By State › Illinois

Illinois: Laws & Legal Considerations

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Illinois doesn’t have a dedicated rainwater harvesting statute the way some other states do; instead, harvesting systems fall under the state’s general plumbing regulation framework.

RuleIllinois
Source water Rooftop catchment
Permit required Governed by the Illinois Plumbing Code (administered by the Illinois Department of Public Health); check local amendments
Permitted uses Non-potable: irrigation, toilet flushing, laundry
Potable use Not regulated as legal or illegal; the state hasn't written treatment standards for drinking harvested rainwater, so it's simply not addressed
Underlying statute Plumbing-Rainwater Systems provisions (SB0038) built into the Illinois Plumbing Code

Where to find it: the Illinois Department of Public Health (dph.illinois.gov) administers the state plumbing code; check with your municipal building department for any local amendments before installing a system.

Water rights: riparian, with a Great Lakes wrinkle none of the other states have

Illinois uses the same riparian reasonable-use doctrine as Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania for its rivers and streams, but it’s the first state covered on this site that also borders a Great Lake, which adds an entirely separate legal layer.

Water sourceGoverning framework
Rivers and streams Common-law riparian reasonable use; domestic needs must be satisfied before any "artificial" use is allowed
Lake Michigan diversions Governed by U.S. Supreme Court decrees, the Illinois Level of Lake Michigan Act, and the Great Lakes Compact

Illinois has a genuinely unusual legal status under the Great Lakes Compact

The Great Lakes Compact generally restricts diversions of Great Lakes water outside the basin, but Illinois already had a Supreme Court-authorized diversion (through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, dating back over a century) before the Compact existed. As a result, Illinois isn’t subject to certain Compact provisions on new or increased Great Lakes withdrawals that do apply to the seven other Great Lakes states, a legal quirk specific to Illinois’s history with Lake Michigan.

Where to find it: the Illinois Department of Natural Resources handles state water regulation generally; Lake Michigan-specific diversion questions run through the Illinois State Water Survey.

Firearm ownership itself requires a license here, before concealed carry even enters the picture

Every other state covered on this site regulates concealed carry directly, permitless, shall-issue, or a demanding license process, but none of them require a separate license just to own a firearm at all. Illinois does.

RequirementDetail
Firearm Owner's Identification (FOID) Card Required to possess any firearm or ammunition in Illinois at all; $10, valid 10 years, issued by Illinois State Police
Concealed Carry License (CCL) A separate license required on top of a valid FOID card; requires 16 hours of training through an ISP-approved instructor; $150, valid 5 years
Minimum age, FOID 21, or under 21 with a parent/guardian's written consent

Why this two-tier structure matters

In every other state covered so far, the question is simply how hard it is to carry a gun concealed. In Illinois, there’s a prior question: a FOID card is required to own a gun at all, kept at home, unloaded, for any purpose, before concealed carry is even relevant. This two-license structure is unique among the states covered on this site.

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