07/31/08 Who Owns The Rain?

Who owns the rain? It's not who you think. Most people would assume that any rain that falls on their property is theirs to collect and use as they wish. Well apparently this is a misconception held by most landowners, be it city dwellers or rural. At least in Washington State the government owns any and all rights to rainfall. An actual permit must be obtained from the Department of Ecology in order to collect rain to be used on private property. Just how the government expects to enforce this outlandish law is beyond me. More outlandish still is the thought of government officials running around with buckets in order to collect all "their" rainwater. It's nothing I've seen lately and probably won't in the near future. Several communities have gone together recently to collect rainwater in order to offset water use and help the environment; never realizing that they were in effect breaking the law. So, is the government going to be accountable for "their" rainwater when it floods my property or if a heavy rainfall collapses your roof? Probably not anytime soon.