Yet another data point stressing how much politics, urbanism and architecture is intertwined, LA Times writes about Who owns Colorado’s rainwater:

Every time it rains here, Kris Holstrom knowingly breaks the law.
Holstrom’s violation is the fancifully painted 55-gallon buckets underneath the gutters of her farmhouse on a mesa 15 miles from the resort town of Telluride. The barrels catch rain and snowmelt, which Holstrom uses to irrigate the small vegetable garden she and her husband maintain.
But according to the state of Colorado, the rain that falls on Holstrom’s property is not hers to keep. It should be allowed to fall to the ground and flow unimpeded into surrounding creeks and streams, the law states, to become the property of farmers, ranchers, developers and water agencies that have bought the rights to those waterways.

This is a perfect time to point out that the American West is fully constructed out of Federal handouts and has been fully subsidized by the US Government for since the railroads were given land for free to connect east and west coasts. Cheap power (Hoover Dam), expansive land and great irrigation projects (cf California Water Wars) is the backbone of the “Rugged West.” However, as the American West continues to grow unsustainably (notwithstanding the retarding effect the recession has on growth) I would expect a sharp increase in water rights litigation.
Also, see Matt Yglesias, Water: It’s Valuable, So If You Don’t Price It You Get Waste.