Am I in the right?

Small dogs bark at everything that gets close enough to bark at. big dogs usually save their energy for stuff that matters. lots of people acting like small dogs these days, especially in government, especially in local government, especially in small town local government. be a big dog and go somewhere else and use the rocks there. the water department rocks arent worth the energy.

If you are on public property, you have a right to stand there and shoot. If the object (building) is in the photo, as long as you are not using the photo for commercial purposes (to advertise your business, or to sell for someone else to use to promote their business, nor to simply sell the image to someone else) you do not have to have a property release. If the object (building) is in the photo, and you are using the photo for commercial purposes (to advertise your business, or to sell for someone else to use to promote their business, nor to simply sell the image to someone else) you do have to have a property release before it can put put to use for any commercial purposes.

Now, in the age of terrorism, it is common for public buildings to be 'controlled' locations with some restrictions. You could be assisting a terrorist who would be bombing the building or you could be plotting to poison the water supply, for example.

I read something recently that mentioned water departments as potential terrorist targets. As such, they are 'sensitive' and photographing a 'sensitive' site is not allowed.

I don't recall the source...sorry.

Since 9/11 the water dept has gotten very protective. For a long time after 9/11 ours was guarded by the police dept 24/7. I for one am glad of it.

What is funny is that it would take so much poison/biological matrerial to poison water enough to matter it would be easily noticed. You can get detailed pictures of most public works from the sat image sites.

Mike