permaculture

["Frances and David" <fdnokes@hotmail.com>]

Excellent reply, Tony!
I recall the discussion but wasn't sure how to find it.
Thanks for reiterating and embellishing these points.
The thing that struck me about this was that it is an obvious need of people 
to protect their communal water supply.
There would be a lot of concern if that was challenged!  So, this was 
barking up the wrong tree as if just for the sake of barking.
Definitely a candidate for the nomer 'fear mongering'.
Can I quote you? With or without credit?
Thanks again.
Be well.
Frances

-----Original Message----- 
From: Toby Hemenway
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2012 11:59 AM
To: permaculture
Subject: Re: [permaculture] this business of rain water



On Oct 26, 2012, at 9:58 PM, Frances and David wrote:

> http://worldtruth.tv/oregon-claims-state-ownership-over-all-rainwater/
> it’s coming up again
> and I’m wondering
> is this really as scary as it is made to look?

Not to worry. Do some Googling about this  if you want to get the facts. The 
guy was illegally and unwisely diverting and damming streams, not catching 
rain. A couple of paranoid "government is always evil" bloggers completely 
distorted what had happened. Most of what is in this article is untrue: for 
example, if you pave an area over a certain small size (varies by county), 
you must mitigate the runoff, get a permit, and deal properly with its 
impact on stream flow, contrary to what the article says. And the quoted 
state official does not say they own the rain or own the water, he says they 
regulate how water is handled by landowners--which means once it hits the 
ground and enters the surface and groundwater cycles. Big difference.

Oregon allows rainwater harvesting without a permit in most circumstances. 
Once rain lands on the ground it is considered a common, regulated 
resource--like forests on public land--and cannot be held in quantity 
without a permit (garden ponds excepted), though it can be drained or sunk 
with swales without a permit in many cases. Overland flow (not rain!) cannot 
diverted from downstream--and from other users, and fish, and 
wetlands--without having your system okayed, which makes sense to me. Too 
many badly designed ponds have done too much damage to watercourses and 
wildlife, hence they tightened the permit process a while back.

Toby
http://patternliteracy.com

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