Living Behind Enemy Lines, Tale #39: C.O.W. Steals YOUR Well Water

COW: California, Oregon, Washington

It is no coincidence that both Oregon and Washington, following the lead of California, are trying to “outlaw private ownership” of wells on YOUR private property. I say “outlaw private ownership” because their ultimate goal is for bureaucrats, not you, to have complete control of YOUR well. If you don’t have any say regarding how your well is used and if it is used, can you really say you “own” it? Homeowners with wells are “too independent” and the control freaks, AKA Democrat politicians & bureaucrats, can’t stand that! They are starting slow, using the sneaky Marxist technic of “slippery slope.” Some call it “camel nose under the tent” and before long the whole beast will be living in YOUR house.

For my readers who do not live on the Left Coast, allow me to explain the term “COW.” For decades now, when one of these three states comes up with an idea to oppress Americans and/or steal more of OUR money, the other two states will quickly copy it. Therefore, because there is little difference in the tyranny suffered by the residents in these states, we call California, Oregon and Washington “COW.” I don’t know who first came up with the idea of forcing homeowners to put meters on their wells, but I know the State of COW has been, inch by inch, pushing this draconian idea for at least 30 years.

STATE OF WASHINGTON

Currently, Senate Bill 5470 is scheduled for a vote on the Senate floor. Yes, time is running out this legislative session so this bill is not likely to make it to Democrat Governor Ferguson’s desk. However, do NOT relax. The Marxists who own Washington will bring it up again & again & again, in one form or another, at every legislative session until it passes. Indeed, their scheme started over three decades ago. Starting in 1994, metering of private wells and reporting water usage to the State has been required in some locations. Democrats want to expand this to include every well owned privately regardless the size, regardless the uses of the water, regardless whether Americans need this water for personal use. Control and greed motivates Democrats every decision.

Metering will lead to YOU paying the State of Washington for the water you pump out of YOUR well. Metering will lead to controlling YOUR usage. Metering will eventually prevent you from planting a vegetable garden, owning a goat or two, watering your lawn & flowers, washing your own car, taking a shower everyday, and whatever else the control freaks come up with. Don’t take my word for it. This is how the bill is described by the Legislature, note the words “does not exceed the use limitations”:

BILL TITLE: Establishing limitations on detached accessory dwelling units outside urban growth areas.

BILL SUMMARY: SB 5470 With this bill, the legislature gives counties the permission to allow accessory dwelling units (ADU) of up to 1,296 square feet, outside of urban growth areas, as long as the ADU uses the same driveway as the principal house, is within 150 feet of the principal house and the “combined water withdrawal for the principal house, the ADU and any other domestic uses does not exceed the use limitations in RCW 90.44.050 for domestic use.”

This is bill contains a trick Democrats often use. The topic of this bill is “accessory dwelling units,”^ not well water. However, they slipped the beginning of water metering into the middle of the text. You will notice that this is not mentioned in the title. The camel’s nose has been under the tent since 1994; but, if this bill passes, his whole head will poke through the tent.

Sneaky, aren’t they? While pretending to allow the building of additional homes on your lot, they have snuck in limitations on water use. While this sounds innocent enough, the only way to know how much water is used is to have a meter placed on the water source and someone from the government to record the readings from that meter. This bill is an invasion of privacy for any person who has a well as their primary water source.

STATE OF OREGON

The Democrat fanatics who have run and increasingly ruined Oregon for 40 years, are still at it this legislative session: They want YOU, the homeowner, to put a meter on your private well.

It was about 15 years ago when I first heard Oregon Democrats talking about metering private wells, claiming the State of Oregon owns all the water in the state and the state should be paid a fee for water usage. Frankly, I am shocked that, since Democrats have owned the governorship, the State Senate and the State House for 30 years, a draconian bill, forcing all property owners to meter their well water usage, report to the State and pay the State based upon amount of water used has not already been passed and signed by a governor. After all, the last Republican governor left office in 1986.

Oregon House Bill 3419 is no longer pending in the 2025 Legislative Session. Public outcry killed it; but, don’t relax. Democrats will sneak it into bills in future sessions. This bill was aimed at adding several new regulations that will require property owners to add very expensive monitoring devices and reporting requirements to most of Oregon’s existing wells. Well construction permits and periodic government inspections are already mandated. This would hit very hard on farmers, orchards and ranchers where existing water rights and systems have been utilizing water for decades, some for a hundred years or more.

The bill sparked concerns among well owners and farm groups. It would lead to mandatory water flow meters and reporting to the state for all wells, springs, streams, ponds, and other water sources, potentially impacting water rights and leading to costs for installing meters and reporting usage.

Some say it is good water resource management. Still, we see very little resource management of this kind happening in the Data Center and Tech Sector in places like Hillsboro (west of Portland), where over 50% of all water is used by a handful of relative newcomers in the form of these H2O guzzling users. Perhaps these corporations have paid off Democrat politicians.

In 2021, via a rule, not a statute, Oregon’s Overlords started forcing small & micro farmers to use water from their own private wells to irrigate their crops and hydrate their animals only with a government permit. This water rule is intentionally being used to shut down farms because they are now prevented from using the amount of water needed to water their crops and animals. Market gardeners on a half-acre of land have been receiving cease-and-desist orders for four years now saying, “you can’t water your gardens; figure out another way.”

DON’T LIVE IN COW?

Keep an eye on your legislature. Read every line in every bill which Democrats draft and sponsor. They are dishonest, greedy control freaks.

^An accessory dwelling unit is a secondary dwelling unit on the same lot as a primary residence in Washington State. ADUs can be attached or detached, and can be used for independent living, rental income, or multigenerational living.