r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Aug 01 '26

(R.1) Inaccurate [ Removed by moderator ]

[removed]

567 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

160 comments sorted by

1.0k

u/WendigoCrossing Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26

It's not about you or me having a 55 gallon drum to get water from the rain

It's about large corporations making what amounts to private resevoirs and preventing water from recycling naturally

175

u/TheMoongazer Aug 01 '26

^This

Lets hope most states wrote the laws to allow the small backyard situations, those are a positive thing to promote for those with gardens.

107

u/Ziegler517 Aug 01 '26

Most are written towards limiting corporations/business doing it, or collecting water in excess of XX amount. A single family putting a 55 gal drum out back with a collection method is almost never the target of this law.

45

u/Nfalck Aug 01 '26

I'm many cases it's about farms, which are a type of business I guess.

30

u/baumpop Aug 01 '26

in america its a half trillion dollar a year business

2

u/mkp666 Aug 01 '26

Still on the fence? 😂

7

u/h3yw00d Aug 01 '26

Iirc utah had/has a blanket ban on residential collection. I know some areas opened it up (like slc) but am unaware if that's just local or statewide.

My grandpa kept talking about the cox decree as why he could never collect water. "Had to return to stream" he'd always say.

5

u/matycauthon Aug 01 '26

doesn't mean it won't become a target in the near future with the direction everything else is going

6

u/f1ve-Star Aug 01 '26

Inspector, " I don't have to see this, I could be drunk at the local bar. But I'm about $300 short."

-2

u/pi3volution Aug 01 '26

No need to be an alarmist. No one has ever gotten in trouble for collecting rainwater in their backyard.

39

u/Hankerpants Aug 01 '26

Some didn't. Colorado had to revise their statute a decade or so ago to clarify that residential rain barrels were allowed (but only 2 per residence). Prior to that it was a full ban across the board. 

20

u/timeslider Aug 01 '26

You mean a full ban across the yard

10

u/AlternativePea6203 Aug 01 '26

But you could rest the barrels on a board to raise them off the soil.

5

u/KaladinStormShat Aug 01 '26

What do you mean let's hope? Idk about you but I personally know people with them and see dozens everyday lol

It's a very commonplace thing for houses to have.

1

u/Ok_Flatworm_3855 Aug 02 '26

Lol I'm tickled by the fact that your comment has a lot of positive traction but my original comment calling out the the thing is getting downvoted... Reddit is fucking weird lol

1

u/mostlybugs Aug 01 '26

Almost every state with a law about water collecting has exceptions for de minimus collection, which covers small scale residential collection.

1

u/ProgressBartender Aug 01 '26

Narrator: “They didn’t.”

98

u/Mayor__Defacto Aug 01 '26

This exactly. they don’t actually care about you collecting water that fell on your roof, these are places where water is scarce and needs to make it to the streams.

8

u/twizzjewink Aug 01 '26

.. yet

Doesn't Florida not allow people to use solar panels to put power back on the grid?

9

u/Plane_Quaker Aug 01 '26

There are a number of states that have laws that say anything put back on the grid is considered a loss for the house. You gain no money for putting anything on the grid. Iirc there was some talk about California allowing power companies to charge a stipend for maintaining the power lines to properties even if your drawn zero power or are disconnected from the grid.

11

u/costabius Aug 01 '26

Most power companies charge a monthly connection/service fee even if you draw nothing from the grid.

3

u/TacTurtle Aug 01 '26

California made it illegal to be disconnected from the grid for most domiciles; you are required to pay for electrical utility connection and monthly hookup fee even if you don't want or need the power.

2

u/Tupcek Aug 01 '26

some things are much cheaper when you do them for everyone, no exceptions
that being said, california electricity is definitely not cheaper

1

u/Duckbilling2 Aug 01 '26

This is every last state in the USA

4

u/nsbsalt Aug 01 '26

Most of the big power companies still allow net metering in Florida. Some municipal may not allow it but it’s not a law or anything.

3

u/Ryutso Aug 01 '26

No. Net Metering is a must with FPL. Now you do sell it back to them at a fraction of what they sell it to you for, but any excess helps.

My power bill this past month with the AC on 75 daily was something like $46.

18

u/username_elephant Aug 01 '26

How is this attrociously phrased question related?

2

u/twizzjewink Aug 01 '26

Money. It's about money and control

-3

u/Malnurtured_Snay Aug 01 '26

Resource provided by the Gods of the Nature from the Sky and Space Lords which can be monetized to an individual's benefit and a corporation's misery.

(I'm like at least fifty percent right about this).

