not more than 1 acre of gardens and lawns.
A person wanting to capture rooftop precipitation who meets the qualifications in the bill must submit an application and unless the person currently has a well permit, pay a fee to the state engineer. Owners of certain wells are allowed to collect rooftop precipitation under the same use limitations as contained in their well permits. If a person violates an order issued by the state engineer regarding collection of rooftop precipitation, that person is subject to a $500 fine per violation.

The permits and specific requirements are expected to limit the actual use of the new law, and a series of pilot projects have been established.

State Representative Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, who backed the measure after a constituent complained about being unable (or not allowed) to collect water from a house roof, said she thinks the pilot projects will show water flows will be unimpaired, partly because of desert evaporation conditions.

Utah apparently has no plans yet to amend its rain-barrel law.

[see Colorado Springs(CO) Gazette, June 2; New York (NY) Times, June 29]

If you capture rain water – falling on your property – in a rain barrel, do you properly own that water?

That may depend on where you live. The snap answer might appear to be: no, if you’re in a prior appropriation state, and yes if riparian. But the details (such as, to what use is the water being put) are a lot more complex.

A lot of this is hashed through in the new Popular Mechanics magazine article, “Who Owns the Rain? Hint: It’s Not Always Homeowners.”

The article notes: “By capturing rainwater, some homeowners are breaking the law. This has put city and state governments in an awkward position—smack in the middle of competing water users and advocates, often from within their own agencies, of conserving water to protect supplies.”

To clarify regulations governing the collection and use of rainwater, Ecology is seeking the public’s help in drafting a statewide rainwater rule.
Three open house sessions for education and public discussion about collecting rainwater for beneficial use are scheduled this month in Everett, Lacey and Wenatchee.
Ecology doesn’t require homeowners to obtain water right permits to collect and store small amounts of rainwater. The new rule for the first time would define how much rainwater may be collected and used before a permit is required. The rule isn’t intended to regulate storage and release of rainwater when no “beneficial use” will be made of the water.
Under state law, beneficial uses include recreation, irrigation, residential water supplies and power generation.
Washington law identifies rainwater as a water resource of the state. Residential rainwater collection systems can range from a 50-gallon rain barrel to cisterns of 30,000 gallons or more. Commercial systems can be much larger. Ecology is seeking public comment on what the threshold should be for requiring a water right permit for those systems that could affect the water supply of senior water right holders or stream flows in some river basins.
Non-potable uses of rainwater typically include toilet flushing and irrigation for gardens. In water-short areas such as the San Juan Islands, some homeowners use rainwater as the sole source of their water supply. Ecology is especially interested in encouraging rainwater collection in urban areas like Puget Sound where it can be used to reduce stormwater runoff and supplement municipal water supplies.
“A statewide rule would remove the ambiguity about rainwater collection from existing water law,” said Ken Slattery, manager of Ecology’s Water Resources Program. “We want to ensure that collection and storage of rainwater happens in a way that is consistent with the protection of stream flows and water rights.”
The new rule won’t affect the current rainwater permit in the City of Seattle or future permits in San Juan County. Here are highlights of those permits:
? Seattle Public Utilities received a regional water right permit from Ecology to capture and put to use approximately 23,000 acre-feet of rainwater that falls on rooftops in areas of the city served by combined stormwater/sewer systems.
? Beginning this fall, island-wide water right permits will be issued in San Juan County where some island residents use rainwater for their water supply.
Read more about rainwater collection at Ecology’s new rainwater website. Contact: ?Dan Partridge, 360-407-7139, dpar461@ecy.wa.gov ?Kurt Unger, Ecology rule writer, 360-407-7262, kung461@ecy.wa.gov

To clarify regulations governing the collection and use of rainwater, Ecology is seeking the public’s help in drafting a statewide rainwater rule.

Three open house sessions for education and public discussion about collecting rainwater for beneficial use are scheduled this month in Everett, Lacey and Wenatchee.
Ecology doesn’t require homeowners to obtain water right permits to collect and store small amounts of rainwater. The new rule for the first time would define how much rainwater may be collected and used before a permit is required. The rule isn’t intended to regulate storage and release of rainwater when no “beneficial use” will be made of the water.

Under state law, beneficial uses include recreation, irrigation, residential water supplies and power generation.

Washington law identifies rainwater as a water resource of the state. Residential rainwater collection systems can range from a 50-gallon rain barrel to cisterns of 30,000 gallons or more. Commercial systems can be much larger. Ecology is seeking public comment on what the threshold should be for requiring a water right permit for those systems that could affect the water supply of senior water right holders or stream flows in some river basins.

Non-potable uses of rainwater typically include toilet flushing and irrigation for gardens. In water-short areas such as the San Juan Islands, some homeowners use rainwater as the sole source of their water supply. Ecology is especially interested in encouraging rainwater collection in urban areas like Puget Sound where it can be used to reduce stormwater runoff and supplement municipal water supplies.

“A statewide rule would remove the ambiguity about rainwater collection from existing water law,” said Ken Slattery, manager of Ecology’s Water Resources Program. “We want to ensure that collection and storage of rainwater happens in a way that is consistent with the protection of stream flows and water rights.”

The new rule won’t affect the current rainwater permit in the City of Seattle or future permits in San Juan County. Here are highlights of those permits:

Seattle Public Utilities received a regional water right permit from Ecology to capture and put to use approximately 23,000 acre-feet of rainwater that falls on rooftops in areas of the city served by combined stormwater/sewer systems.

? Beginning this fall, island-wide water right permits will be issued in San Juan County where some island residents use rainwater for their water supply.

Read more about rainwater collection at Ecology’s new rainwater website: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/hq/rwh.html  Contact:
Dan Partridge, 360-407-7139, dpar461@ecy.wa.gov
Kurt Unger, Ecology rule writer, 360-407-7262, kung461@ec