Water Theft in New Mexico?

I can almost smell the scent of hot dogs and hamburgers floating through the warm spring air from the quickly approaching Memorial Day weekend.

To many New Mexicans, Memorial Day brings the annual voyage to Elephant Butte Lake – which in turn brings the annual game of discovering how low the water levels have dipped since the “good ole days.” Nowadays, the water marks across the shoreline are like pencil marks on the wall of a child that is constantly measuring his height, but to his horror discovers each year that the marks are steadily inching towards the floor.

Would you believe me if I told you that Elephant Butte’s water woes are due to thieves stealing water from the lake? Maybe? Possibly? Probably not.

Think of one item that is more abundant than water? It’s everywhere – fountains, pools, public bathrooms, in an almost unquenchable supply. The idea of someone actively stealing water is similar to the thought of someone stealing oxygen – a seemingly ridiculous and far fetched concept straight from the pages of a horrible science fiction novel.

But at this moment science fiction is smashing into reality, and the odds are good that as you are reading these words someone is stealing water in California.

According to a report released earlier this week by the Associated Press, California is knee deep in the fourth year of a drought so serious that reports of water theft are now common.

A number of homeowners in Modesto California were fined $1,500 for allegedly taking water from a canal. In Oakland, authorities have received reports of people illegally tapping into hydrants in order to fill tanks and any number of other large containers that store water. Water thieves in the town of North San Juan stole thousands of gallons of water from a fire department tank. In other areas of California, water criminals have targeted water pipes laid for developmental areas that may not have meters attached to the pipe. Especially clever water bandits have created ways to circumvent the water meters – allowing the thieves to direct the liquid gold away from the rightful owner and into their container of choice.

In response to this growing trend of water lawlessness, Madera County District Attorney, David Linn, has instituted a Water Crime Task Force to combat the flood of water theft occurring throughout California. According to the task force, based on a newly enacted ordinance, water thieves will be fined $500 for the first offense and $1,000 for a second violation.

The recent events in California begs the question – is water theft coming to a lake, tank or hydrant near you?