Can you please help me find links , or fact check, these two claims?

I’m on my phone so I can’t easily research, but both sound absurd to me. How the hell would a state know if someone was stockpiling food? They barely know when people are stockpiling weapons.

A number of US states have laws governing the collecting of rainwater, ranging from outright bans to certain kinds of limitations. Those states are: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, IIllinois, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Here is a link to the specific laws in each case and their rationale.

Crazy! Surely the storage of water doesn’t affect droughts THAT much, can it?

@Dutchess_lll Literal shooting wars have been fought over people diverting water upstream of others and destroying their livelihoods in the process. One person with a rain barrel under her or his gutters won’t stop the Mississippi, but hundreds or thousands of farmers diverting water to cisterns and ponds for their personal use can and has and does cause entire rivers to dry up, affecting everyone and everything downstream.

There isn’t a state that bans stockpiling food, although in emergency situations hoarding can be declared illegal, and in an emergency a food supply can be seized by law enforcement.

I thought it was just fussing about rain barrels capturing rain, not entire rivers and watersheds. I can see how that would be a problem.

If you had a lot of food in your house, as many people do, how would they even know, and what would be the difference between a legal amount and an illegal amount?

I lived on a farm as a child. Every farm I knew of had a storage of home canning, mason jars filled with various foods and safety sealed for long-term freshness. Some kept these jars in their basement, some in a root cellar, such as you see in The Wizard of Oz. It is a hole in the ground with no built structure except a door and the frame, and a few wooden steps. The ground stays cooler down below, which is a good way to store them. A few wooden shelves hold the jars.
It is called a root cellar because the roots of some plants grow deep enough to pop right down into them.
It used to be that survival in the winter depended on these food stashes, when snow might keep country folk pinned down at home.
I believe most people who lived on farms in the old days are likely to have the habit of keeping lots of non perishable foods on hands.
I can’t imagine any authority would think banning of food storages would be a good idea. I don’t think anybody would believe enforcement to be possible.
The only exception I feel may benefit e a reality is during WWII.
My mom was a little girl then. She talked about food coupons, and how difficult it was to keep a family going on so little groceries. They lived on a farm, but even seeds were rationed, so some things were sparse even in home grown items.

It is possible some states have those limitations on the books, even though they are no longer needed.

I read the excellent link supplied by @SmashTheState and for the states with laws regulating them, most (if not all) permit the use of at least one 55 gallon rain barrel for the collection of roof runoff water as long as it is used for outdoor purposes and not as a potable water source. Rhode Island actually gives a $1000 tax credit for installing one. Some states limit the water storage to 110 gallons. Other states have inspection requirements. You don’t want someone putting a rain barel on a poorly made outdoor deck or along the fence line of a neighbor’s property. Also it must be built to withstand weather extremes for the locale. You do not want a poorly put together rain collection system to become a missile in high winds.

For the most part the regulations seem to encourage not discourage their use and are there to prevent poorly designed or dangerous systems.

This link on stockpiling might be of interest to you. It’s not exactly what you’re asking but explains when it can legally happen.

During WWII (1940s) it was illegal because many supplies were needed for our troops. I’ve found nothing showing that it’s illegal now. Will keep my eyes open tho

Rainwater info

Oregon requires a water permit while Colorado allows rooftop runoff