[giturbewan]

Collecting rainwater now illegal in many states as Big Government claims ownership over our water.


Monday, July 26, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Range


(NaturalNews) Many of the freedoms we enjoy here in the U.S. are quickly eroding as the nation transforms from the land of the free into the land of the enslaved, but what I'm about to share with you takes the assault on our freedoms to a whole new level. You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.

As bizarre as it sounds, laws restricting property owners from "diverting" water that falls on their own homes and land have been on the books for quite some time in many Western states. Only recently, as droughts and renewed interest in water conservation methods have become more common, have individuals and business owners started butting heads with law enforcement over the practice of collecting rainwater for personal use.

Check out this YouTube video of a news report out of Salt Lake City, Utah, about the issue. It's illegal in Utah to divert rainwater without a valid water right, and Mark Miller of Mark Miller Toyota, found this out the hard way.

After constructing a large rainwater collection system at his new dealership to use for washing new cars, Miller found out that the project was actually an "unlawful diversion of rainwater." Even though it makes logical conservation sense to collect rainwater for this type of use since rain is scarce in Utah, it's still considered a violation of water rights which apparently belong exclusively to Utah's various government bodies.

"Utah's the second driest state in the nation. Our laws probably ought to catch up with that," explained Miller in response to the state's ridiculous rainwater collection ban.

Salt Lake City officials worked out a compromise with Miller and are now permitting him to use "their" rainwater, but the fact that individuals like Miller don't actually own the rainwater that falls on their property is a true indicator of what little freedom we actually have here in the U.S. (Access to the rainwater that falls on your own property seems to be a basic right, wouldn't you agree?)


Outlawing rainwater collection in other states
Utah isn't the only state with rainwater collection bans, either. Colorado and Washington also have rainwater collection restrictions that limit the free use of rainwater, but these restrictions vary among different areas of the states and legislators have passed some laws to help ease the restrictions.

In Colorado, two new laws were recently passed that exempt certain small-scale rainwater collection systems, like the kind people might install on their homes, from collection restrictions.

Prior to the passage of these laws, Douglas County, Colorado, conducted a study on how rainwater collection affects aquifer and groundwater supplies. The study revealed that letting people collect rainwater on their properties actually reduces demand from water facilities and improves conservation.

Personally, I don't think a study was even necessary to come to this obvious conclusion. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that using rainwater instead of tap water is a smart and useful way to conserve this valuable resource, especially in areas like the West where drought is a major concern.

Additionally, the study revealed that only about three percent of Douglas County's precipitation ended up in the streams and rivers that are supposedly being robbed from by rainwater collectors. The other 97 percent either evaporated or seeped into the ground to be used by plants.

This hints at why bureaucrats can't really use the argument that collecting rainwater prevents that water from getting to where it was intended to go. So little of it actually makes it to the final destination that virtually every household could collect many rain barrels worth of rainwater and it would have practically no effect on the amount that ends up in streams and rivers.


It's all about control, really
As long as people remain unaware and uninformed about important issues, the government will continue to chip away at the freedoms we enjoy. The only reason these water restrictions are finally starting to change for the better is because people started to notice and they worked to do something to reverse the law.

Even though these laws restricting water collection have been on the books for more than 100 years in some cases, they're slowly being reversed thanks to efforts by citizens who have decided that enough is enough.

Because if we can't even freely collect the rain that falls all around us, then what, exactly, can we freely do? The rainwater issue highlights a serious overall problem in America today: diminishing freedom and increased government control.

Today, we've basically been reprogrammed to think that we need permission from the government to exercise our inalienable rights, when in fact the government is supposed to derive its power from us. The American Republic was designed so that government would serve the People to protect and uphold freedom and liberty. But increasingly, our own government is restricting people from their rights to engage in commonsense, fundamental actions such as collecting rainwater or buying raw milk from the farmer next door.

Today, we are living under a government that has slowly siphoned off our freedoms, only to occasionally grant us back a few limited ones under the pretense that they're doing us a benevolent favor.


Fight back against enslavement
As long as people believe their rights stem from the government (and not the other way around), they will always be enslaved. And whatever rights and freedoms we think we still have will be quickly eroded by a system of bureaucratic power that seeks only to expand its control.

Because the same argument that's now being used to restrict rainwater collection could, of course, be used to declare that you have no right to the air you breathe, either. After all, governments could declare that air to be somebody else's air, and then they could charge you an "air tax" or an "air royalty" and demand you pay money for every breath that keeps you alive.