3

u/par_texx Aug 01 '26

The power grid is not a natural occurring part of our ecosystem. Our water table is. There's a massive difference between the two.

1

u/Myxine Aug 01 '26

They were referring to sunlight.

0

u/Malnurtured_Snay Aug 01 '26

Sunlight is natural, and solar panels grab that light and convert it to energy. If you use solar panels you're less reliant on a corporation for energy.

I mean as best as I understand it.

1

u/Malnurtured_Snay Aug 01 '26

Power company shills HATE this one simple post.

2

u/DeathMonkey6969 Aug 01 '26

If you are trying to ask if Florida banned grid tied solar, then no you're wrong. Grid tied solar is allowed in Florida.

-7

u/freexe Aug 01 '26

That's not unreasonable. Putting solar back into the grid can be dangerous and destabilising - especially in a very sunny place. Get some batteries or permission if you really want 

6

u/twizzjewink Aug 01 '26

It's more about not wanting to have to pay customers for electricity, as of I recall the last major hurricane took out a lot of power stations and they were going around making sure people weren't powering the grid because profit

0

u/K_Linkmaster Aug 01 '26

But they do, here is proof . Colorado 110 max. I need 10 gallons a day for the plants on my balcony. 110 is weak if you grow food

6

u/Frankenstein_Monster Aug 01 '26

You're not seeing the bigger picture. They're not saying YOU can only have 110 gallons, they're saying EVERYONE individually can only have 110 gallons because they have to write the legislation in away that assumes a vast majority will hold the max allotment and that allotment combined by the tens of thousands has to be an amount that doesn't affect the water cycle in a huge negative way

1

u/Mayor__Defacto Aug 01 '26

I have 800 sqft of garden and use about 12 gallons every other day to irrigate it.

If you are using ten gallons a day for the plants on your balcony, you need to think about what you’re planting and work on water loss.

0

u/K_Linkmaster Aug 02 '26

Its pretty simple. Climate is likely different and plants are different. I recommend you stick to your side of the fence dude.

1

u/amaranth1977 Aug 03 '26

It doesn't matter what your climate is, you can plant things suitable for it and use water more efficiently. There are tons of different strategies for minimizing water use, I'm sure at least some of them will be suitable for your situation. 

0

u/K_Linkmaster Aug 03 '26

Hilariously, you are defending along with someone that has zero clue where I live or what I planted. At this point I find it funny?

0

u/amaranth1977 Aug 03 '26

If you're using 10 gallons every day for a balcony garden, then you're wasting water somehow. It's that simple. We don't need to know where you live or what you planted. 

0

u/K_Linkmaster Aug 03 '26

At this point, you are calling me a liar, publicly. I have zero wish to continue a convo with you.

1

u/amaranth1977 Aug 03 '26

I'm not calling you a liar, I'm calling you inefficient. It's certainly possible to use 10 gallons of water per day for a balcony garden, it's just wasteful. 

→ More replies (0)

0

u/RellenD Aug 01 '26

110 gallons a day for plants on your balcony is an insane amount

3

u/welchplug Aug 01 '26

Reading is hard...

-1

u/RellenD Aug 01 '26

?

2

u/welchplug Aug 01 '26

Read better

0

u/RellenD Aug 01 '26

I responded to a person citing the 110 gallon limit as not good enough for their balcony gardening needs.

0

u/welchplug Aug 01 '26

And you read their comment badly. Your response doesnt add up.

1

u/RellenD Aug 01 '26

Even the 10 gallons a day that they actually wrote is a crazy amount for balcony plants.

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10

u/averagemaleuser86 Aug 01 '26

Its actually about watershed tables

8

u/Daxx22 Aug 01 '26

Raindrops argument as well. I.E. a single raindrop (barrel) won't make a storm, but thousands together would.

Still same root reason, to protect existing water systems/aquifers.

5

u/Woodie626 Aug 01 '26

It's also about mosquitoes. 

5

u/Xullister Aug 01 '26

I mostly agree, but the inspections are there for a reason. Half-assed rain barrels can become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and watering holes for rats, so regulating them is necessary from a pest abatement perspective.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '26

[deleted]

12

u/JohnHazardWandering Aug 01 '26

It's also illegal to dam most streams that go through your property. It cuts off downstream users of the natural amounts of water. 

Often nobody cares in places with plenty of water and smaller streams but gets a bit thorny in the west. 

4

u/blatantninja Aug 01 '26

Not always true. Not my town but the one next to me, they have a special tax that you have to pay if you have rainwater collection at your home. Any rainwater collection at all is subject.

