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Rain-barrel law helps educate about water conservation in the West

Conservationists look toward the next step in water law

It’s not rocket-science, and it’s not really all that controversial. But it was illegal in Colorado until last month, and it could have landed violators a $500 fine.

The crime: catching rain in a barrel.

In May, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a bill that passed both chambers of the Colorado Legislature allowing a maximum of two rain barrels with a combined capacity of 110 gallons at each household.

And although the measure doesn’t take effect until Aug. 10, many rainwater catchers, who’ve been committing the largely unpunished practice for years, are finally coming out of the woodwork.

Durango resident Jamie Halls said nothing was going to stop her father, Robert Nickell, from diverting rainwater from the roof of his home out on County Road 223, which he moved into in 1990.

“My dad was born during the Depression, and he couldn’t stand to see anything go to waste, even if it was just water,” Halls said. “So he devised a way to catch it and use it.”

Halls said in the early 1990s, water was so abundant in the area that her family used to pump 50 gallons an hour from their well, which they used to irrigate a large garden and lawn.

But toward the end of the century, Halls said, “the water went south, and we were lucky to get a gallon an hour.” So, the family started to conserve water; they replanted drought-friendly bushes and flowers and embraced the low irrigation gardening technique known as xeriscaping.

Part of the conservation equation for Hall’s family was using water caught from rainstorms. Proponents of the bill say an underlying positive outcome from passing the rain barrel legislation is a heightened awareness of the importance of water in the arid West.

Theresa Conley, with Conservation Colorado, said rain barrels are an important tool for residents in the state to become more informed about water use and water limitations in the West.

“Even if it’s a small amount of water, we have to be smarter in using less water and aware of the water we are using,” Conley said.

Another takeaway from near unanimous support of the measure, Conley said, was that it showed members from both political parties, when backed up by public support, can reach a consensus, even when it comes to Colorado’s Byzantine water laws.

“It shows our water laws are strict, but they can be flexible,” she said.

As officials seek ways to close a 560,000-acre feet water supply and demand gap by 2050, little victories such as the rain barrel legislation will go a long way, said James Eklund, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

“It was tried a couple times and failed, and it ultimately succeeded this time because as often is the case, Democrats came together with Republicans, and both put concerns on the table and worked through those concerns,” he said.

“The best way to preserve water law as we know it is to make sure it is responsive and accountable to people in the state. In terms of water, rain barrels do not capture a lot of water.

“But in terms of the ability to compromise and get to a better place where everybody benefits, it’s a great example.”

More than 10 years in the making, the Colorado Water Plan was released in November, outlining more of a vision rather than a strict plan of actions for a state faced with a burgeoning population and an over-appropriated water supply. Over the next few years, members from both parties will have to decide what projects are in the best interest of the state.

“The water scarcity challenges in our state are severe,” Eklund said.

Halls’s father died in 2013, but she still uses the 100-gallon trough to water the plants. Throughout the year, Halls said she probably uses about 300 gallons of water.

A recent study from Colorado State University confirmed what many had suspected for years: Rainwater harvesting would not take water away from agricultural uses and other water-rights holders.

Halls said for that reason, she’s unabashed about talking about her history of “crime.”

“At least it’s not in the blotter, right?”

jromeo@durangoherald.com



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