Think it couldn't happen? Just give it time. The government already claims it owns your land and house, effectively. If you really think you own your home, just stop paying property taxes and see how long you still "own" it. Your county or city will seize it and then sell it to pay off your "tax debt." That proves who really owns it in the first place... and it's not you!

How about the question of who owns your body? According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark office, U.S. corporations and universities already own 20% of your genetic code. Your own body, they claim, is partially the property of someone else.

So if they own your land, your water and your body, how long before they claim to own your air, your mind and even your soul?

Unless we stand up against this tyranny, it will creep upon us, day after day, until we find ourselves totally enslaved by a world of corporate-government collusion where everything of value is owned by powerful corporations -- all enforced at gunpoint by local law enforcement.


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/029286_ra...#ixzz1glffryVr

[fereupfer]

You need to look at the exact wording of the act. If it says rainwater then maybe you had best collect precipitation instead. If anyone comes on your property demanding to see their water then ask for paperwork that shows their ownership of your water.

Possession is nine tenths of the law.

If someone elses water is trespassing on my property then they had best be ready, willing and able to pay for the damages associated with this trespass.

[prehighaltitudesjj]

If someone elses water is trespassing on my property then they had best be ready, willing and able to pay for the damages associated with this trespass.

That's like saying you can use the patriot act and any/all anti-terrorisms laws against congress, the tsa, and the federal reserve.

[nerrttrw]

You also need a license to store more than 2 cases of toilet paper.

I will provide you the license for only an ounce of silver. That license will cover up to 10 cases. Some of you fatcats (Ponce) will have to get the supreme and uber-supreme licenses. The cost is one additional ounce of silver for each bundle of 20 cases after the first 10.

For those who like to be ahead of the crowds and get the best deals, I will sign you up early for the air tax. If you wish to breathe more than 200 times per day, the cost will be one ounce of silver per month. But now you can get a special deal- 1 ounce of gold will give you life-time membership in the airbreathers club or you can get the 5 year membership by paying 20 ounces of silver today. Buy for yourself. Give it as a gift. Gift cards available.

[Ankeseiband]

I alway knew that Spec was a government secret agent......and by his own words he presents himself as such.......uffffffffffff.

PS: 1 oz of gold and 20 oz of silver on its way.........just in case.

[F1grandprix]

I alway knew that Spec was a government secret agent......and by his own words he presents himself as such.......uffffffffffff.

PS: 1 oz of gold and 20 oz of silver on its way.........just in case.

Just keep outlaws rolls aside, to cover your bet!

[QEoMi752]

That's like saying you can use the patriot act and any/all anti-terrorisms laws against congress, the tsa, and the federal reserve.

Should you act like a dog why would you take exception to being treated like one? All the advantages of law are on your side if you ever choose to step up to the plate and assert your political will rather than expending it uselessly by sending out eunichs as representatives.

Statutes rule government slaves and not the People. Common law takes no cognizance of statutes. Government is going to always control things they find in their plane. That is going to include you if you volunteer into that plane.

[Maribellin]

ie it's all about the regulatory system people have placed themselves within and its ability to define itself.

Administrative law is defined by Corpus Juris Secundum as the 4th branch of government that includes the other three .. executive, legislative and judicial. A bill of attainder and its' sibling (bill of pains and punishment) are prohibited because they tend to blur the clear boundary lines established for the three constitutionally mandated branches of government. I.e., if you find yourself in administrative law a quick study on bills of attainder should get you out quickly.

[HottBrorb]

You also need a license to store more than 2 cases of toilet paper.

I will provide you the license for only an ounce of silver. That license will cover up to 10 cases. Some of you fatcats (Ponce) will have to get the supreme and uber-supreme licenses. The cost is one additional ounce of silver for each bundle of 20 cases after the first 10.

For those who like to be ahead of the crowds and get the best deals, I will sign you up early for the air tax. If you wish to breathe more than 200 times per day, the cost will be one ounce of silver per month. But now you can get a special deal- 1 ounce of gold will give you life-time membership in the airbreathers club or you can get the 5 year membership by paying 20 ounces of silver today. Buy for yourself. Give it as a gift. Gift cards available.

Render unto God the things that are God's,
....Render unto Spectrism the things that are Caesars...

How's that revisionist scripture paraphrase of the Master workin' for ya', Spec?

[Filmania]

The state owns the water and they sell it to farmers to grow food. Would you rather have something to eat locally grown or a clean car?

