Should We Collect Rain Water?

Below is an article that addresses the legality of collecting rainwater in Florida. Apparently, the collection of water run-off from your rooftop is illegal in some states. However, it seems to be legal in Florida. Rainwater collection barrels can be easily obtained.  Should we collect rainwater?

Update August 26; regarding Florida: back to top There have been a number of searches accessing this blog regarding rain water harvesting legality in the state of Florida. After several hours of searching at the Florida state government’s site, I found nothing specifically prohibiting rain barrels, or rain water harvesting by individuals at the state level. I found that, in the Florida keys, rain water harvesting is the main source for all the water. Whether or not a person can “legally” set up rain barrels in this state will likely be determined mainly at the local level as of right now.  This situation is likely to change. Again, the regulations regarding water use are extremely complex and there are hundreds of documents. Here are some of the main links I found: Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes :->2010->Chapter 373->Part IV : Online Sunshinewww.dep.state.fl.us/water/waterpolicy/docs/2012_annual_rwsp.pdf Office of Water Policy – FDEPFrom these above links you will find the information used in this post, and interpretation.  Also here is another link to a list of Florida building and plumbing codes: E-Codes From the above links, it can be shown that there are major water issues in Florida, including a long running dispute with the state of Georgia. Look for rainwater harvesting to become very important in this area of the country very soon. If you have arrived here searching for laws regarding rainwater harvesting, check first with your homeowner’s association, county, or city officials. Next check your state Department of Natural Resources. Update July 18, 2014 regarding Florida: I have searched through the Florida government website at the above links. I  searched on rain water, roof water, rain barrels, surface water, runoff, rain water harvesting and found, after an hour of searching, nothing specifically prohibiting rain water harvesting by individuals. I did find over 100 links in Google results similar the the following links which show numerous state, and local municipalities encouraging rain barrel use :http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/conservation/rainbarrel/ http://fyn.ifas.ufl.edu/barrels.htmhttp://miami-dade.ifas.ufl.edu/environment/natural_resources.shtmlhttp://hillsborough.ifas.ufl.edu/fyn/rain_barrels.shtml Florida department of environmental protection http://www.protectingourwater.org/watersheds/get_wet/protectwater/rainbarrels/http://www.fkaa.com/buildingrainbarrel.pdf http://www.miamidade.gov/waterconservation/rain-barrels.asp http://www.dunedingov.com/index.aspx?page=625http://www.brevardcounty.us/NaturalResources/Watershed/RainBarrelWorkshopshttps://www.palmcoastgov.com/green/rain-barrels http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/index.aspx?NID=821 http://www.mymanatee.org/home/government/departments/utilities/potable-water-system/water-conservation/programs/rainbarrels.html In my humble opinion, it is highly unlikely that it is against state law in Florida to harvest rain water from your roof. If anyone reading this has proof otherwise, please leave a comment with a link to your source, and I will change this post accordingly . No link, no change.

http://www.enlight-inc.com/blog/?p=1036#floridas

Rain Gutter Repair Complete!

Building 33 finally has a fully functioning rain gutter from top to bottom. 

Good job, new BOD and Maintenance crew!

Solution to Planter Box Drainage Problem

$10.00 purchased a flexible drain-spout extension that was easily installed and was an important part of the solution to the drainage problem in the planter box (see the September 7th post). The item can be purchased at Lowes or Home Depot.