Is water flowing in a public river or stream 'a thing capable of being stolen'?

Abstract

The environmental problem is without doubt one of the most critical problems facing our generation today (Judge CG Weeramantry in the foreword to D Grindlinton and P Taylor Property Rights and Sustainability: The Evolution of Property Rights to Meet Ecological Challenges (2011)). Water, as an invaluable human resource, lies at the heart of the environmental disaster threatening the continued existence of life on earth as we know it. This valuable resource, commonly regarded as a gift of nature's bounty (which ought to be reserved for the whole of the populace) has been misused and abused to such an extent that it is only through innovative intervention that its sustainable protection can be pursued.