[Vkowefek]

What's the difference if you collect it, or pour it from the tap....Oh yeah, almost forgot, in one scenario it's free, and the other someone is making money from you.

GTFO!

[YTmWSOA5]

Should you act like a dog why would you take exception to being treated like one? All the advantages of law are on your side if you ever choose to step up to the plate and assert your political will rather than expending it uselessly by sending out eunichs as representatives.

Statutes rule government slaves and not the People. Common law takes no cognizance of statutes. Government is going to always control things they find in their plane. That is going to include you if you volunteer into that plane.

So you're saying government knows its limitations? If so, there wouldn't be a need for the constitution.

[megasprut]

LOL I don't care what they say...

I guess if you lived in town they could really run you around if they knew, But maybe you could collect water from your downspouts in your backyard ? (Oh no break the law) damn right !

We worked on a Apartment complex that actually had a rainwater catch system built in for watering the flower beds.

LOL We are Green in Ca.

[cemDrymnVem]

So you're saying government knows its limitations?

I am not really into personification. Playing with legal fictions is a topic for children.

If so, there wouldn't be a need for the constitution.

The British are quite proud that they have no written constitution although they refer frequently to their "constitution". Americans are quite proud of their written constitution but abrogated it in 1868 to a greatly truncated form in the (4) paragraphs called the 14th amendment. This amendment entirely threw out the organic constitution and what today is referred to as "the constitution" is either virturally unwritten or is made firm by a million lines of statute law.

In any event the only reason to have a constitution is to pass the federal debt along to the several States that passed into bankruptcy around 1971.

[Quvwcxqx]

So the state owns the water that falls on my property?

Excellent, looks like the County owes me $990.00 for charging me $45.00 per year for surface water management to deal with the rainwater that may or may not leave my property.

When I first moved in this house and noticed the charge on my tax bill I questioned it and was told that it is too cover the handling of rainwater that falls on my roof and goes down the downspout and then may or may not flow across my yard and then enter the ditch out front along the County road.
Which can't happen since the downspouts are lower then the ditch elevation.

Looks like the County better start charging the rainwater owner which appears to be the state.

Maybe you should catch your own rainwater/ quit paying a regular water bill and use all that free ($45) water?

[ssiikmuz]

So what was the reason to have it prior to 1971?

To get a clue as to what a constitution is about you have to consider the definition of one who writes a constitution:

CONSTITUTOR, civil law. He who promised by a simple pact to pay the debt of another; and this is always a principal obligation. Inst. 4, 6, 9. The evidence that the 14th amendment is a constitution in itself:

4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. The new 14th amended "United States" prohibits the questioning of its debt yet it questions it own debt incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States. Two entities. One is the United States BEFORE the 14th amendment and the second entity is the United States AFTER the 14th amendment.

The entity created by the 14th amendment is in insurrection to the organic United States and anyone operating under the organic constitution can question the debt of the 14th amended United States.

The language of the 14th amendment is that of a trust.

[Smittoh]

"Collecting rainwater now illegal in many states as Big Government claims ownership over our water."

"And don't be thinking you can hunt the King's deer.
Back to your hut, peasant, before we sic the sheriff of Nottingham on you..."

We need to put in a call to Sherwood Forest soon.
See if we can get Robin and his scary men to respond...

[sabbixsweraco]

WOW ! so that means we need a fence to hide the barrels from people on Street level - and 50% shade cloth to hide the barrels from Google Earth/ satellites.

the times they are a changing - but it can be done.

no one has the right to restrict rain-water catchment for personal use. it's in the Declaration of Independence. the part about Life Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness.

it's probably in the Bible too, but i only know 2 sections of the Bible. does the Bible say anything that pertains to rainwater catchment ?

[Maphpseurse]

it's probably in the Bible too, but i only know 2 sections of the Bible. does the Bible say anything that pertains to rainwater catchment ?

Water and its' activities are one of the bibles greatest topics.
Moses never entered the Promised Land for the reason that when he was told to strike the ROCK in order for God to provide Water, he STRUCK THE ROCK ''TWICE'', of which meant that he Lost Faith in God for three seconds!

[Jesslovers]

WOW ! so that means we need a fence to hide the barrels from people on Street level - and 50% shade cloth to hide the barrels from Google Earth/ satellites.

the times they are a changing - but it can be done.

Run a diversion off your eaves, one visible going to ground outside your house, tap off a diversion to the inside into a barrel in the basement or ground level......... No fence, no bushes, nothing out of the ordinary from a cursory glance by the nazi patrols.