(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.
[Via NaturalNews.com]
Water rights in the West are a tangled mess. There are Federal Courts that, day in and day out, deal only in the details of water rights. Whole legions of judges, clerks, lawyers and minions spend years doing nothing but trudge through muddled arguments on water. Here in Denver we may not collect rain water or wild water because that water belongs to California, or Nebraska, or Arizona. Our water all belongs to someone else. The great and roaring Colorado River never even makes it to the Gulf of Baja anymore. It's just a muddy little gutter by the time it reaches the sea. The U.S. paid to move and retrain thousands of native Mexican people who had lived there for centuries fishing that river and gulf. We use more water in the West than Nature provides.
That's really amazing. It seems it would only be common sense to have people in such dry states use rain water. I recently watched a documentary on a similar subject. It talked about how companies are now buying up water rights so people will end up having to pay for it. It looks like one way or another we're going to end up paying for water. Which is a sad, and scary thought. God help the people who can barely pay for a roof over their head… now they'll have to pay for water to keep them alive as well.
Oh heavens, we already pay for water. The Denver water board has upped the cost of water every year for a decade. If we conserve too much, saving water, they don't have enough income to do their work and up the price to bring in more revenue. We're damned if we don't, and damned if we do. Even the farmers, on well water, have meters on their pumps. They are allowed only a certain amount. If they use more they pay for it.
The old saying of "Soap is cheap and water is free" (meaning there's little reason for dirtyness.) Has been changed to "Soap is reasonably priced and water is expensive."
All of the water on earth belongs to the people because god provided it is for our use not only for the rich to waste. Greed is destroying this country and also all the corruption in our government system. The water that falls from the sky belong to the earth not to the rich man or government that builds dams. America and its leaders are destroying our country with all thier greed and self seeking greed for all the money they can get from the America people. Water is free for all to use not only for the rich to make more money, off of the people of Americans that work very hard for thier money. Times are hard on Americans now and greed and corruption and our freedom is going down to the deeps of hell. God save this country from destroying it self from corrupted leaders. Abraham Andaya
I will collect my water as I see fit. God help the poor fool who approaches me about the use of my land… I don't put up and shut up like most. All it takes is just a few 'water police' to turn up missing, and then you will have a Renaissance of thought about this little anomaly… Shame. Could have been such a contribution to society with a real job that produces real things… Well, you just had to find a job with a power trip.
What will happen to this economy is this: The jobs that don't actually create wealth will be lost. Census workers, 'green police', water police, living on welfare, etc… Then, we might get back to sanity…
If the state government owns the water that falls on my property then ipso facto they are responsible for the damage it causes, including but not limited to hail stone damage, erosion, flooding, mosquito infestations, tree falls, shall we go on?
Great point Chris – gotta love those convenient double standards!
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