Due to its increasing scarcity, fresh water has become a highly valued global market commodity with entrepreneurs advising speculators on how to advance their portfolios through innovative freshwater investments whilst upholding sustainable development objectives (Williams, 2023). Moreover, there is no shortage of global economic advice on the best 'water stocks' to maximise profits in the face of climate change and diminishing potable freshwater 'resources' (Whitakker, 2024). Its acquisition through investment or theft, is therefore, often a profitable enterprise. Water theft, defined by Interpol (2016: 33) as 'the unauthorized use and consumption of water before it reaches the intended end-user' constitutes between 30-50 percent of the global water distribution and commercialisation (Loch et al. 2020). However, the associated environmental and social impacts of water speculation and water theft remain under researched and largely unknown (Eman, 2023).

Fresh water is essential to life. Due to its increasing scarcity relative to use it is often identified as the ‘new oil’ or ‘blue gold’. Its theft is, therefore, a profitable enterprise. Water theft is the unauthorized use and consumption of water before it reaches the intended end-user. It constitutes between 30-50 percent of the global water distribution and commercialisation.

Australia is not immune from such illegal activity. Australia is the world’s driest inhabited continent and with few exceptions water security is seriously threatened throughout. While some threats are undoubtedly climate-induced, the theft of water is playing an increasingly significant role in undermining and compromising Australia’s water security. Yet relatively little is known of the historical and contemporary context of water theft in Australia, and the parameters of the phenomenon remain under-researched.

This is the first of a series of briefing papers on the Water Theft Project focussing on the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia. This paper outlines the overall research endeavour. It introduces the project aims, the project methodology and methods, and its intended outcomes. Future papers in this series will provide detailed and substantive discussions of key concepts (‘water theft’), policies (‘laws and regulations’ and the ‘water market’) and government and community responses to water theft issues (breaches of regulation, perceptions of water taking as ‘folk crime’, serious criminal offences).