Police probe water theft from superpipe

A DEAN farmer is facing charges after allegedly tapping into and stealing water from the Goldfields Superpipe.The farmer, 65, was interviewed by detectives in Ballarat on Thursday and is expected to be charged on summons after allegedly tapping into, and taking water from, the pipe in late March.The amount of water stolen was not known yesterday and Moorabool Criminal Investigation Unit Detective Sergeant Tony Coxall said police became involved after Central Highlands Water was made aware of the theft and started its own investigation.Det Sgt Coxall said the pipe was accessed through a valve outlet."Police became involved after an investigation was mounted by the CHW board and that identified this male person as a suspect," he said."The CHW board is working with the police and they are working to quantify the amount of water that has been stolen."All we can say is a locked valve outlet was accessed and the water was allegedly taken by using irrigation equipment."CHW spokeswoman Wendy Stubbs would not comment on whether the pipe ran through the farmer's property.Crews noticed the water was missing within two hours, she said."We have got very sophisticated monitoring systems across the 87km of the pipe," she said."They monitor how it is operating and they can depict any change in pressure. The moment that happens, it shuts the pump and we get alarms."It was a single incident and were out there in two hours."Ms Stubbs said it was the first incidence of theft from the pipe since it began pumping in May 2008.