Manhole cover theft

Manhole cover theft is the phenomenon of manhole covers being stolen, usually for resale as scrap. Long considered to be a childish prank in the United States, this type of theft is often expensive to municipalities, and dangerous to their residents.

It first became a serious problem in India and China, where missing manhole covers caused at least eight deaths. Hundreds of manhole covers are stolen in the city of Bangalore, India every month. In Newham, East London, nearly 200 grates and covers were stolen.

In the city of Calcutta, India more than 10,000 manhole covers were taken in two months. These were replaced with concrete covers, but these were also stolen, this time for the iron rods inside them. The thieves were believed to be buying lottery tickets with the money.

Missing covers and grates may cause disappearances, deaths, and damage to vehicles.

According to China's Xinhua news agency, about "240,000 manhole and street-drain covers were stolen in Beijing in 2004."

In China Shakes the World, James Kynge describes the phenomenon:

''...in the several weeks beginning in mid-February 2004, when, slowly at first but with mounting velocity, manhole covers started to disappear from roads and pavements around the world. As Chinese demand drove up the price of scrap metal to record levels, thieves almost everywhere had the same idea. As darkness fell, they levered up the iron covers and sold them to local merchants, who cut them up and loaded them onto ships to China. The first displacements were felt in Taiwan, the island just off China's southeast coast. The next were in other neighbors such as Mongolia and Kygyzstan... Wherever the sun set, pilferers worked to satisfy China's hunger. More than 150 covers disappeared during one month in Chicago. Scotland's "great drain robbery" saw more than a hundred vanish in a few days. From Montreal to Gloucester to Kuala Lumpur, unsuspecting pedestrians stumbled into holes.

Thefts

Location	Number	Type	Date	Reason
Columbus, Ohio	25	Grates and covers	August 2003
Hong Kong	8	Manhole covers and gutterbox grates	January 2004
Shanghai, China	1,826	Manhole covers	January 2004
Johannesburg, South Africa	380	Covers	August 2004 to January 2005
Milwaukee, Wisconsin	more than 160	Grates and Covers	since January 1, 2004	scrap metal
Gloucester, England	48	Covers	March 11, 2004
Fife, Scotland	50	Covers	October 2004
Aberdeen, Scotland	130	Covers	2004
Indianapolis, Indiana	dozens	Covers and sewer grates	2006	Scrap?
Detroit Lakes, Minnesota	1	Cover	Unknown
Daegu, South Korea	100s	Misc. steel	Unknown
Vail, Colorado	Unknown	Covers	Unknown	Taken as souvenirs
Prague, Czech Republic	20 per day	Unknown	Unknown	Protest by homeless people facing eviction from sewer systems
Alness, Scotland	13	Covers	July 2008	Unknown, possibly used as sledging devices by locals
Powys, Wales	40	Unknown	Unknown
Cherokee County, Georgia	28	Covers	2008	Scrap?

See also

• Metal theft
• Street sign theft
• Parking meter theft

References

External links

• Shelly Whitehead "Manhole covers disappearing: Thefts may be tied to high resell". The Kentucky Post. E. W. Scripps Company, .
• New manhole covers to beat the vandals (City of Johannesburg)