Do I Need a Permit for a Rainwater Harvesting System?
Sometimes — rain barrels (the small, the non-potable, the garden) are typically exempt; the cistern systems (the large storage, the potable, the indoor plumbing connection) need plumbing permits and sometimes building review. The permit follows the scale and the use: the garden barrel is the landscape; the whole-house cistern is the water system. The water rights (the western states' prior appropriation — the legality varying) precede the permit.
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Small systems: typically exempt
Rain barrels (the 50-100 gallon — the downspout diverter; the garden irrigation; the mosquito screening — the health department's interest), the exemption (most jurisdictions' — the non-potable, the small; the HOA's rules still applying).
Large/potable: permitted
Cisterns (the 500-10,000+ gallon — the storage; the structural — the buried or the above-grade; the building permit for the large), the plumbing (the indoor connection — the backflow prevention; the cross-connection control — the potable's protection; the plumbing permit), the treatment (the potable — the filtration, the disinfection; the health department's standards), and the overflow (the stormwater — the discharge designed).
Water rights and incentives
The prior appropriation (Colorado's former restrictions — the now-liberalized; the other western states' — the variations; the eastern — the riparian liberality), the incentives (the rebates — the water utilities'; the tax credits — the jurisdictions'), and the cost (the barrels' $100-$300; the cistern systems' $5,000-$30,000+). The permitted cistern is the water-security asset.
The bottom line
Rain barrels are typically permit-exempt; cistern/potable systems need plumbing/building permits with backflow prevention — verify western water-rights law first.
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