By CASEY NEILL
WATER meter thieves are costing Dandenong South workers money and creating a fire risk.
Greater Dandenong Tactical Anti-Crime Team (TACT) Sergeant Greg Nunn is investigating more than 60 thefts reported over the past three weeks, mainly from factory and warehouse sites.
“Businesses arrive at work on Monday morning to find they’ve got no water,” he said.
“Some have had to lay off large numbers of staff for the day because they’ve got no water, they have to close the factory.
“It’s a big problem.”
Sgt Nunn said the thieves were most likely selling the meters for scrap metal.
Brass is valued at about $3.50 a kilogram and gunmetal about $6 a kilogram.
“The meters are a few kilograms each,” he said.
He’s also investigating thefts in the Hallam area, seeking information from scrap metal dealers and tapping into businesses’ CCTV footage.
Sgt Nunn urged anyone who saw suspicious activity near water meters to call triple zero “so police can attempt to catch them in the act”.
South East Water asset creation general manager Charlie Littlefair said 87 customers had reported their water meter stolen since 1 January.
“A majority of the thefts have occurred on industrial or commercial estates or parks and reserves in the City of Greater Dandenong and the City of Casey areas,” he said.
“We believe that the water meters are stolen for their scrap metal value.”
Mr Littlefair said South East Water was working proactively with police to resolve the issue due to the financial impact of replacing stolen water meters and significant safety implications for the community.
“A loss of water supply is a major concern should there be a fire,” he said.
“In addition, loss of supply would also adversely affect customers on dialysis.”
Mr Littlefair said South East Water customers reported 184 meters stolen last year.
“Recently, the Lock-it device was developed to stop the theft of meters from residential housing development areas,” he said.
“The device has been installed in all new residential estates and has reduced the number of thefts of this type in South East Water’s supply area.”
He encouraged all customers to report any suspicious behaviour to local police.
