In the already dry and parched state of California, the area around Joshua Tree National Park in San Bernardino County is certainly no stranger to droughts and dryness. But in recent months there has been a rise in something other than the temperature, a rise in water theft crimes. Water managers have done what they can to stop the rise in crime, from hiring private security firms to using drones to catch the culprits, but it wasn’t long until local water managers began to hone in on the culprits: illegal marijuana farms.
The desert in San Bernardino County has seen a spike in illegal marijuana farms. California does allow marijuana farms with proper permits and approval from the local government, but San Bernardino County has not approved such permits. A big problem facing the state is the punishment parameters for illegally growing marijuana. It is a misdemeanor and a $500 fine for illegally growing as little as seven marijuana plants and as much as seven thousand plants. According to the state roughly 80% of California’s weed farms are illegal, “Where cultivation is illegal is where we’re seeing the highest occurrence of water theft complaints, so these cultivators are turning to the theft of municipal or groundwater supplies to support their illegal cultivations.” said Yvonne West, the director of enforcement for the State Water Resources Board.
Water theft is a lot more intricate than just stealing water from a fire hydrant. Many of the criminals steal water from local wells on abandoned or private property. Landowners have even been conned by black market buyers who buy tanks of water with cash, unbeknownst to the landowners that the water is going towards criminal use, “People that are living in those houses with the wells will sell their water to these haulers, in some cases, not knowing that it is an inappropriate use” said Kimberly Cox, general manager of the Helendale Community Services District.
Local police have begun raiding more illegal farms and several counties around the state have passed resolutions petitioning state lawmakers to grant them more power to combat the rise in water theft. “Because the sheriffs aren’t able to get on things fast enough, and we’re out here, kind of a desolate desert, most of the residents are starting to take matters into their own hands and starting to take care of it themselves scaring off the guys that are bleeding the grounds out” said San Bernardino County resident Greg Bruning. California has faced a multitude of problems facing water supply, from the drought to bureaucratic oversight, the rise in water theft in an already dry area of the state only exacerbates the situation.
