Does Oregon Jail Beavers too?

Oregon man in possession of 13 million gallons of illicit rainwater...

Jailed and fined and harassed because he collected rainwater on his property : Gary Harrington. Isn't he raising the local  water table? It hardly seems like a crime to me, since he isn't diverting streams. What do you think?

... over the years, the Oregon resident has built three massive reservoirs — in actuality, they’re more like proper man-made ponds — on his 170-acre property on Crowfoot Road in rural Eagle Point that hold roughly 13 million gallons of rainwater and snow runoff. That’s enough agua to fill about 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Apparently Harrington, who has stocked at least one of the  reservoirs with largemouth bass and built docks around it, believes that his watery stash is a much-needed necessity when wildfires pop up in the area. “The fish and the docks are icing on the cake," Harrington tells the Medford Mail Tribune. "It's totally committed to fire suppression."

... Oregon law dictates that water is a publicly owned resource...

Apparently, once upon a time, the state did indeed allow Harrington ... to collect water in his reservoirs. However, officials reversed their decision the same year, 2003, that the three permits were issued,...