"I'm shocked. They WANT the rain water to go to the storm drains? " Yes. "If the rain lands on my roof... shouldn't I be able give some to my plants?" No. It doesn't belong to you. It belongs to somebody downstream from you. I've done some reading on the water rights laws and if you try to get your arms wrapped around things, some of the odd things are really remnants of things that were codified when they were trying to ensure there was enough water for the cattle and sheep. Way back when, if a rancher had a stream and built a dam, he could build up a big reservoir of water and make sure he always had enough water for his cattle. But the people who lived downstream would suddenly find that the stream had dried up and they couldn't get water for their sheep (or themselves). Don't you remember all those old westerns where the mean cattle baron was trying to starve out the hard working settlers and/or sheep farmers in the valley? And then somebody (who used to be a hired killer or something) ends up saving the day for the sheep farmers? Shane, Trinity, Angel and the Badman are examples. So there are all kinds of agreements in place as to who owns water in various places, how much they can dam, how much they can use in a year, how much they can sell to somebody else, and so forth. Technically, I think the way the laws are written, they don't say who owns the water, but who owns the rights to the water. In most cases, unless you own the rights to do so, you can't stop water from flowing to the people downstream from you, who own the right to use it (or part of it) but also probably don't own the rights to stop its flow (so the sheep farmer in the valley can keep his sheep alive). I think there is also language in some of the laws that basically gives precedence to agriculture over cities and towns (probably because it was so important at the time to keep the ranch animals alive). And there's often language giving precedence to the oldest rights (so ranches that have been in the same family for generations ahve more rights that people who have recently acquired rights. There are also some odd laws WRT gray water. In some parts of the country, there are laws against using gray water for plants because the thinking is that there could be hygiene issues. In the west, the laws are in place because you don't buy the water, you buy the right to use the water once. The key is that you buy the right to use it once. After you've used it, it belongs to somebody else. So you can put a bucket in the shower to catch the water while it's warming up (since you haven't used that water yet) but once you step in, you're not supposed to catch the water because you've used it to shower. I think there are a lot of problems with the way the water rights are doled out. One of the biggest is that when they decided how much water each state should be given, they did it in a period of historically high precipitation. Some people say that they made it worse by overestimating how much water was there. The end result is that there is a lot more water "owned" than there is actual water. I'm convinced that it's going to get much worse in the years ahead. I've been replacing my lawn grass with native grasses that use much less water than traditional grasses. I should be able to keep my lawn green without watering until late June or early July and only watering 1-2 times a month. In contrast, most of my neighbors water daily (to make a better comparison, I've been watering once a week except in the hottest part of the summer, when I water about once every 5 days).

I have very pretty rocky mountain iris. They are white covered with purple veins. Can send pics. What do you have to trade? Patrick

Hi Rocky Mountain Corn Project. Thanks for the informative post. I have a 12" long x 8" wide shed that I want to retrofit for a 3-season greenhouse or even a 4-season greenhouse eventually if that's possible with thermal mass and planning, and further retrofitting over time. Just like plantladyco I live at 6000 feet elevation. It has, as you described, two angled south-facing roof surfaces (roughly 30 and 60 degrees from the ground, respectively. Should I plan to glaze the south-facing vertical section below the roof as well? How much do you think this project will run me in materials? I'm pretty handy.

I do not know anything about it. I hope he recouperates soon.