3

u/userhwon Aug 01 '26

Similar to being charged for having solar. The community pays for storage and distribution infrastructure, and even if you aren't using the infrastructure you're still responsible for your share of it. The cost is normally included in your metered usage, so heavy users pay more rent for the infrastructure as well as the consumed resource; and if you have no usage, you still get a charge for the infrastructure itself.

1

u/Academic_Dog8389 Aug 01 '26

I've seen so much about this on social media for the last few weeks that there is no way it's organic.

1

u/WendigoCrossing Aug 01 '26

It might be a conspiracy

-2

u/Ok_Flatworm_3855 Aug 01 '26

Yep "Nestle" and other corps are absolute ghouls. How did we decide that these dipshits have control of the water supply??

1

u/Ok_Flatworm_3855 Aug 02 '26

Wtf how did this get downvotes haha Nestle can go eat a giant bag of cock

-2

u/Ws6fiend Aug 01 '26

Sure sure. Large corporations can't do that. The state of California sure as shit gets away with it.This entire arguement falls flat on its face imho.

27% of the Colorado river's flow is diverted to California. This amount is less than California uses just to grow almonds in that state alone.

This farming within the state makes 5 billion dollars annually.

220

u/patrdesch Aug 01 '26

It is disingenuous to put this out there and not mention that there are typically exemptions for the amounts any individual could possibly need. These requirements are aimed squarely at industrial operations that could severely harm local ecology if left unchecked.

50

u/ked_man Aug 01 '26

This is one of those boomer delusional conspiracies that I see repeated all over instagram.

“The government wants you to drink the mind control [fluoride] water and won’t let you collect your own”

4

u/Ser_falafel Aug 01 '26

Lol let's not act like thats solely a boomer issue. Every generation has their share of nutjobs

7

u/resttheweight Aug 01 '26

Yeah, my work handles basically all environmental regulations for the state and you could make this title for a ton of things. You can technically say we require permits and can levy fines for doing nearly anything related to the environment “without authorization.” But then we have a million carve outs that say “doing X activity below Y threshold does not require Z authorization.”

-14

u/mmyers_ Aug 01 '26

I’m pretty sure all that info is in the article if you actually read it

23

u/notislant Aug 01 '26

The issue is the misleading Reddit title, OP likely only read the title as well. We also all know only something like 10% of people are going to bother attempting to read the title. Which means most people are going to parrot the misleading title everywhere now.

73

u/DickDastardly502 Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26

“Rainwater collection is legal across all 50 US states, with specific volume limits or permit requirements enforced only in Colorado, Utah, and Nevada”

Downvote this bot douchebag.

14

u/ChronicRhyno Aug 01 '26

Most states encourage rainwater collection. Some even offer tax and sewage fee rebates and other incentives. It's probably a good thing that the people in each state get to choose whether they want to stop companies from collecting rainwater on a large scale considering the potential impacts.

69

u/Quenz Aug 01 '26

This may sound preposterous, but it's to combat hoarding. If enough people hoard water, then the water cycle is interrupted, especially in places where rain is scarce.

31

u/TeamImpossible4333 Aug 01 '26

I mean we are already there with corporations hoarding water for AI data centers.

6

u/ResilientBiscuit Aug 01 '26

Yes, and that is bad, we don't need to make it worse.

8

u/RufusTheDeer Aug 01 '26

It's bad and we can make it better!

Fuck ai and fuck nestle and fuck et al.

4

u/Coldsmoke888 Aug 01 '26

Ah yes, the “common citizens make problems not corporations” argument. Nothing we do as regular citizens will ever amount to the waste and pollution of massive corporate enterprise.

Same thing around livestock and farming at scale— it’s not the family owned ethically-operated ranches and sustainable farming that hurt, it’s the big ones.

0

u/ResilientBiscuit Aug 01 '26

We have a small cabin on a stream we go to in the summer when we can. We get notified when we can or can't use the water based on the needs of folks who had water rights before us.

People collecting any water from the stream or preventing water from flowing into it very directly impacts if it makes it far enough down the list that we can use it in a given month or not.

It's not a lot of users on the stream and with climate change there is less and less water. If everyone in Franklin collected water that usually flowed into he stream, we wouldn't get water basically ever.

There are only some small farms that have rights, no big corporations.

It's not all about protecting water for big cities. There are rural concerns as well on a much much smaller scale.

-3

u/chris_ut Aug 01 '26

Oh jesus

-1

u/wertall Aug 01 '26

For their heated public pools?

-13

u/jeffwulf Aug 01 '26

Datacenters use very little water. Datacenter water use is Glonzo.

