The prohibition on capturing rain water isn't unusual in Colorado at all and is completely backed by numerous state laws.
Most people don't own the water rights to their land and as such, you do NOT own the water that falls on it. If your grass uses some of it - that's ok, but beyond that, you can't divert or collect that water in any way - since it's not yours. Someone purchased the rights to that water and they expect that runoff to appear in the ditch, stream, etc., where it is naturally planned to flow. And flow meters are all over the place to make sure someone upstream isn't diverting the water and to determine which right holder gets to take what amount of the water from that source.
You also can't drill a well on your property unless you own the right to do so. And even then, you may have secondary or tertiary rights, meaning you only get your water after the primary right holder has taken all of their water.
Water Law FAQs | Denver Water
You'll see on the above page, links to several interesting water rights questions. Including the fact that Colorado could in fact start storing more water than we currently do - cutting off a portion of California's water supply as they are now getting more than they are legally entitled to. (Not that we have all the storage needed to do this, but legally, it could get ugly).
There are also times when Colorado has to let water flow south when it is in the middle of a drought, because those states are entitled to a certain amount of water - even when the snow pack for that year may not allow for everyone to get "their share".
As someone noted early - whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting.
I know this seems completely foreign to folks from the midwest/east (like myself), but water rights are very important out here and something often fought over. It's one reason many folks are not fans of fracking for oil/gas - that uses a lot of water. Thus, oil companies have been big buyers of water rights, especially on the western slope.
Another example: Lake Dillon near Breckenridge is owned by Denver Water - who did a good job a hundred years ago securing water rights all over the state to protect the water supply to the city of Denver. You can boat on Lake Dillon, and you can swim in it (though its VERY cold - snow melt), but those mountain folks can't drink that water. When needed, Denver Water pumps that water up the mountain and over the continental divide to get it to it's front range storage facilities.
And yes, this actually impacts ski resort snow making some times. If there isn't enough water flowing through those streams/headwaters, a resort without abundant water rights can't take the water out to spray it on the mountains and make snow.
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