Police arrested a 55-year-old Indio Hills man on Tuesday for stealing 80,000 gallons of water Tuesday.
Baltazar Arias tapped into a fire hydrant to steal the water, which was worth $24,000, reports the Desert Sun. He is charged with felony utility theft.
The Coachella Valley Water District reported the incident to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department the previous day.
“To put it in perspective, the average household in the Coachella Valley uses about 160,000 gallons of water per year,” CVWD’s Heather Engel said.
Police are not sure how long the theft was going on.
