Illegal Rain Barrels

http://www.washingtonvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=31223

·Introduced by Sen. Paull Shin on January 13, 2005, to authorize the department of ecology to require any person using rain barrels and cisterns to collect rainwater to receive a permit from the department prior to collection of rainwater. Rainwater must be intended for beneficial use on the same property from where it was collected.
Referred to the Senate Water, Energy, and Environment Committee on January 13, 2005.

http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2005-06/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5113.htm

(1)Any person, ….., shall make an application to the department for a permit to make such appropriation, and shall not use or divert such waters until he has received a permit from the department as in this chapter provided.

(4) The department may permit by rule, under conditions appropriate to the water resources inventory area, the use of rain barrels and cisterns to collect rainwater intended to be put to a beneficial use on the same property where the rainwater is captured.

Thanks to Tom at Information Clearinghouse for this heads-up.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

Looks like you’re soon gonna need to beg Big Brother’s legal blessing before you go collecting your own rainwater in Washington State. Would this be an attempt to establish fees for rain, or is it an attempt to discourage self-sufficiency and independence? What will the penalty be, I wonder, for watering your neighbor’s petunias from your own catchment while sh’e gone on vacation?

(did you note the name Rockefeller is amongst those behind this?)