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SALT LAKE CITY -- Rain, rain, don't go away. Come back another day.
That might as well be the song of choice for a Plain City politician and his bill to legally allow the collection of rainwater on private land.
"We've never done this before," Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, said about his legislation that covers an issue not addressed in current law.
Jenkins had the first floor debate on his rain-harvesting legislation Wednesday in the Utah Senate.
Perhaps most Utahns might not have known that setting up a rain barrel to collect water on private property is illegal, said Jenkins.
And as in any Western, dry state, water issues are of keen interest in parts of Utah.
The legislation began to germinate, said Jenkins, when a car dealer set up a rainwater collection system to help clean cars, but ended up dealing with government rules.
So Jenkins started to carve out a narrow exception to the generally understood water rights laws.
The legislation would allow the private use and storage of precipitation in an underground tank as big as 2,500 gallons or in 55-gallon drums.
"A lot of people don't have a clue how to get secondary water," Jenkins added.
The Utah House has yet to deal with the proposal, but the state Water Development Commission has recommended Jenkins' legislation.
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