Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away

Attention all Colorado rainwater-collecting vigilantes: It’s now perfectly legal to catch rainwater in your home state.

Gathering rainwater to wash your car or water your plants might seem like the most natural thing in the world, but for years Colorado residents who attempted this seemingly innocent act did so at their own risk. Yet now, two new state laws will allow residents to keep the rain that falls on their property — as long as they have a permit to do so. This is welcome news to many rain-collecting bandits.

"I was so willing to go to jail for catching water on my roof and watering my garden, but now I’m not a criminal," Tom Bartels, a video producer in southwestern Colorado who has been illegally watering his vegetables and fruit trees from tanks attached to his gutters, told The New York Times.

The legalization movement gained momentum after a 2007 study determined that an eye-popping 97 percent of rainwater that fell in Douglas County, near Denver, never got anywhere near a stream, thus making it mostly unusable. Rain catchers also argue that it makes environmental and economic sense to use the water that falls in their own backyard.

Rainwater rights have long been contentiously debated in the west, with different laws in bordering states that left many people scratching their heads over a fundamental question: Who really owns nature? For instance, in Utah, collecting rainwater from the roof is forbidden unless the roof owner also owns water rights on the ground. Yet in parts of New Mexico, like Santa Fe, rainwater catchment (the technical term) is mandatory for new homes.

So congratulations Colorado. All you rain catchers can finally come out of the water closet.