WI No right to produce or eat food/All righty then, let's jump into our baths fully clothed?

http://nonais.org/2011/09/27/wi-no-right-to-produce-or-eat-food/
Excerpt:

September 27, 2011

WI: No Right to Produce or Eat Food

Alert - National, Action Item — walterj 9:29 am

In scary legal news a Wisconsin judge had gone completely loopy declaring that citizens have no right to produce or eat the foods of their own choice.

In response to a request from the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, the judge issued a clarification of his decision last week regarding his assessment of the constitutionality of food rights. The judge expanded on his original statement that such constitutional issues are “wholly without merit.”
He explained that the FTCLDF arguments were “extremely underdeveloped.” As an example, he said the plaintiffs’ use of the Roe v Wade abortion rights case as a precedent does “not explain why a woman’s right to have an abortion translates to a right to consume unpasteurized milk…This court is unwilling to declare that there is a fundamental right to consume the food of one’s choice without first being presented with significantly more developed arguments on both sides of the issue.” Gee, I thought they both had to do with the right to decide what to do with your own body.
As if to show how pissed he was at being questioned, he said his decision translates further that “no, Plaintiffs to not have a fundamental right to own and use a dairy cow or a dairy herd;
“no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow;”
And in a kind of exclamation point, he added this to his list of no-nos: “no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice…”

http://www.groovygreen.com/groove/?p=3135
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In Colorado, Rain Barrels Are Illegal. Yup. Please, slowly step away from the rain drops...	143 Comments
By Michael d'Estries in Climate Change, Conservation, Dumb Ideas, Water | June 25, 2008

Yesterday, after I vented a bit on the lack of rain barrel options at Big Box stores, a reader tipped us off to a very interesting issue in her state of Colorado. Rain barrels there, you see, are outlawed. Colorado state law mandates that any water falling from the air is not yours. In fact, according to their site, its already been “legally allocated” — so, you don’t actually have any rights when it comes to using precipitation that falls on your property. Here’s the exact wording:

Colorado Water Law requires that precipitation fall to the ground, run off and into the river of the watershed where it fell. Because rights to water are legally allocated in this state, an individual may not capture and use water to which he/she does not have a right. We must remember also that rain barrels don’t help much in a drought because a drought by its very nature supplies little in the way of snow or rain.

Additionally, any and all water that comes from tap may only be used once. “Denver water customers are not permitted to take their bath or laundry water (commonly referred to as gray water) and dump it on their outdoor plants or garden.” Even if that said water is ecologically-friendly?
We’re not alone in thinking this is a stupid law. Last summer, The Colorado Springs Gazette said the following:

“The rain barrel is the bong of the Colorado garden. It’s legal to sell one. It’s legal to own one. It’s just not legal to use it for its intended purpose. Meanwhile, when rain does fall, the torrential flood caused by water running off a few thousand acres of roofs, roads and parking lots erodes downstream ranches, undercuts city sewer pipes and really makes Pueblo mad.
It’s gotten so bad that the city is taxing us all — excuse me, feeing us all — to pay for $295 million in stormwater projects. So wouldn’t it make sense to save a little rain when it falls, keep it from barreling down Fountain Creek, and use it when needed? Of course it would.”

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06702.html
Excerpt:

Graywater Reuse and Rainwater Harvesting

by R. Waskom and J. Kallenberger¹ (7/09)

Quick Facts...

• Graywater reuse may not be a permissible use of water under a domestic well permit or a community water supply system.
• Rainwater harvesting is the process of intercepting storm-water runoff and putting it to beneficial use.
• In most areas of Colorado, the most common way to use rainwater is to direct roof gutter downspouts to landscape areas you wish to water.
• Recent legislation allows limited collection and use of precipitation from residential property rooftops in cases where the landowner uses or is entitled to only certain types of well permits to use well water for their domestic non-potable water supply.

Graywater Systems

Graywater refers to the reuse of water drained from baths, showers, washing machines, and sinks (household wastewater excluding toilet wastes) for irrigation and other water conservation applications. Contrary to common belief, graywater is not a safe product—it contains bacteria and other potential pathogens. Consequently, the potential reuse of graywater is a public health issue, not a water conservation priority.
Graywater is of lesser quality than tap water, but generally of higher quality than blackwater, or water from sewage systems. Water from the kitchen sink, garbage disposal and dishwasher is considered blackwater in other states because of high concentrations of organic waste and the difficulties of reusing this water safely.
The most obvious advantage of domestic graywater use is that it may potentially replace other water used for landscape irrigation, although many interests are now advocating the use of gray water for toilet flushing. Filtered graywater is most suitably used for subsurface irrigation of nonedible landscape plants. Not only does its use on landscapes conserve treated tap water, but graywater may also benefit plants because it often contains nutrients such as nitrogen or phosphorus.
Graywater use may offer financial savings to already overburdened municipal sewage treatment facilities because graywater use diminishes sewer flows, thereby lessening the need to expand such facilities. However, diminished sewer flows may have a downside because graywater use can result in insufficient sewer flows to carry waste to the sewer plant. Another concern is that with increased use of graywater, less effluent water will be available for treatment, resulting in less reclaimed water for municipal uses and downstream appropriators. Herein lies the source of the potential water rights concerns associated with graywater reuse.
Graywater systems vary from simple, low-cost systems to highly complex and costly systems. A common (but illegal in Colorado and most other states) method for reusing graywater is to drain the washing machine directly onto outside vegetation. Sophisticated systems treat graywater prior to disposal using settling tanks and sand filters in order to remove solids and pathogens. (Note: settling tanks and filters will not remove pollutants that are dissolved.)

Water Quality Issues Surrounding Graywater Reuse in Colorado

Practically speaking, the use of graywater systems is not viable for most homeowners in Colorado. Currently graywater is regulated under the State of Colorado Guidelines on Individual Sewage Disposal Systems and applicable county Individual Sewage Disposal System (ISDS) regulations. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) does not currently separate graywater from blackwater in its regulations. Consequently, both surface and subsurface applications require permitting and may trigger monitoring requirements.