Thames Water to tackle £1.2 metal theft bill

Britain’s biggest water company will now be tagging all its metal with an invisible liquid

THAMES Water will begin to tag its metal to deter thieves who last year stole £1.2m worth of metal from its operational sites.

Britain's biggest water company will be using a tagging system called 'SmartWater,' a coded water which can only be seen under ultra-violet light.

Thames Water has also announced it is working with local police and security specialists to install covert traps to capture criminals in the act.

Bob Collington, Thames Water's director of asset management, said soaring commodity prices are fuelling the underground market for copper, lead and other non-ferrous metals.

"Metal theft at our sites costs our customers millions of pounds to put right,” he said. “We are dealing with this by applying a forensic signature to all our equipment, so anything taken from one of our sites can be traced back. This makes it very difficult for criminals to sell on stolen items without detection.

“Any thieves who target our property face being sprayed with forensic liquid, meaning they will carry evidence of their crime on their skin and clothing wherever they go – it's a huge risk, for very little gain.”

Jon Lorimer, Thames Water's security specialist, added: “It's an epidemic. Stainless steel, aluminium, anything that isn't tied down, and even some things that are, are getting stolen. Because demand from places like China is so great, prices have shot up.”

SmartWater is a chemically-coded liquid which is almost impossible to remove and only visible under ultra-violet light.

Regular scrap yard checks will also be carried out across the Thames Water region and an increasing number of scrap metal dealers are also equipping themselves with UV lights making it very difficult for criminals to sell metal on.