Eagle Point man jailed for illegal water reservoirs
EAGLE POINT, Ore. -- An Eagle Point man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in prison for constructing three illegal reservoirs of water on his property, officials from the Oregon Water Resources Department said.
Gary Harrington was convicted on nine counts of water misuse after he built dams to collect water from channels that would have flowed into a local river.
In a press release about the charges OWRD said that he had constructed two 10-foot dams and one 20-foot dam, and had enough water stored up to fill 20 Olympic-sized pools. He also constructed boat docks to run boats in the reservoirs and stocked them with fish for recreational fishing.
While it is legal to collect rainwater off of surfaces like roofs or tarps, property owners need to obtain permits before altering or collecting flowing bodies of water.
Here is a full account of the court hearing and the charges from the OWRD:
July 27, 2012 - Harrington Conviction and Sentence for 11 Years of Illegal Water Use
On Wednesday July 11, 2012, a Jackson County Circuit Court Jury convicted Eagle Point resident Gary A. Harrington on nine counts, each related to the unauthorized use of water. Under Oregon law, all water is publicly owned, and those who wish to use it for their own purposes must obtain a water right permit issued by the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD). State law grants various exceptions to this requirement, including an exception for collecting precipitation water that gathers on an artificial impervious surface, such as a rooftop or parking lot; in rain barrels, for example.
Harrington stored and used water illegally by placing dams across channels on his property and preventing the flow of water out of these artificial reservoirs without obtaining a water right permit. The height of each dam varies; two dams stand about ten feet tall and the third stands about 20 feet tall. The total amount of water collected behind these dams totals about 40 acre feet; enough to fill almost 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools. These man-made reservoirs feature boat docks, boats, and were stocked by Harrington with trout and Bluegill for recreational fishing.
The state first identified Harrington’s illegal water use more than ten years ago and initiated enforcement action to discontinue his illegal use of water. After numerous attempts by OWRD and the Watermaster to achieve voluntary compliance, the Department enlisted the assistance of the Oregon State Police in 2002. Citations were issued, and Harrington pleaded guilty to several violations. He was assessed a nominal fine and ordered to drain the three reservoirs, which he did. However, Harrington again closed the headgates in 2004 and refilled the reservoirs. As a result, OWRD and the Oregon State Police submitted reports to the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office alleging additional violations of Oregon water law. That office filed misdemeanor charges against Harrington, and in 2008 he pled guilty to one count. He was issued another fine, placed on one year probation, and was again ordered to drain the reservoirs.
According to testimony in the most recent trial, the day after Harrington’s probation expired, he again closed the outlet valves and refilled the reservoirs. The District Attorney’s Office enlisted the help of the Oregon Department of Justice, charges were once again filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, and on July 11, 2012, a jury found Harrington guilty of all nine counts.
On Wednesday the Court sentenced Mr. Harrington to 30 days in jail and three years’ probation, and imposed a $1,500 fine. Judge Timothy Gerking also ordered that the headgates holding back the water be opened and kept open with locks and chains. He also ordered the dams to be breached after the water is drained.
“Mr. Harrington has operated these three reservoirs in flagrant violation of Oregon law for more than a decade,” noted OWRD Deputy Director Tom Paul. “We rely on the judicial system to maintain the rule of law and the Court’s conviction and sentencing in this case has done just that.”
Officials with the Department, in conjunction with the State Police, plan to visit the site during the next several days in order to confirm Harrington’s compliance with court orders.
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Nice way to CHANGE the story! Funny how it was said on MANY other news articles he collected RAIN WATER!! This is bs anyway, it's HIS land has been for over 30 years and if people want to collect water they should be able to. Funny how EWEB is "publicly owned" (my ass) but they can do whatever they please...
 @Katie Hughes-Geus You are obviously just willfully ignoring the facts. You do NOT build a 20 foot damn to "collect" goddam rain water. And isn´t it just amazing how he only has to "close the headgates" and, voila, he has his "pond" again. Boy that rain sure is reliable, don´t you know. Get real. If you allow everyone to just damn up all the water flows to streams and lakes THERE WOULD BE NO STEAMS AND LAKES. Wake up. This is NOT about private property, it is about natural resources that belong to everyone. Or maybe you would welcome someone buying up the ocean for private use? That every comment here has been so gullible as to serve the right wing lies about "gubment" is a sign of the failure of our education system. How anyone could read this report and conclude that that selfish, self-serving, scofflaw jerk is in the right is beyond me.
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 @Barry Fay Obviously the only news article you read on this story was this one because Several other articles posted said he collected RAIN water. . I assure you that I am more awake than you will ever be. haha natural resources that belong to everyone... ever heard of bottled water? yeah, do some research on that, belongs to everyone as long as a greedy corporation doesn't get their hands into it. So if this guy wants to save up his rain water I think he should be able to, I think you should be chewing out Nestle' and other water stealing companies if you're going to bitch about 1 guy collecting rain water on his own property.
I read another article on this from NaturalNews just this morning. Here are some excerpts from that article:
http://www.naturalnews.com/036615_Oregon_rainwater_permaculture.html
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â¦he owns over 170 acres of land in Jackson County. On that land, he has three ponds, and those ponds collect rainwater that falls on his landâ¦
â¦Much like California, Oregon is increasingly becoming a collectivist state. â¦
â¦the explanation from Jackson County officials, who initially granted Harrington "permits" to build ponds back in 2003. Yes, in Oregon you actually need to beg for permission from the government just to have a pond on your own land. But the state of Oregon revoked his permits a few years later, after he had already created the ponds, thus putting Harrington in the position of being a "water criminal" who was "stealing" rainwater from the state. â¦
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Tom Paul, administrator of the Oregon Water Resources Department, â¦..insists, "Oregon law that says all of the water in the state of Oregon is public water and if you want to use that water, either to divert it or to store it, you have to acquire a water right from the state of Oregon before doing that activity."
What he means, of course, is not that the water is "public" water, but that it's government water. The government owns it, and if you "steal" from the government by, for example, collecting rainwater off your own roof, you will go to jailâ¦.
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⦠Harrington said that he will never stop fighting the government on this issue. As reported in CNS News: "When something is wrong, you just, as an American citizen, you have to put your foot down and say, This is wrong; you just can't take away anymore of my rights and from here on in, I'm going to fight it." (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/oregon-man-sentenced-30-days-jail-col...
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Does anyone else need ANY more proof we live in a fascist total control open air prison?
Typical government overstepping their bounds. "Private property" means nothing anymore.
@PleaseBeSmart
Possibly in Eagle Point. If they tried this here he would be more likely be getting jailed for shooting trespassers.
I kind of think that this man should have been allowed to build the dams and as soon as his reservoirs were full he would have to resume the normal flow of water by opening his spillways to allow the same cubic feet out as what was coming into the reservoir. If he built the dams so that they posed no hazard to anothers property they should be left alone. There would be no harm to anyone as long as the flow to the river remained constant. You see we really don't own our property, the Government has seen to that. No only do they tell you what you can do, but they make you pay for it also in the form of taxes and permits. Another thing that property owners should be aware of, is that the ORWD is thinking about putting water usage meters on all private wells. The ORWD knows that the State is headed for severe financial problems and want to feather it's nest. So get ready folks, they are going to come at us again.
leave it to the man to take everything harmless and fun away from him, Come on it's his property and if the waters on his land than it should be his right to do what he damn well please!! and it does sound like a great place to fish-n-play
Got to give credit where credit is due. A twenty foot dam. Boat docks and running boats on your own private reservoir. Sounds like paradise.Â