"Grand Theft Water"

(Originally posted on waterefficiency.net)

By Elizabeth Cutright
Editor
Water Efficiency


Prayers for rain, water cops on the beat, artificial turf blanketing large swathes of outdoor space…welcome to drought in the good ol’ USA. Throughout the country, communities finding themselves in the grips of a water crisis are exploring all manner of water conservation and efficiency tactics. Some work better than others, but, so far, widespread panic seems to have been averted.
But if you’re wondering just how bad it can get, look no further than Australia. Southeastern Australia has been battling a debilitating drought for several years now, forcing communities large and small to limit how and when water can be used. For example, in Melbourne, gardens can be watered only on specified days, and car washing has been banned outright.
Most citizens have taken these water conservation efforts to heart and are doing their best to comply, but a few have crossed the line. In Melbourne for example, any apparent misuse ignites not just derision, but outright anger and condemnation by neighbors suspicious of grass that looks a little too green or a car that’s cleaner than all the rest. Described as “water rage” by a local newspaper, these outraged residents employ variety of vigilante tactics—from equipment sabotage to verbal threats—in an attempt to scare their water-wasting neighbors into compliance. Sometimes the situation gets out of hand—in 2003 two Sydney neighbors literally came to blows after one family felt the grass was much too green on the other side of the fence.
But now enforcement and water management has gone beyond the actions of a few aggrieved citizens: large-scale water theft—diverting entire streams of water from a river or reservoir—is the latest and greatest threat to Australia’s fragile water resource management system. For Premier Mike Rann, the possibility of “grand theft water” is a matter of national security; an act of “environmental terrorism” that demands a hefty punishment. He warns that soon prison will await anyone found guilty of illegally siphoning off water.
“Anyone who is doing this sort of thing is unbelievably treacherous to the national interest and it’s an act of terrorism against the Australian people,” says Rann. “It is a criminal offence, and anyone siphoning water off illegally, in my view, should be locked up.”
Could a similar situation unfold in the US? Is it a stretch to equate the theft of a natural resource with terrorism? What if oil was being stolen instead of water?