Brief by Central Staff
Drought – September 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
While it may sound sensible to get the most from every drop of water during this drought, it may be illegal to catch rain from your roof or to pour gray water on your garden.
Custer County residents got a reminder of this at a public forum on July 24, sponsored by the towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff, both served by the Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District.
Colorado’s water laws are so complex that they have enriched generations of attorneys. But in essence, water in Colorado is a public resource which can be used only in certain quantities and in certain ways, as specified in a “water right.”
Thus, when you turn on the faucet in your house, that water is for domestic use, and the law says you can use it only once before it goes back into the system. In other words, you have a right to use the water for one specified purpose, not to keep using the same water until it’s all consumed.
So it’s illegal to dump that pan of dishwater on the garden, although, to the best of our knowledge, the water police haven’t yet busted anybody for that.
It could also be a health issue, according to Gary Hall, Custer County extension agent, since recent studies have shown that gray water carries viruses that can concentrate in plants.
As for that rain barrel under the drain spout, it’s storing water that probably belongs to some downstream user with senior water rights.
That’s not a cut-and-dried issue, though. Article 16, Section 5, of our state constitution provides that “The water of every natural stream … is hereby declared to be the property of the public…. ” and thus open to appropriation.
But is the water in your rainspout a “natural stream” when it hasn’t yet reached a natural stream? And is your gutter an unnatural device used to collect someone else’s water?
And if it’s illegal to capture it in a barrel and pour the water on the beans in your garden, is that really any different than letting the beans use water that falls from the sky? Are you supposed to pave your yard so the runoff can go to downstream users with older water rights?
Of such questions are lawsuits made, and as we observed, generations of water attorneys have earned good livings in Colorado.