News November 2006    

Water theft from farms.  27 November 2006

Water theft is on the increase with thieves siphoning off thousands of litres from farm dams and rainwater tanks. Most at risk are large properties where vast tracts of land are left unattended and smaller "lifestyle" properties whose owners work in town during the week. Police intelligence officers believe water is being siphoned from dams in unlocked paddocks and tapped from rainwater tanks that are visible from roads. Source Sun Herald, 26/11/06

News October 2006    

Water theft from farms.  27 October 2006

DROUGHT-ravaged farmers heading into summer are facing a new and previously unknown threat: water bandits.
Police at tiny Gundaroo village near Canberra today Wednesday said they were hunting thieves who used crowbars to crack open water tanks and steal the precious contents. "I came to the tap to get a glass of water and all I got out was mud. I couldn't really believe it had happened," a local farmer said.
In nearby Bungendore, water has been stolen from village dams and tanks, while 50 kilometers away in Yass police have reports of theft from the city's near-dry river.
More than 90 per cent of the most populous state of New South Wales is in drought, with many farmers enduring five continuous years of below average rainfall.
The area around Gundaroo and the nearby town of Goulburn have been particularly hard-hit, with Goulburn's main dam having run dry. A local farmer lost 75,000 litres from their small Gundaroo olive grove and cattle farm while they were out.
Nearby, in the village main street, a local said thieves emptied two 30,000-litre water tanks, used to provide water for the house and for their vegetable garden.
Police in the regional Goulburn headquarters said they were investigating several incidents of water theft and advised people to lock their water stores as summer draws closer. Source NEWS.com.au, 27/10/06

News Transcript    

The World Today - Friday, 29 November , 2002  00:00:00

ELEANOR HALL: In times of drought it must rank as one of the lowest acts imaginable, cheating your neighbours and your local community by stealing water.

But authorities are warning that in areas left parched by the dry conditions, theft of the scarce and increasingly valuable resource is on the rise.

Ministers in the New South Wales and Queensland Governments say thieves have been using a wide variety of methods to get access to water.

And they are warning that the culprits face big fines if they get caught.

But Nick Grimm reports, some locals say the thieves should be worried not so much about the Police but about the reaction of any farmer who catches them stealing water.

NICK GRIMM: It can be surprisingly easy to carry off a big water heist. All some thieves have to do is simply tamper with the meter on their existing outlet. Others resort to even bolder methods. In some towns supply tanks have been raided and pumped dry. Elsewhere, it's believed earth-movers have been used to scoop water into trucks which is then sold to unsuspecting farmers forced by the drought to buy in extra supplies.

It's not even yet summer, but in Queensland authorities are already investigating around 150 cases of water theft. In NSW, the State Government is also warning offenders that they will be detected. The State's Minister for land and water conservation, John Aquilina.

JOHN AQUILINA: Well anyone who may be contemplating water theft had better watch out. First of all the penalties are very severe. It could mean that your access to water in the future could be very severely restricted, but also it's very un-Australian. It's sad that some individuals are taking advantage of the little water that is available.

NICK GRIMM: Well, typically, how is water theft occurring?

JOHN AQUILINA: Well it can occur in a number of ways. Out at Coolabah for example, a small village in the central west of NSW, we had a situation there where we had been carrying water to the town on a daily basis because the water had completely dried up. On a couple of occasions we found that after the water had been carted, there were two loads of water, approximately about 44 kilolitres had disappeared.
Up on the north coast, we had reports of irregularities relating to pumping river water, and the condition of so-called domestic water. In the Murrumbidgee we actually caught one irrigator who had taken about 1.8 million litres of water that he wasn't entitled to for the current water year.

NICK GRIMM: What action has been taken against the individuals who've been detected doing this?

JOHN AQUILINA: The person who took the water from the Murrumbidgee has now had his bore licences suspended, so in actual fact, we've cancelled the licences that he had which means he won't be able to extract any water. When we have instances or evidence of theft of water, then we take action to stop that happening, and where possible, we prosecute the individuals.

NICK GRIMM: For its part, the Queensland Government is threatening water thieves with fines of up to $70,000. Meanwhile proponents of plans to enclose rural water channels inside recycled plastic pipes argue that that will help cut back on theft.

Leith Boully is a member of the Wentworth Group which was formed recently by concerned scientists to urge state, territory and federal governments to tackle the drought by applying sound environmental science. A trained scientist herself, Leith Boully chairs the Murray-Darling Basin ministerial advisory committee. But she's also a Queensland farmer and is disturbed by the talk of a black market in water.
LEITH BOULLY: Personally, I'm horrified because water's definitely the most precious resource we have at the moment given the current drought conditions. And I can't imagine anyone stealing water which is what it is effectively from others who may need it more and this is the time when we should all be honest and above board. And if we have a need, we should be talking to those who can perhaps provide the need.

NICK GRIMM: Have you been aware of practices like this occurring?

LEITH BOULLY: I've heard of one or two instances and most of those have been dealt with by local irrigators or people's peers within the community.

NICK GRIMM: What do you mean by that? Can you elaborate?

LEITH BOULLY: I do know of irrigator groups who have the view that they should themselves stop people doing the wrong thing, whether it's taking water when they shouldn't or taking water that belongs to others. Intervening before the regulatory authorities come on board and have to take action. And most of these groups do it because they, they don't want one or two individuals to make the rest of them appear to be people without values.

NICK GRIMM: And the NSW Water Resources Minister, John Aquilina, agrees that water thieves may have more to fear from their neighbours than authorities.

JOHN AQUILINA: Out in rural communities, that sort of thing is detected very quickly. Those individuals become outcasts very quickly and quite frankly I don't think they'd want to live in those communities.

ELEANOR HALL: The NSW Land and Water Conservation Minister, John Aquilina, ending that report from Nick Grimm.

This is a transcript from The World Today. The program is broadcast around Australia at 12:10pm on ABC Local Radio.