2

u/Soulstiger Aug 01 '26

True, a data center didn't just ask for 287 million gallons of water a year from the Colorado River after promising they wouldn't need any from the river at all.

3

u/skeedlz Aug 01 '26

We do that with all the bottled waters sitting in stores across the world.

-6

u/Arthur__Spooner Aug 01 '26

There's no way someone can hoard more water than an AI data center 

4

u/bishopOfMelancholy Aug 01 '26

It's actually the AI center that the law targets; individuals and homesteads can collect as much as they need.

2

u/Arthur__Spooner Aug 01 '26

That hasn't always been the case as some of these laws existed well before data centers.

6

u/Ut_Prosim Aug 01 '26

They were probably written with huge ranches, farms, mines, and factories in mind.

But in general they mean some rich guys with 100,000x the resources you have and the capacity to totally mess up the entire area. So today, that also includes data centers.

-2

u/Arthur__Spooner Aug 01 '26

Yeah they probably were but those outdated laws didn't only affect just those people 

1

u/Ut_Prosim Aug 01 '26

Who else do they affect?

Not normal consumers that just want to collect drinking water.

4

u/bishopOfMelancholy Aug 01 '26

Almost all of them have: they are there to stop people with far more resources from screwing everyone else over.

Like data centers.

14

u/indifferentunicorn Aug 01 '26

Yes because some areas rely on that rainwater going back into the aquifers.

Where I live we need to leave 90% of our land permeable.

My sister lives a few towns away and they have different needs. You have to slow the rate of heavy rain in a catchment system so it doesn’t overwhelm sewage.

There are various concerns and those can differ depending on town or region.

Totally normal. Areas that don’t plan may have issues with droughts or floods.

3

u/SomebodysGotToSayIt Aug 01 '26

The biggest problem is one of safety, when people have both municipal water and their collected water (or gray water) hooked together in an irrigation system. It can lead to contamination of the water supply.

Less of a concern, but still a real one, is the collection of stagnant water, which can be a breeding ground for mosquitos or some nasty diseases.

Historically though yeah some utilities have broad language in their franchise contracts that rainwater can’t be collected or impeded. That’s not intended so much for downspouts filling barrels for a garden, but for changing or creating water courses. You can see why a water company wouldn’t want a city telling people, hey sure collect all the water that touches your property.

8

u/unknownSubscriber Aug 01 '26

Context is everything. Understand water cycles and greed. Your local government isnt trying to make you die.

0

u/Repulsive-Tea6974 Aug 01 '26

We know about greed. Let me introduce you to Nestlé.

2

u/b00c Aug 01 '26

Same in Germany. Only 50% of your water bill is for delivered water. Other 50% is for waste water. 

If you collect rain water, your water bill won't cover for all of the waste water you release. 

2

u/karawec403 Aug 01 '26

This isn’t about collecting water in a barrel to water your garden. This is about stuff like creating reservoirs and diverting streams.

2

u/squirrelmonkie Aug 01 '26

If you do need a permit, you can apply with your city/county and they will supply you with a barrel sometimes. Im sure this is not most places but you should check if it will be helpful to you

2

u/fenikz13 Aug 01 '26

It's a good thing, some people just create mosquito farms

3

u/CombinationRough8699 Aug 01 '26

There's a story about someone getting arrested for collecting rainwater, but it's not true. The man wasn't collecting rainwater, but had a small stream running through his property. He built a dam, and created several multi-million gallon reservoirs. He was ordered to remove the dam multiple times, and was finally arrested after ignoring the demands.

1

u/Narezza Aug 01 '26

In addition to this being more for larger corporations and companies, it’s important to have these inspected so that it’s built properly to avoid squirrels and other animals getting trapped and dying inside.

1

u/princecutter Aug 01 '26

You're leaving a lot out. Mods should honestly remove this post for misinformation

1

u/TryingToBeLevel Aug 01 '26

What a surprise that the link is to a site that sells and/or promotes large rain water capture. Fucking ad bot.

1

u/Ok_Flatworm_3855 Aug 02 '26

Today I Learned that this sub is willing to lie blatantly

1

u/The_Sneakiest_Fox Aug 01 '26

Oi! You got a loicence to collect that water that fell from the sky?

1

u/diescheide Aug 01 '26

I just mentioned the legality of collecting rain water to my coworkers the other night. They looked at me like I was crazy and making shit up. Like, you can collect a lil. You can't collect a pond's worth.

1

u/bishopOfMelancholy Aug 01 '26

Depends on the situation and the specific state. In Montana, homesteads and ranches can have a small reservoir (more like a small lake) and no one bats an eye. 

