The biggest newspapers in the state got behind the idea, as did several city governments and water officials. Conservation groups said it would cost nothing to carry out and would not take any water out of the streams and rivers that supply users downstream. Most rain soaks into the ground or simply evaporates, long before it can cascade into a storm drain and toward any parched ranch or farmer's irrigation ditch.

But some irrigation officials and politicians who represent thirsty ranchers on the state's eastern plains saw a threat — as well as a violation of property rights and water principles that are written into the State Constitution.

"It's actually stealing," said State Senator Jerry Sonnenberg, a Republican from Sterling, a northeastern farming and ranching town on the plains, who voted against the rain barrel measure when it landed in the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee he leads. "You might say, it's a little bit of water, just a barrelful, how much damage could that do to someone downstream?"