It was brought up in another thread and I feel the subject deserves its own thread.

I have lived in the country my entire life. Without a well, country life is not feasible. I have lived in two western states and their laws governing water are very similar. A residential well can legally withdraw 2 acre feet per year for domestic use. That equates to about 1800 gallons per day. 2 acres of my property can be lawn, landscaped, what have you. As long as I'm not exceeding the allowance of a domestic well.

If I wanted to irrigate 5 acres of land for whatever reason, I would need to purchase water rights, that may or may not be granted.

Now people may wonder, how do they know how much water I use without a meter. Oh did I just say the m word.
Yes the government wants to put meters on domestic wells, have wanted to for longer than I've been alive.

The way they monitor now is by aircraft with sensors that can see how saturated the ground is on a property. It only catches gross violations.

Now farther south in my state they have a significant problem with residential growth and a lack of ground water to support the influx of growth. There is not even 10% of the water available that is allowed to be pumped. Quite the debocle. It's just a matter of time before all residential wells will have meters, and we will be paying for every gallon of water pumped out of the ground.

We can pump all we want from our domestic wells. Irrigation rights are in 3 categories. Vested meaning you own the water below you until China. Senior right are less secure but still give the owner a lot of power and then Junior rights. Junior are the most vulnerable to the State taking them or drastically reducing them if things got bad. I probably pump around 4500 acre feet a year on crops. Not sure what we use at the house. Water is going to be a big deal at some point. Especially in western Kansas.

In some states you cannot catch rainwater that falls on your roof, or build a pond to catch runoff. Colorado for sure and I believe Oregon and California.
Well be taxed for sunshine before they're done.

In those states don't own property you just own the right to pay the taxes on it

And you are taxed for the water storage if you have a pond on your property.

That's about the gist of it.

My adopted grandfather came to America in 1918. He purchased 80 acres in the heart of California San Joaquin valley. His property is #1 in line for water in the irrigation district. My dad was selling the property when gov gav gave 1% allocation water for farmers. He tried to deny the property water rights. My dad sued and won, but it cost him a lot of money. Sale went through and the property is still #1 in line for water coming down that canal.

WTG! One for the little guy.

I think MD proposed a tax on the area of roof .. something like that.
I guess assuming you kept that rainwater.

They're just looking out for our best interests..

Indians controll the water on the coast in WA
Salmon is God here

They even shut down new well instalation for a few years

Lummi tribe has some smart and corrupt council

Colorado you can collect 110 gallons of rain water, never heard of a "storage" tax. I own quite a bit of irrigation water, reservoirs on the mesa, rights to water in the creek, springs on various properties. Water rights in the west are very coveted and complicated. Where I live a domestic well is for in house use only no outside use without augmentation. Like they say whiskeys for drinking and water is for fighting over!

We have no rules for water here in Illinois. In fact there is a tax right now on each driveway and parking lot in Peoria IL as to how much water runs off into the storm drains. The bigger the driveway the more your tax is due to more water running off you place. They act like water is a bad thing here.

No rules here in Maine

Rules are meant to be broken..........