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Who owns the rain? As ‘green infrastructure’ like rainwater harvesting (RWH) gains popularity in the United States, surprisingly little is understood about how formal institutions render small scale practices ‘official’, and why formalization succeeds in some areas and fails in others. Drawing on an analysis of 95 policies across U.S. states and territories, this research examines the legal geographies of rainwater harvesting, its chief institutional mechanisms, and the implications of new RWH policies for broader developments in water governance. Our analysis indicates three major trends: 1) the ‘codification’ of water sustainability, in which rainwater is regulated through plumbing codes in contrast to property rights; 2) the ‘marketization’ of RWH governance, through mechanisms such as rebates and financial incentives; and 3) the scalar friction and contradictions that arise between different and sometimes competing levels of regulation. We argue that such trends mark a radical departure in U.S. traditions of water governance--from state to splintered modes of regulation--and, furthermore, that states with diverse legal traditions of water, such as Texas (in contrast to Colorado), provide more successful regulatory environments for downspout alternatives.
Dr. Meehan investigates the governance and politics of water supply alternatives, particularly in the global South. Her work has been published in Water Alternatives, Environment and Planning D, Political Geography, Geoforum, and The Right to Water. She is currently writing a book manuscript based on nearly ten years of research in Mexico, When the Rain Fall: Water Supply Alternatives in the Neoliberal Era.