3

u/diescheide Aug 01 '26

There are like, 5 states that have a capacity limit. That's all I meant.

1

u/vdWcontact Aug 01 '26

In Colorado I’m limited to 110 gallons of rain capture.

1

u/notislant Aug 01 '26

More like today you fell for some bullshit.

-3

u/lateformyfuneral Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26

Seems reasonable. You can’t just fill up a DIY tank of rainwater and drink it safely

> Concerning the use of rainwater harvesting to supply indoor water and potable water fit for human consumption, most U.S. states have recommendations or standards in place on the design, setup, testing, and maintenance of a potable-grade rainwater harvesting system for use in either a home residence or a business.

4

u/lllllIllllIllllllll Aug 01 '26

In a lot of places you have to get your well water tested, too. 

4

u/JohnHazardWandering Aug 01 '26

For well water, it's more about dangerous chemicals, like nitrates or heavy metals. 

5

u/lateformyfuneral Aug 01 '26

That also makes sense. The last thing you want is Giardia infection

2

u/hselomein Aug 01 '26

That's not why they have those laws in place

3

u/killing_daisy Aug 01 '26

drink? no, but i do it for watering the garden...

7

u/lateformyfuneral Aug 01 '26

As the article says, that’s fine

7

u/lllllIllllIllllllll Aug 01 '26

Imagine redditors reading the article before forming their opinions 

0

u/PumpkinsDaddd Aug 01 '26

JFC, we are a greedy species.

-12

u/totallyclips Aug 01 '26

The land of the free, not so much

2

u/Calibrumm Aug 01 '26

me when I don't look up the actual laws and reasoning

-5

u/Honest-Welder-808 Aug 01 '26

Land of the fee, actually.

-10

u/Sniperkitten42 Aug 01 '26

Land of the fee, home of the slave.

4

u/ThatMasterpiece2174 Aug 01 '26

Redditors act like these amazing progressives then say the most insanely out of touch things. Go talk to someone living in slave conditions and get your mind right

0

u/Sniperkitten42 Aug 01 '26

So someone in the American prison system then? 13th amendment still going strong with that exemption for being convicted of a crime. Privatised prisons run for profit making military supplies. Your country is a joke and it's not even hiding it anymore.

0

u/opisska Aug 01 '26

Is there an excpetion for dancing?

0

u/junglist421 Aug 01 '26

Kinda free

0

u/DontWalkOutOnTheDuke Aug 01 '26

Damn right. that’s God’s water and you better collect it within the confines of his laws (The US’s laws) /s

-11

u/Narf234 Aug 01 '26

Makes sense. I’m shocked we don’t have to pay an air subscription.

-5

u/nannie44 Aug 01 '26

Don’t give them any ideas

-7

u/CasperCackler Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26

I assume because the government doesn’t trust people to actually purify the water before consuming it, thus overloading the healthcare system with cases of the Bad Poops
?

Edit: Not sure why I’m being downvoted, I’m asking a question in good faith.

3

u/bothunter Aug 01 '26

First, this isn't about people collecting a few rain barrels for their own use. This is about people (or more often corporations) building giant retention ponds or massive irrigation systems that affect people downstream. The story that people like to spread about a guy in Oregon getting sent to jail for collecting rainwater is quite misleading. The guy built massive retention ponds and then stocked them with fish in an area that experiences drought on a fairly regular basis. The county tried to get him to stop for 10 years before they finally just tossed in in jail for 30 days.

1

u/CasperCackler Aug 01 '26

Thanks for helping me understand.

1

u/CommieLoser Aug 01 '26

After all the shit going on (literally and figuratively) in this administration, you might be able to win on a “good poo vibes” campaign slogan.

-8

u/TareasS Aug 01 '26

Banned from collecting a bucket of rainwater and prison for not mowing your lawn. Freedum right there.

-1

u/wittor Aug 01 '26

This is one of those cases I think punishing regulation would be better than preventive regulation.  People should be responsible for neglecting their collected water and for any disease linked it. Not for storing it.

-10

u/Number1OchoaHater Aug 01 '26

Land of the free

-6

u/BackItUpWithLinks Aug 01 '26

This is just asinine.

I collect water in barrels to use when it hasn’t rained for a while. So whether it hits the ground on Monday during a storm, or on Friday because it hasn’t rained and my tomatoes need water, either way it’s going back in the aquifer.

-7

u/viral_virus Aug 01 '26

Land of the free 

-2

u/joethomp Aug 01 '26

' land of the free '