Colorado used to disallow collection of rainwater too because people further down the line supposedly had the rights to that water.
You're now allowed something like 2 - 30 gallon barrels to collect it here now.
this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2023
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Late stage capitalism: where they decide someone owns the fucking rain.
Water rights are the opposite of late stage capitalism. It's silly to enforce when we're talking about a residential rain barrel, but when we're talking on much larger scales is critical. When creeks are drying up because landowners are building catchment ponds, water rights start to look pretty good.
It's because Colorado water law is based on 'prior appropriations'.
Colorado was settled around mining and ranching, both of which can be water-intensive. It's also a fairly dry place. Water rights have been serious business for a long time.
So the rule was that the first person there had the right to start using river water for their mine. Then, if a second person starts a mine upstream, they had the right to use river water only inasmuch as it didn't impact the prior downstream mine. If there was a drought, the upstream mine had to use less water so the earlier mine wasn't impacted. Rain barrels were prohibited because that water "belonged" to some downstream rights holder, just as using the water from a stream might be prohibited because it belongs to a downstream rights holder.
This isn't really late-stage capitalism. The law in Colorado goes back to some court cases in the 1870s and 1880s.
It's unfortunate that you have like four up votes for explaining the actual History behind it but the guy who just thinks it's an issue that popped up ten years ago has dozens.
I'm not sure how upvotes are relevant here considering the time difference between both comments is about 11 hours.
Also, how much does the ratio of ups and downvotes on a post or comment influences your thought on the subject matter?
Yeah, but Colorado isn't a desert where people struggle for clean water in the best of times...
And I'm pretty sure the only thing downstream of Gaza is the ocean
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Well, I mean, it isn't entirely illogical... If I lived somewhere that always got approximately the same amount of water year over year but then suddenly my neighbor started straight up "stealing it all" straight out of the sky I might would be pissed too.
Sometimes you have to think about broad impact when developing policy. Sure, laws against rain collection seem draconian on the individual scale, but if a large percentage of the population collected rainwater, reservoirs and water tables can be seriously affected. Not saying this specific Israeli action is justified, but there are valid limitations on water collection put in place to ensure everyone has access.
It would be substantially worse if there were no such limitations in place, and whoever owned the land that drained into communal reservoirs could privately control the water supply of a region.
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It's illegal or highly fined in a lot of other countries as well. (Especially during dry seasons)
In other countries they don't cut you off from water infrastructure either though. Context is important.
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Fuck the Israeli government 100%, but it's illegal to collect rainwater in certain US cities, too.
But nobody restricts your regular water supply to less than half of what is considered the bare minimum by the UN.
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Well it's not like Mexico is forbidding the US from collecting.
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Very little good about Israel these days.
Same for a lot of places.
Israel wouldn't bother enforcing it when they can just blow up your house and say you're Hamas.
this is also the law in Los Angeles, for what its worth.
In Los Angeles foreigners don't break your access to water infrastructure and call the army on you when you attempt to fix it.
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That’s so strange to me. Living in Australia, we face very similar periodic drought conditions that California faces as well. Rather than being discouraged from capturing rainwater to use, we’re actively encouraged to do so, with many governments previously offering subsidies for rainwater tanks particularly during drought times. We have specific colourings for rainwater taps (purple) and you can buy signs to put up in your yard that say that you use rainwater, so people don’t get mad if you’re watering your lawn. These subsidies were usually alongside heavy water restrictions including not being able to water lawns; not watering plants during daylight hours; not using a hose to wash your car (a pressure washer from a bucket is allowed) etc.
It is here in Texas too…
The rain in Texas belongs to Israel authorities?
Might as well, they can do no wrong in the eyes of our esteemed leaders…
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are you fucking kidding me?
I hope domestic needs includes drinking.
Please don't drink rain water. It's not safe for human consumption. Plants will be ok, you will not be.
I mean... you know we have filtration technology right?
You don't drink raw water out of an unclear well or even clear river either bruh
I slurp it straight out of the gutter, leaves and all.
Cometely unrelated but something is wriggling inside my eyeball.
Of course.
How many people in Gaza right now have access to a reverse osmosis filter?
Oh in that case I'm sure they would all prefer to die of dehydration instead of drinking slightly contaminated rainwater.
Because it must be equally as bad as all the sewage ground water.
You can distill water with a hole in the ground, a tarp, a coffee can, and a small stone to hold down the center of the tarp.
You can distill your urine this way if it comes to that.
Simply boiling the water is enough to kill most harmful microorganisms that might be in the water.
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