New police taskforces have been set up to battle gangsters hijacking water tankers, siphoning off private wells and digging under streets to tap into industrial pipelines, after the price of the essential liquid soared. 

Black market prices paid for water by desperate farmers growing thirsty crops such as almonds, or maintaining herds of livestock, are now soaring. 

California's governor, Jerry Brown, has ordered mandatory water cuts of up to 36% of supplies to once lush areas such as Beverly Hills. 

A new regime of fines threatening "squander bugs" with penalties as high as $10,000 (£6,500) has also raised demand for illicit deliveries.