Funded by the Australian Research Council, the project will identify and critically examine water theft though a rigorous investigation of the key factors, scope, characteristics, motives and contexts of offending and compliance, resulting in a database of compliance and water theft offences in the MDB.

It will critically analyse the governance arrangements, the legislation, regulatory instruments, and policy related to freshwater management and distribution in the MDB; it will access the voices of stakeholders and communities impacted by water theft to understand the social, economic and environmental harms of water theft and, finally, it will develop a framework and policy recommendations of approaches for water theft prevention.

The project has a completion date of 30 June 2026.

Water theft,  ‘the unauthorized use and consumption of water before it reaches the intended end-user’ (Interpol), comprises between 30-50 per cent of the global ‘legal’ water distribution and commercialisation (Interpol-UNEP 2016: 33). Australia is not immune from such deleterious impacts. Our continent occupies 5.6 per cent of the world’s land mass yet receives just over one per cent of the world’s available freshwater resources (Water Services Association of Australia 2020). Water shortages are endemic to most regions in Australia, including the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), covering approximately one million square kilometres or 14 per cent of Australia’s land area and located in (QLD, NSW, SA, VIC and the ACT).

While some threats are undoubtedly climate induced the theft of water is playing an increasingly significant role in undermining and compromising Australia’s water security (Australian Institute of Criminology [AIC] 2017; Baird et al. 2020). In Australia, relatively little is known of the historical and contemporary context of water theft, and the parameters of the phenomenon remain under-researched. What is known is that ‘overuse and variable source replenishment’ has brought the problem of unauthorised water extraction to the national forefront (AIC 2017:1).

1. What types of water theft are committed in different parts of the MDB?
2. What are the drivers and motivations for water theft offending?
3. What are the facilitating social, economic and political factors / enablers of water theft in the MDB?
4. What are the impacts of water theft on humans, habitats and non-human species?
5. Which theories and perspectives best explain water theft?
6. How is water theft detected and prosecuted by Australian State and Federal agencies?
7. What more can be done to prevent water theft and its impacts?

This profiling of water theft will provide a foundation for conceptualising the prevention of water theft in the MDB and Australia more broadly.

• The project will identify water theft mitigation and prevention strategies that will benefit Australian industries, water providers, regulators and consumers.
• It will generate a compendium of data holdings across the various federal, state, territory, and local agencies related to water management and water theft in the MDB.
• The database will be developed to assist regulators, water permit users, and policy makers in decision making and practices that will enhance water security and compliance and prevent water theft.
• An online survey will capture experiences, attitudes and impacts of water theft from the Basin to give voice to and ascertain community perceptions.