Californias Drought Is So Bad, Thieves Are Now Stealing Water - Daily Beast
At least one managed to make off with a 500-gallon water tanker. It’s one of a growing number of water-related crimes in California, where Governor Jerry Brown has issued an executive order to cut water use by 25 percent ( PDF ). These tough times are forcing them to forsake their signature emerald lawns, cut... So as the drought slogs into biblical proportions—recording the driest period in the state’s history—crimes of dehydration may become the new normal. “It’s basically collateral damage I’m sure from the drought,” John Coleman, who sits on the board of the East Bay Municipal Utility District, where the joyrider who stole the water tanker remains in the wind, told The Daily Beast. “The drought is driving the price of water up and you’re starting to see people who are desperate for it willing to get it any way they can,” he said. He rattled off instances ranging from ripping off vacationing families to some going for broke and skimming from the local water source. “We’ve had situations in the past where people have stolen from their neighbor’s houses when they’re gone to some folks who didn’t want to pay for the water and dug under the street and tapped into the main line,” he said. A next-door neighbor told The Daily Beast he was surprised to learn the tanker had been boosted. Source: www.thedailybeast.com
