Rainwater Harvesting: Conservation or Criminal?

Rainwater harvesting is increasingly viewed as an important conservation measure and is rapidly increasing in use.  However, the practice has encountered legal barriers in some states as allegedly infringing upon private groundwater rights.  The evolution of rights in diffused surface water and the interaction of those rights with groundwater rights will be explored.  In addition, the paper traces the evolution of diffused surface water practices and its parallels with the law governing that water.  Management of diffused surface water has evolved from finding ways to remove the water from the site as quickly as possible to using techniques such as Low Impact Development to encourage infiltration and detention.  The law has followed a similar evolution. Rainwater harvesting represents a third wave in the evolution of diffused surface water management- reuse.  Now that groundwater rights have come into direct conflict with surface water rights, the authors analyze whether groundwater rights, diffused surface water rights, or both, must change to accommodate rainwater harvesting. This paper explores the legal and economic issues surrounding rainwater harvesting and examines the impact on groundwater rights in the United States.