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 largemouth 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.
And so, after a protracted battle with Oregon’s Water Resources Department,
Harrington was convicted of nine misdemeanors and sentenced to 30 days
in jail, slapped with a $1,500 fine, and ordered to breach his dams and
drain his ponds. After the sentencing in late July, Harrington
surrendered himself to authorities late last week and began his stint at
the Jackson County Jail.
Apparently, once upon a time, the state did indeed allow Harrington
— code name: “Rain Man" — to collect water in his reservoirs. However,
officials reversed their decision the same year, 2003, that the three
permits were issued, citing a 1925 law that states the city of Medford
holds all exclusive rights to "core sources of water" in the Big Butte
Creek watershed and its tributaries.
Despite withdrawal of the permits, Harrington kept on defiantly
collectin’ under the belief that the laws did not apply to his
situation, adamant that the water was coming strictly from rain and snow
melt and not from tributaries flowing into the Big Butte River as
officials had claimed. Harrington tells CNSNews.com: "They issued me my
permits. I had my permits in hand and they retracted them just
arbitrarily, basically. They took them back and said, 'No, you can't
have them.' So I've been fighting it ever since."
It gets even more messy with accusations of water diversion and a
three-year bench probation issued against Harringon in 2007. In that
case, Harrington plead guilty and agreed to open up the gates of his
reservoirs only to close them back up again shortly thereafter.
Oregon Water Resources Department Deputy Director Tom Paul tells the
Medford Mail Tribune: “Mr. Harrington has operated these three
reservoirs in flagrant violation of Oregon law for more than a decade.
What we're after is compliance with Oregon water law, regardless of what
the public thinks of Mr. Harrington.”
Paul elaborates to CNSNews.com:
A very short period of time following the expiration of his probation, he once again closed the gates and re-filled the reservoirs. So, this has been going on for some time and I think frankly the court felt that Mr. Harrington was not getting the message and decided that they’d already given him probation once and required him to open the gates and he refilled his reservoirs and it was business as usual for him, so I think the court wanted — it felt it needed — to give a stiffer penalty to get Mr. Harrington’s attention.
Lots more on this unusual and dramatic, err, rainstorm of a case — a
case that's morphed into a battle not so much over rainwater and
reservoirs, but over property rights and government bullying — at the Medford Mail Tribune and CNSNews.
You can also hear Harrington’s side of the case via a series of videos
featuring legal advisor Dominic Notter and donate to his “get out of
jail fund” over at www.empoweringthejury.com if
you feel so inclined. The alleged wet bandit tells CNSNews.com: "When
something is wrong, you just, as an American citizen, you have to put
your foot down and say, ‘This is wrong; you just can’t take away anymore
of my rights and from here on in, I’m going to fight it.”
Is Harrington deserved of his folk hero status? Or is he a
straight-out theft? Lots of opinions on this one ... what's yours?
matronmedusa
Nov 10 2012 at 12:40 PM
He who controls the
water, controls the people. They're probably mad because he hasn't paid
a water bill in almost a decade. They don't want others getting any
bright ideas!
kel
Oct 26 2012 at 9:10 AM
bottled water companies do the same type of thing, buy a bit of property and suck from below, anyone running them out of town?
Guest
Jan 14 2013 at 12:44 PM
There was a court case
here where the sewer district tried to bill people for storm water
collection even if they were not connected to the sewer system. A land
owner some 10 miles away from a sewer connection had to go to court to
stop the sewer district from collection money and taxes from him.
mnn.com 14 ?Aug 2012