clipped from www.guardian.co.uk

Water has been a frequent cause of disputes in Australia, which is in its sixth year of severe drought.

A man has been killed in a fight over watering his lawn in drought-stricken Australia in an apparent case of water rage.

Retired lorry driver Ken Proctor, 66, was using a hose on the front lawn of his house in Sylvania, Sydney, when a man walked past and challenged him about wasting water. The two men began to argue and Mr Proctor turned the hose on the man, soaking him.

A fight broke out and the pensioner was knocked to the ground and punched and kicked before other passers-by, including an off-duty police officer, intervened.

As his distraught wife looked on, Mr Proctor was treated at the scene by ambulance officers but died of cardiac arrest after being taken to hospital.

Garden sprinklers are banned, it is illegal to wash cars with hosepipes and gardens may only be watered on set days. People caught breaching the regulations are fined.