Officials Target Water Thieves : Thousand Oaks: A proposed ordinance revision is aimed at prosecuting people who tap into sources illicitly or alter their meters.

Thousand Oaks is planning a crackdown on water thieves that involves toughening a local water theft ordinance to make it easier for the city to prosecute residents who illegally hook into water sources or tamper with water meters.

City Atty. Mark G. Sellers said tougher measures are needed because the increasing price of water has prompted two known thefts in the past year.

In one case, a man hooked his hose into a city-owned pipe in order to water his and a neighbor’s lawn, Sellers said. City officials suspect that other people are tampering with their water meters and going undetected.

“If they’re sneaky, we may not discover them for a while,” Sellers said.

The proposed ordinance will be reviewed Tuesday by the City Council. Under an existing city ordinance, officials had to prove that a person intended to steal water when a meter or pipe was found to have been tampered with.

The revised ordinance would allow the city to prosecute a person on a misdemeanor charge if he or she is the only person who benefited from any tampering with the meter or pipe. If found guilty, the person could be given a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail or both.

“The presumption in the ordinance is that if there is any tampering, it’s with the knowledge that it’s an illegal action,” Sellers said. The city has had difficulty preventing theft because most water meters are not designed to be tamper-proof, he said.

In addition to changes in the ordinance, the city utilities department is checking meters in an effort to catch thieves.

This month, utility workers began conducting random checks of about 1,300 of the 13,000 water meters in the city to determine if they have been altered, city Utilities Director Don Nelson said.

“We’ve had more theft attempts this year,” Nelson said. “It’s something we want to nip in the bud.”

Officials say Thousand Oaks has not noted an increase in water theft until this year, when the council adopted mandatory water conservation measures that require Thousand Oaks residents to trim their use by 20% or face penalties.

Also, water prices increased this month from 92 cents to $1.13 for every hundred cubic feet of water used. A hundred cubic feet is equal to about 748 gallons. The new rates add about $5.25 to a typical monthly water bill of $28.50.

Officials from two water companies that also serve customers in Thousand Oaks said they have not noted an increase in water theft in their respective water districts.

Judy Almond, manager of the California-American Water Co. in Newbury Park, said she could recall only two cases of water theft in her district in the past five years. Those cases were resolved without having to go to court.

If anyone were found to alter the meter to give a false reading, “we would go out there and discontinue service,” said Sam Palermo Jr., manager of the California Water Service Co. in Westlake.

Deputy City Atty. Nancy Kierstyn Schreiner said the city has already successfully prosecuted one man on theft charges, and another case is pending.

In May, utility workers discovered that Arthur Spong of Thousand Oaks had hooked a garden hose to a city water main on Autumnwood Street. Schreiner said Spong told workers he did not know the pipe belonged to the city.

Spong pleaded guilty after the city attorney’s office took him to court. He was fined $400 and given three years of probation.