The News Tribune (Lite) - Hands off that rain

TheNewsTribune.com
Section: Opinion

Hands off that rain – it’s state property

THE NEWS TRIBUNE
The question wouldn’t have occurred to most of us: Who owns the rain?

You’d think some phenomena of nature would be exempt from mundane property laws. But rain isn’t one of them.

As it turns out, the State of Washington holds title to the April showers. That’s what the creators of 21 Acres – an experimental farm in Woodinville – found out when they set out to irrigate dozens of garden plots with rainwater rather than paying for city water.

Without a permit from the Department of Ecology, that’s illegal. So, technically, is using a barrel beneath a downspout to collect water from the gutter.

This is disillusioning. There’s the whole idea that the rain belongs to the government. And there’s the dismal thought that – even in Western Washington – the drizzle is scarce enough that someone might make a fuss about watering gardens with what falls on your property.

If we were talking Yakima County, it would be one thing. But this is the land of mildew, pineapple expresses, 60-day spells of damp cruddy skies, and cold, wet Junes.

We’re afraid to ask: Who owns the clouds? The wind? The birds? The magma? The northern lights?