GM.

No, i dont think its stealing if you taking ovwrflow water that would anyway flow away. Also, if no on is ever coming out there and using, there is eminent domain which the US was founded on.

Ideally, if you met the owner of the land and cleared with him would be best.

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It belongs to the guy who owns these cows. It is ranch property. But he is never out here. The well autofulls the troffs and then overflows.

I think he would be okay with me taking 300 gallons a month when probably 100x that is being spilt back to the earth..

you should talk to the property owner. 99% of the time theyre ok with it and 300 gal/mo is nothing. 3000 gal/mo is barely anything.

i have an identical (opposite) setup with the family who lives downhill from me.

the concern is usually that you can get squatters rights to the water if you're taking it for long enough. and while you might be cool, what if you sell to someone who isn't.

so its best to keep this sort of stuff out in the open.

I'm not going to do that because I know he would say no. I know people who know the guy.

Makes me think of the book, the last hermit. I'm good with it. And I don't need squaters rights. If he tells me not to, I won't.

yeah if that's the situation, just take it.

its pretty normal in these situations and not unethical. this is America and water is life.

my neighbor did the same thing. i had to drive over there and be like hey so... 😂

i expect your guy will do the same if it a problem.

I see. If you know the guy is unreasonable you're probably better off doing it secretly for as long as possible

It's on a road that goes right to my property. It blows my mind that catching water that is flowing onto the ground could be called stealing. Especially given all the factors here.

I only grab overflow and it isn't much at all.

No one lives close to here at all. Just cows.