Ada County has no ordinance banning rooftop rainwater collection. Under Idaho water law, capturing rain and snowmelt from your own roof for use on your property is generally allowed without a water right; diverting natural waterways is not.
The county code contains no restriction on residential rain barrels or cisterns. Idaho treats water as a public resource under prior-appropriation law, but the state and the Idaho Department of Water Resources recognize that collecting precipitation from rooftops and other impervious surfaces for on-site use does not require a water right. What is regulated is diverting or storing water from a stream, creek, canal, ditch or the ground; that needs a permit or existing right. So residents may use rain barrels off downspouts, but should not tap irrigation ditches or natural channels without authorization.
No county penalty for roof-runoff collection; unauthorized diversion from a stream, ditch or aquifer can violate Idaho water-right law enforced by IDWR.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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