A small town south of Quebec City is keeping a close eye on its fire hydrants after 41,000 litres of water were stolen in the middle of the night.

Laurent Marcotte, the mayor of the municipality of Saint-Léonard-d'Aston, Que., says the thieves hit the town's hydrants twice in one week and transferred the water into tanker trucks.

He says he doesn't understand why this happened.

"I'd really like to know what's behind this," said Marcotte. "The goal isn't really to send someone to jail, it's to understand why they need the water and why they aren't calling the municipalities … they call us, and we arrange it together."

He says he advised provincial police, who say they will monitor the area to prevent similar incidents in the coming days.

But Marcotte says this theft is part of a patter

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