An Oregon resident with 3 massive man-made ponds on his property is sentenced to 30 days in jail after being found guilty (again) of collecting rainwater without a permit.

I’ve taken a look at some mighty impressive rainwater collection systems in the past, but it appears that Gary Harrington, 64, takes the proverbial cake when it comes to hoarder-esque rainwater collection activities: over the years, the Oregon resident has built three massive reservoirs — in actuality, they’re more like proper man-made ponds — on his 170-acre property on Crowfoot Road in rural Eagle Point that hold roughly 13 million gallons of rainwater and snow runoff. That’s enough agua to fill about 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Of course, it boggles the mind as to what a single man needs that much rainwater for. One would assume that Harrington is reusing it both for irrigation purposes and for non-potable indoor use as well, which, unlike in many states, is permitted in Oregon. But 13 million gallons? Apparently Harrington, who has stocked at least one of the reservoirs with large-mouth bass and built docks around it, believes that his watery stash is a much-needed necessity when wildfires pop up in the area. “The fish and the docks are icing on the cake," Harrington tells the Medford Mail Tribune. "It's totally committed to fire suppression."
The bigger story here is that rainwater collection is indeed kosher in Oregon, provided that you’re capturing it from an artificial, impervious surface such as a rooftop with the assistance of rainwater barrels. But an extensive reservoir set-up complete with 10- and 20-foot-tall dams is verboten without the proper, state-issued water-right permits — after all, Oregon law dictates that water is a publicly owned resource — and Harrington did not possess said permits.

What a weird thing to exist. Humans are interesting.

To be fair they are citing that he is diverting the water from a local river not just rainwater. Whether that's true or not (Google maps shows no rivers within maybe 1/4 mile?) I'd be interested to hear what the actual case was made by the state.

I can't find enough information from both sides. While irrelevant to anything beyond Gary Harrington's situation it is an interesting article.

It's obnoxious though when people use unique situations like this to align it with their political stances.

I thought it was interesting that any government of the people, for the people, would have a law regulating the use/keeping of rainwater.

This seems as stupid to me as the soybean farmer who purchased seeds to plant soy beans and after harvest kept some of the seed for planting the next season rather than having to purchase new seed.

Monsanto Corp is suing him for using a product that they invented and hold the patent for. It was one of the many types of food now a days that has been altered/gene spliced making it impervious to some crop disease.

So you can purchase your seed from their approved sales agent, plant, harvest, sell all you want, do what you want with the money. But if you want to keep seed from this crop to grow a new crop that's against the law cause they hold the patent?

What is wrong with this picture.

I have raised dahlias for many years and dahlia growers do that same thing all the time. Use last years tubers to grow this years crop. Many of my dahlias I purchased from an approved agent of the original grower.

I never knew patents worked like that. Actually I hope they don't work like that.

Please don't ask me for a link as I read it in our local Spokesman Review this morning.

The Supreme Court appeared likely Tuesday to side with Monsanto Co. in its claim that an Indiana farmer violated the company's patents on soybean seeds that are resistant to its weed-killer.

None of the justices in arguments at the high court seemed ready to endorse farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman's argument that cheap soybeans he bought from a grain elevator are not covered by the Monsanto patents, even though most of them also were genetically modified to resist the company's Roundup herbicide.

Chief Justice John Roberts wondered "why in the world would anybody" invest time and money on seeds if it was so easy to evade patent protection.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/1 ... 17971.html

Oregon is a Communist State! No question about it!

I moved away from my hometown on a Rez nearly 23 years ago.. and living in the Bay area for undergrad work and then over hear for over 2 decades clearly changed a lot of my thinking. But every once in a while something pops up to illustrate to me the difference in culture that still exists between me and the people where I grew up and most of the rest of the world at large. This thread is one of those.

To me its self evident that no one owns the rain..... I wouldnt even have thought to make a law about it. But apparently that just shows how commie I am...

I moved away from my hometown on a Rez nearly 23 years ago.. and living in the Bay area for undergrad work and then over hear for over 2 decades clearly changed a lot of my thinking. But every once in a while something pops up to illustrate to me the difference in culture that still exists between me and the people where I grew up and most of the rest of the world at large. This thread is one of those.

To me its self evident that no one owns the rain..... I wouldnt even have thought to make a law about it. But apparently that just shows how commie I am...

I moved away from my hometown on a Rez nearly 23 years ago.. and living in the Bay area for undergrad work and then over hear for over 2 decades clearly changed a lot of my thinking. But every once in a while something pops up to illustrate to me the difference in culture that still exists between me and the people where I grew up and most of the rest of the world at large. This thread is one of those.

To me its self evident that no one owns the rain..... I wouldnt even have thought to make a law about it. But apparently that just shows how commie I am...

If everyone just starts hoarding all the water they can it leads to bad times. The rain cycle is crucial for ecosystem health. Thats not PC talk, thats common sense. you dont want to fuck with the rain cycle.

Hoover Damn.

Hoover Damn? Is that a typo or are you cursing random dead presidents?

Hoover Dam is not what Im talking about. I didnt say something like "all rivers should be free!!". Im talking about the rain cycle, specifically , at the moment. Not the entire hydrocycle. Rain water run off is crucial. You want rain water to be seeping into soils, running down hill, creeping into reservoirs, moistening soils, etc. Without that youre going to run into all kinds of problems.

Anyway..I wasnt trying to set up a commie hippie protest..I was just really struck at how different my first reaction was to nearly every one elses....