Man Imprisoned for Collecting Rainwater on his Own Land

[Firemanbuck]

According to this: HARRINGTON v. WATER RESOURCES DEPARTMENT - FindLaw the Oregon watershed in which Harrington resides was closed to all water appropriation in 1925 after the State ruled that the waters are all appropriated for use by the City of Medford. Any diversion of water in that basin, therefore, other than by the City of Medford would be illegal.

This guy apparently had dug two ponds and was enjoying them, then went for a permit to dig another one. After first approving the permits, the State then reversed their decision and said no to the third and instructed him to open the headgates on the other two. On google earth, there are three very large ponds visible, so he was obviously thumbing his nose at the State.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Starting 15 years or so ago, Charlotte, NC started taxing the rain water that fell on your roof. The tax also was based on the square footage your roof, bigger the roof, the more you had to pay. True story, they called it a run off tax to pay for more sewer work.

 

[Firemanbuck]

The guy built 3 big dams 13 years ago and has had numerous opportunities to comply without going to jail, but that's the step he has chosen to take. I don't think it will get him anywhere, if it was OK to stop water that crossed your land everybody with a headwaters would have a gold mine selling water to the downstreamers. No surprise. Also who is monitoring the safety of those dams? One is 20 feet high.[/I]

A certified engineer is required to prepare the plans and specifications for dams with height of 10 feet or more and impounding capacity of 3,000,000 gallons or more, per Rule 690-20-035 OAR (effective 10.03.86). Rule 690-20-035 requires that all maps, plans, and specifications for the construction, enlargement, repair, or alteration of all dams which are, or will be, 10 feet or more in height and will impound 3,000,000 gallons or water or more, must be prepared by a professional engineer licensed to practice in the State of Oregon (effective 10/28/94).

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Harrington didn't have any engineered plans or specifications for his dam construction either.

 

[Firemanbuck]

Starting 15 years or so ago, Charlotte, NC started taxing the rain water that fell on your roof. The tax also was based on the square footage your roof, bigger the roof, the more you had to pay. True story, they called it a run off tax to pay for more sewer work.

I live out in the unincorporated part of my county as I'm sure most of us on this forum do. My tax bill includes a stormwater fee to pay for maintenance of roadside ditches and culverts. I don't see a problem with that. It makes sense that a municipality like Charlotte would levy a tax based on the amount of runoff you produce to pay for improvements and upgrades to the stormwater conveyance system.

 

[MossRoad]

REALLY !!!!!!:confused2:


Tyranny: Man Imprisoned for Collecting Rainwater on his Own Land

It wasn't like he was filling a rain barrel to wash his hair or water a garden. He had large dams and ponds. There's lots of thing that you can't do on your own land because it adversely affects others.

 

[dave1949]

I live out in the unincorporated part of my county as I'm sure most of us on this forum do. My tax bill includes a stormwater fee to pay for maintenance of roadside ditches and culverts. I don't see a problem with that. It makes sense that a municipality like Charlotte would levy a tax based on the amount of runoff you produce to pay for improvements and upgrades to the stormwater conveyance system.

That is similar to the area where I grew up. Wood County Ohio is in the middle of what was the Black Swamp, 1500 sq miles of malaria infested wet ground. We were taxed by the township for ditch cleaning and maintenance. Without the field tiles and ditches along each road, it would revert to swamp eventually.

You can get in trouble there for diverting surface water onto another person's land. :laughing: It seems reasonable that too little or too much water requires cooperative management.

Great Black Swamp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[TomSeller]

Yeah this guy in Oregon was over the top. It has been discussed here a few times if I recall correctly. Damming up water people downstream need is not "collecting rainwater on your land" in my book.

 

[oosik]

Ha, ha - I wish it would rain enough here to make a rain barrel worth while. I'm in an area considered semi-arid. When I had my mile long driveway constructed they had to put a culvert under the driveway in the valley - that was 33 years ago. To this day, there has never been a drop of running water in the valley nor in the culvert under my driveway. When it rains here - its like dribbling water on a dry sponge.