"Whiskey is for drinking. Water is for fighting."
This is good old saying in the US Southwest. I am not sure how applicable it is today considering the water shortages that these states face. In Colorado, home to the famous Joe Sakic and the Avalanche, water has become so scarce that catching water from the sky can make you a criminal. This article here, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, discusses the significance of rainwater for a dry state like Colorado and provides an overview of the laws that permit and prohibit the capturing of water from the sky. Here is an excerpt from the article:
“It is, in fact, illegal in Colorado to collect rainwater. State law is vague about the penalties, except to say that violators can be taken to court and ordered to pay damages. The state lacks the resources for vigorous enforcement and fines are extremely rare, officials say. Still, the law is the law -- and so Ms. Looper has set out to change it. This might just be her year.”
I have blogged about rainwater harvesting before talking about its numerous advantages because of the decentralized component of it. Remember, municipal water is often a common pool good where everyone has access to the resource and control over the water resources is decentralized. This is both good and bad. Collecting rainwater can allow residents to trap, store and use their water accordingly making them think more about the salience of water conservation. If access to water is too decentralized, then there is the risk of the tragedy of the commons where we’ll see people over using water and wasting it on things like washing your driveway or car. This leads to the over-exploitation of the resources which is highly problematic for places like Colorado.
With respect to the article, prohibiting people from collecting rainwater is simply absurd. If you want to enact laws that stipulate a certain amount of water withdrawals from the Colorado river or local streams, that would be appropriate. However, when rain water falls from the sky (which is a rare occurrence in Colorado) people are going to have to be smart with installing rainwater collection systems to trap this water and use it when it is most necessary. When I hear water is a human right I think of rainwater. No matter how scarce water is in the state of Colorado, laws should be enacted based on conserving regional water supply and avoiding the exhaustion of valuable water resources. The minute you start disallowing citizens to collect water that falls from the sky, you will start to see mounting political pressure, mass opposition and revolt.
Key message: Rainwater collection is an innovative approach to water conservation. Do not enact laws that prohibit such an activity. If you truly want the citizens to start caring more about water conservation and regional water issues, then allow them to take on initiatives that save water, take pressure off of water utilities companies and become one step closer to sustainable development.
It seems absolutely absurd to think that the world's most "free" country would have draconian environmental laws outlawing the collection of rainwater. The last time I heard of such a law was in Cochabamba, Bolivia and that was 'enacted' by the big multi-national water company Bechtel. But in that case, the multi-national went into a developing country and exploited it, which isn't too hard. And that policy didn't work out very well for Bechtel at all as riots forced them out of town.
ReplyDeleteI don't completely understand how this law still exists and how a relatively conservative country even lets it stand. Perhaps it's because the law isn't enforced at all, which would explain why it hasn't been a publicized issue before.