For years there's been this well-known myth that it is illegal to collect rainwater. In fact, I believed this for a long time myself and decided to finally look it up. Unsurprisingly many sites have many different answers.

Collecting rainwater is very popular among many Americans. Many refer to it as rainwater harvesting, but Is it legal to do?

View of the street surface during rain.
4u4me
loading...

Other State Rain Collecting Laws

Iowa - At the time of writing this Iowa has no regulations or laws against rainwater harvesting. According to multiple sources including 4perfectwater.com, you're good to collect that rain.

WisconsinWhen it comes to collecting rain water there are no regulations in Wisconsin. According to multiple sources including worldpopulationreview.com, you're good to collect that rain.

Water flowing into rain barrel
glenn-specht
loading...

Is It Legal To Collect Rainwater In Illinois

Illinois is different compared to these other two states. According to multiple sources and worldpopulationreview, Illinois has some regulations when collecting rainwater. Thankfully these regulations aren't too bad.

While there are regulations, it is still legal to collect rainwater in Illinois.

The Regulations

The House Bill 991, passed in 2011, is mostly focused on solar energy rights in Illinois, however, it also requires homeowners’ associations to specify if rain collection is allowed and if so, to spell out the location, design and architectural requirements of those systems. You can learn more here.

Illinois also has the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act. This act works through water conservation, efficiency, infrastructure, and management while promoting rainwater harvesting.

There is also the Plumbing-Rainwater Systems Bill SB0038, 

Amends the Illinois Plumbing License Law. Provides that "plumbing" includes rainwater harvesting distribution systems, but does not include any rainwater harvesting distribution system or rainwater harvesting collection system unless otherwise required by the Illinois Plumbing Code.

Again these codes, and regulations aren't too bad at all but are more than what Iowa and Wisconsin have. In the end, as long as you're safe, and follow rules you're all set!

Rainwater Harvesting

For many years rainwater has been used in many different ways, many sources state the following,

Historically and in many developing countries still today, many homes use a cistern to capture rainfall for household purposes. Rain water harvesting, like the cistern, is the process of collecting rainwater and storing it for later use. Storage methods range from small barrels to large underground storage tanks. It is a valuable water management practice that is greatly underutilized.

You can learn more here.

I Turned The Quad Cities Into AI Art

To get the AI pictures all I had to do was type in the name of the city, and the state, the algorithm did the rest.

All these photos are computer generated, and at first glance, it looks pretty good... some more than others, but the longer you look the more you notice how weird each one is.

These are all 5 cities in the QC. To start I typed in "Quad Cities" to see the results

10 Best Places To Get Coffee In The Quad Cities

This list is 10 of the best places that you can only find in the Quad Cities. This list is in no particular order, but here are 10 of the best places to get coffee right here in the Quad Cities.