Comments by "ke6gwf - Ben Blackburn" (@ke6gwf) on "Monsoon rain storms hit the Las Vegas valley" video.

@Sakotyr it's not illegal to collect rainwater, but someone else likely owns the Rights to the water, so it's not yours to collect. Water rights are just like mineral rights or oil rights, and are often sold separately from the property itself, and so unless you also own the water rights, the water isn't yours. It's the same as drilling for oil or mining gold if someone else has those Rights. In the early days out west, it was the ranchers and farmers that literary fought over water rights, until finally they divided everything up. So if I had a little cabin with a big spring behind it, and the rancher down the hill needed water for his herd, I might say that I needed whatever water would flow through a 2 inch pipe, and I would sell the rest of the water to him. If that was Deeded back in the 1800s, it would still be legal today. In discussions of water rights you will often hear mention of Elder Rights. Those are the original water rights before water agencies were formed, and it's how a lot of farmers get their water, especially out in the desert. But the farmers and ranchers were very water greedy, and so they started going around and buying up the Surface Water Rights from all the landowners in a valley or watershed, thus giving them exclusive rights to all the water in the streams. Then as towns began forming, the towns would create water agencies who would buy up more water rights, from landowners, and also from ranchers and farmers. Come to modern days, and very few parcels have the deed to the surface water, not because anyone has taken anything or because the government has taken control, but rather because some previous owner sold off the water rights for a pretty penny. So while it may not seem fair to not be able to do whatever you want with the surface water on your own property, take it up with the person who sold that right to the highest bidder. It's possible to repurchase those rights, but water is valuable and so few do become of how much it costs. But just remember that owning property consists of many layers, and they can be sold separately and then you are bound by what the deed says when you buy the property.. And if you think of it from the perspective of someone who has spent a lot of money to buy the water rights, if you are taking rainwater and preventing it from flowing down into their reservoir to supply the city with water, it's no different from their perspective as if you pumped it out of their lake. It is still taking water that they own and rely on. And yes, maybe owning water is wrong, but that's how cities get a reliable water supply, by owning the rights to enough watershed to supply their needs, and if everyone could take whatever fell on their property, the towns would no longer get any water. It would be nice if they allowed a 55 gallon drum full, but again, they paid for the rights for that water too.
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@rabidsamfan you are welcome to buy back the water rights to your land, but if a previous owner sold the water rights to some farmer it city, the water now belongs to them. It's not about laws, it's about who owns the Surface Water rights on your land, and for most people, the water rights were sold long ago to cities or ranchers who needed the water.
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@rabidsamfan they didn't finagle anything, they simply bought up the Surface Water Rights to the land long ago, and that means they own the rights to any water that falls or flows on the surface. If you don't like that, buy a piece of land that has the water rights still attached, and you can do whatever you want with it.
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@ipman4715 the water rights for property can be sold separately from the land itself, and in the west most property owners sold their Surface Water rights long ago, or when big ranchers sold out land to build towns on, they kept the water rights. That means that though you may own the land, someone else owns the rights to the Surface Water. It's not a matter of government control over private property, it's that some previous owner sold the water to the water agency, and so they are simply informing the land owner that the water was sold to the city already, and so it's literally not his anymore.
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@rabidsamfan I agree with you on several points, but let's be honest, water rights is the least of the bad things still being done to the indigineous peoples, and if the root of them being treated like children who have to be controlled was changed, the water rights issues would be worked out as well, since the treaties would have included the right to use the water on their land. It is true that some water rights have been taken by without consent or compensation, but that's in the minority. Generally the land was bought up, and then resold without the water rights, or they were purchased directly. It may be true that allowing water and mineral rights to be handled separate from the property may not be "fair", but modern society would not be able to function otherwise, because that's what farmers rely on to feed the world, and what cities rely on to supply water reliably. So if you are unable to collect rainwater from your roof, but you can turn a faucet and get water from the very water agency that is telling you not to collect rainwater, you have nothing to complain about, unless you would rather rely completely on the rainwater and not have the safe and reliable water at your tap. It's also not "fair" that the government can claim imminent domain to private property to build freeways and roads, but without that ability society could not exist. And again, it's your choice whether to buy a piece of land with water rights or not, so if you build your house on land that does not have the water rights anymore, that's totally on you, and you can't blame it on anyone else. Just like if you bought land with a conservation easement on it, and then complained that you couldn't build on it. It's all in the Deed, and different types of Deeds have different uses available for the land. It's a lot like zoning in a city. Different types allow you to do different things with the land, and so you buy what you need for what you want to do with it.
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