…[A] pioneering program to harvest rainwater on a commercial scale in Colorado will likely end next year if lawmakers don’t find a way to continue the work. … The commercial pilot program was created in 2016 and authorized up to 10 water districts across the state to build site-specific rainwater harvesting programs that would work under Colorado’s complex water court system, where water rights are intensely scrutinized by other users, engineers and attorneys. … But only one water district in fast-growing Douglas County stepped forward to participate. Until lawmakers took action, large-scale site-specific rainwater harvesting was illegal because of the state’s water laws, which dictated that water that falls from the sky must flow to existing water right holders.

Other water rights news around the West:

• The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah): New plan further reigns in ‘wild west’ of Great Salt Lake mineral extraction