As California drought conditions worsen, water thieves are on the rise. One drove off with a 500-gallon water tanker in the Oakland Hills in March. The Marina Landscape tanker was resting on a trailer parked in front of a job site near the Caldecott Tunnel and police believe a thief hooked it up to a truck and drove off. The tanker is worth $4,500 to $5,000 and authorities suspect the thieves will use it to steal more water.
Last month, Sacramento police caught two men who illegally tapped into a city fire hydrant to fill a 2,000- to 4,000-gallon water truck they’d rented, the Sacramento Bee reports. Officials are determining whether the men had simply forgotten to obtain a permit or were intentionally stealing water.
This month the owners of a nudist resort in the Santa Cruz Mountains were charged with theft after piping water from a nearby creek despite many warnings from Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to stop, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
For the full story, on SFGate.com, click here.