All Things Water

[Pro-Life]

Oregon criminalizes permaculture; claims state ownership over all rainwater - ponds and swales restricted - jail time for violators
Sunday, July 29, 2012
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036615_Oregon_rainwater_permaculture.html#ixzz23UCUsdPl

You don't own the rain that falls on your own yard, Oregon insists

The state of Oregon openly admits, on its website, that you don't own the rain water that falls on your land! As stated on Oregon.gov:

Under Oregon law, all water is publicly owned. With some exceptions, cities, farmers, factory owners, and other water users must obtain a permit or water right from the Water Resources Department to use water from ANY source... (http://cms.oregon.gov/owrd/pages/pubs/aquabook_laws.aspx)

That page describes an exception to allow rainwater collection from rooftops, but not from a yard or natural landscape: "Exempt uses of surface water include ...collection and use of rainwater from an artificial impervious surface (like a parking lot or a building's roof)..."

So, in other words, if Harrington had paved his fields with asphalt, then collected the rainwater would have been legal in Oregon! But because his fields were natural grasses, shrubs and trees, the rainwater collection was deemed illegal.