4 ms·

I just heard from someone that rainwater collection is banned in parts of Colorado. Can someone with actual knowledge comment?

by kkylin 9y ago

sliverstorm 9y ago
It used to be illegal to do anything except direct the rainwater, e.g. direct a downspout into your flower garden. You are now allowed 2 55-gallon rain barrels. The bummer is, even though you can now have rain barrels, it rains infrequently enough in Colorado that it's not terribly economical to buy 55-gallon rain barrels. At $2.77 per 1,000 gallons from the utility, with infrequent rainfall it's pretty hard to ever recoup $176 for a 110 gallon system from BlueBarrelSystems. You're looking at 580 rains required to break even- while Denver, for example, sees only 40 days with "any measurable rainfall" a year.
- fludlight 9y ago
  That might be the cost of the water today, but history suggests that the price of water can fluctuate wildly. This is doubly true of the marginal cost beyond a certain baseline, which, again, fluctuates. Even without a drought or increase in regional population, you are vulnerable to (utility price, not CPI) inflation after ~5 years. The math for computing a break even period thus becomes squishy. There are many people that place great value on being partially-off-the-grid, on (conspicuous) conservation, and enjoy DIY projects.
  - sliverstorm 9y ago
    All good points, and certainly if you went entirely off-grid, avoiding a water tap fee is big savings. Though, 110 gallons isn't going to get you very far if you're totally off-grid.
j_s 9y ago
http://water.state.co.us/SurfaceWater/RainwaterCollection/Pages/default.aspx http://water.state.co.us/SurfaceWater/RainwaterCollection/Pa... > 110 gallons of precipitation [...] can be collected and stored With additional restrictions.
neaden 9y ago
It's basically because someone else might be using that water. So in the same way that if a creek is on your property in most states you probably aren't allowed to just siphon it all off to water your corn.

I just heard from someone that rainwater collection is banned in parts of Colorado. Can someone with actual knowledge comment?

by kkylin 9y ago

I just heard from someone that rainwater collection is banned in parts of Colorado. Can someone with actual knowledge comment?

sliverstorm 9y ago

It used to be illegal to do anything except direct the rainwater, e.g. direct a downspout into your flower garden. You are now allowed 2 55-gallon rain barrels. The bummer is, even though you can now have rain barrels, it rains infrequently enough in Colorado that it's not terribly economical to buy 55-gallon rain barrels. At $2.77 per 1,000 gallons from the utility, with infrequent rainfall it's pretty hard to ever recoup $176 for a 110 gallon system from BlueBarrelSystems. You're looking at 580 rains required to break even- while Denver, for example, sees only 40 days with "any measurable rainfall" a year.

fludlight 9y ago
That might be the cost of the water today, but history suggests that the price of water can fluctuate wildly. This is doubly true of the marginal cost beyond a certain baseline, which, again, fluctuates. Even without a drought or increase in regional population, you are vulnerable to (utility price, not CPI) inflation after ~5 years. The math for computing a break even period thus becomes squishy. There are many people that place great value on being partially-off-the-grid, on (conspicuous) conservation, and enjoy DIY projects.
- sliverstorm 9y ago
  All good points, and certainly if you went entirely off-grid, avoiding a water tap fee is big savings. Though, 110 gallons isn't going to get you very far if you're totally off-grid.

j_s 9y ago

http://water.state.co.us/SurfaceWater/RainwaterCollection/Pages/default.aspx http://water.state.co.us/SurfaceWater/RainwaterCollection/Pa... > 110 gallons of precipitation [...] can be collected and stored With additional restrictions.

neaden 9y ago

It's basically because someone else might be using that water. So in the same way that if a creek is on your property in most states you probably aren't allowed to just siphon it all off to water your corn.