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Here’s a question for you: has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want
to do look more like?
Ah, damn, you don’t know?
Well then here’s another one: who owns the rain?
I think I heard you say, “nobody,” but that’s wrong, and you should feel bad, but
I sort of get where you’re coming from.
I mean, after all, rain seems like it would be one of the things that just isn’t owned,
like clouds or rainbows or tigers, but it turns out that, actually, somebody does own
the rain.
Or, more accurately, lots of people own the rain.
Or, even more accurately, lots of different people and also sometimes companies and at
other times governments and, actually, at other times nobody owns the rain.
Now, my first step in trying to figure out who owns rain was to watch the movie Rainman,
but it turned out that didn’t help.
So my next step was to do some research, country by country, and it turns out that, much like
rules about what color to make school buses or whether humans deserve rights, who owns
the rain depends a lot on where you are.
Now in most countries, rainwater is owned by whoever’s property it falls on—and,
in fact, many countries, like the UK, France, and Australia, actually offer some sort of
tax credit for homeowners who take it upon themselves to collect their rainwater and
put it to a useful purpose, which makes a lot of sense.
After all, reusing rainwater is environmentally friendly, and according to scientists the
world may soon have a water shortage—but what do scientists know… aside from how
magnets work… please tell me.
But not everywhere likes to do things in a way that makes sense.
Others like to do things in a way that makes dollars, and nowhere is that more true than
with Britain’s chalk-eating child, the US of A.
The US doesn’t just have one policy on who owns rains; they have several.
That’s because the United States is made up of all these things called States, and
while they’re united on some things, like being confused by Florida, they’re divided
on a lot of other things, including who owns rain, and so, rain ownership depends on the
state, but things start to get especially interesting as you start moving West, into
states that were built on top of deserts or are prone to water shortages because that
sounds like a great idea.
Colorado, in particular, has had a rather fraught history with who owns their rain.
In fact, until 2007, collecting rainwater was completely illegal for homeowners, even
if that rain was falling on their property.
The reason comes down to Colorado’s complex water rights, which is called “prior appropriation”
and is intended to deal mainly with streams and rivers, but which ended up having a big
effect on rain ownership.
It’s complicated, but basically, different people get priority over certain amounts of
water in given waterways depending on seniority.
To illustrate, let’s say there are three people, and let’s name them Sub, Scri, and
Be, and let’s say they each have some claim of a certain amount of water from this river.
Let’s say 20 years ago, Sub laid claim to 200 gallons, 10 years ago, Scri laid a claim
to 100 gallons, and 5 years ago, Be also laid claim to 100 gallons.
But now let’s say that because this is a very, very small and bad river, it’s only
pumping out 350 gallons this year.
Because Sub claimed the water earliest, he has “senior water rights,” and he is allowed
to get his 200 gallons before anyone else can get anything.
Then, the next-senior member, Scri, can get his 100 gallons, and finally, Be can come
in and try to get his 100 gallons, but it looks like he’ll only end up with 50.
The point is, in Colorado, basically every waterway has a whole queue of people who have
rights to some of that water, and who might not get those rights fulfilled if there isn’t
enough.
That’s why rain collection was illegal—it was the state’s position that by collecting
rainwater, homeowners were stopping rain from becoming groundwater that would flow into
rivers that people had rights to.
In other words, homeowners were stealing rain from the people who had rights over the rivers
that the rain would end up in.
In short, the rain collecting homeowners, were no-good rain-glers.
Get it, like cattle wrangler, but like with… rain.
The only problem was, that’s not actually how rain works.
A 2007 study showed that 97% of Colorado rainwater evaporates or goes to plants—not rivers.
So, in a bizarre feat of politicians listening to science, the study prompted Colorado to
change the law, giving rain rights to certain well owners, and allowing homeowners to collect
two barrels worth of rain at a time each.
Now, a bunch of other non-Colorado states also have different laws about rain: the main
distinction is between potable and non-potable water—potable water is water you can use
to drink, and non-potable water is water you can’t drink.
At least that’s what the government says, but personally, I drink my water with the
pulp just to show the feds that they don’t own me.
Now, many states, like Arkansas, only allow homeowners to collect rainwater for non-potable
purposes, though some, like Ohio and Texas, allow both, and a few states, including Texas,
Rhode Island, and Virginia offer tax credits for rainwater harvesting equipment, plus—actually,
you know what, I could keep going, but at this point, I’m just tired of pretending
reality is anything more than a simulation side-project in Elon Musk’s third house’s
garage.
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your job.
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