April 24, 2009

Who owns rainwater?

You would have thought that something that falls from the sky is free, but this would depend on where you live.

In some parts of the US, setting up a rain barrel or some other way of collecting rainwater could be illegal, which may sound outrageous but it’s true, take the state of Colorado, the law states that the rain that falls onto your house is not yours.

Across the US, there are similar laws, but in many cases, these are impossible to enforce, like in Seattle where so many people have a rain barrel that is would be impossible for the authorities to even start proceedings.

However, what this does prove is that the rights of the property owner are in fact limited more than they would think and stepping over the line can lead to big trouble.

Source [Popular Mechanics]