Using metal & stainless steel backflow enclosure cages to prevent valve theft came along in 2008 after the economic crash. Thieves found that the metals used in backflow assemblies and the surrounding plumbing system were worth a lot of money at the recycling yards.
In Arizona, southern California and Florida, where backflow preventers are installed above ground (good) but completely uncovered and unprotected (bad), valve theft was rampant and cost municipalities and taxpayers millions of dollars in replacement costs.
As a result, lots of small cage manufacturers popped up to supply the immediate demand and knee jerk reaction to using inexpensive cages to temporarily protect their plumbing system. Today, cages are still used in municipal systems to prevent valve theft, but there are many drawbacks to using these “enclosures.”
“I couldn't take my meds," said El Caro resident Susan Gill. "I couldn't take a shower. I couldn't have coffee, couldn't flush the toilet." The 61-year-old doesn't have bottled water in her apartment unit near 21st and Northern avenues. She relies on what comes out of the tap. "We're elderly people," Gill said. "We can't carry it (bottled water) from the stores or anything. It's too hard for us. Most of us are disabled."
Gill and her neighbors worried they wouldn't get help because the front office was closed and because it was a holiday. She estimated she was without water for about nine hours.
Anderson said he isn't surprised the thieves took brass instead of copper. "I've seen people scrap different types of metal," he said. Brass, you can scrap just as much as copper. Copper is more valuable, but brass is a lot thicker."
If these valves were protected by a solid, ASSE 1060-certified enclosure, the thieves would not have even known what was inside, much less been able to steal them.
