Vandals destroy California dam; 49 million gallons of water lost
Source: KTVU
FREMONT, Calif. (KTVU) – Authorities in the East Bay on Friday were investigating an act of vandalism at Alameda Creek that destroyed an inflatable dam, costing the Alameda County Water District nearly 50 million gallons of water.
Fremont Police believe the vandals entered a restricted area sometime Thursday morning and intentionally damaged an inflatable dam on Alameda Creek. The dam, which is instrumental to the district's water supply operations, suffered irreversible damage.
More than 150 acre-feet of water -- approximately 49 million gallons -- washed past the destroyed dam and into the San Francisco Bay. The water was to have been percolated into the Niles Cone Groundwater Basin for use by residents and businesses in Fremont, Newark, and Union City.
The amount of water is enough to supply the needs of approximately 500 homes for one year.
Read more: http://www.ktvu.com/story/29138248/49-million-gallons-of-water-lost-in-east-bay-vandalism-attack
= new reply since forum marked as read
Knowing the drought California is facing they did it intentionally? 
I'm stuck between the Tantalus treatment, or drowning. Although a vigorous beating would be fine, too. Old West mythology tells us that horse thieves and cattle rustlers were hanged at the first opportunity; we may eventually reach a version of that for water thieves and wasters... 
(Note: I am speaking from an emotional and semi-tongue-in-cheek place here, not in genuine advocacy of cruel, unusual, or capital punishment.)
Last October, a peer reviewed article came out identifying a handful of "high priority" dams that needed to be removed or upgraded because they were threatening native fish species with extinction. The three of the five dams identifying as destroying highly diverse native habitat were the rubber dams on Alameda Creek. The county had already been under a lot of pressure from groups like the Alameda Creek Alliance who have been pushing to restore the natural creek flows (prior to the dams, the creek supported both steelhead trout and salmon runs). Since the report came out, the county has been coming under increasing pressure from the wider environmentalist community to do something about these dams.
To say that Bay Area environmentalists are "dedicated" is putting it mildly. It's entirely possible that one of them just got tired of waiting.
Or, it could have just been some arse who decided that it would be "fun" to cut the dam. Who knows 
