How is this crime committed?

Or tampering with city property. That's what the charge is here in Htown. Unless you pipe it in somehow, how is it theft?

Serious? He broke the lock on the meter which would allow his neighbor to bypass the meter when drawing public water. The same as if he broke an electric meter. He doesn't have to get the water himself, but he clearly was an accomplice (if convicted).

He would have to tap the line behind his neighbor's meter otherwise he would be taking off the main which would be harder to detect.

I saw a recent news item where a town is putting in digital water meters that can show the water company usage in real time. It can look for odd usage amounts that are usually a sign of leaks or theft and alert the customer right away instead of them being shocked by a monthly bill that shows 10X normal usage.