Spoliers:
Hi all, I read in a game guide about the water thief. I talked to the named citizens, none of them mentioned anything about him. I talked to the guard in front of the supply room. He didn't say anything. I waited til midnight, and the thief didn't show up.
In the guide, it said at the beginning, travel for a day, then go back to 13. I went to 15 first, before I went back. The water thief quest fires only if you go back right away?
Thanks for any replies.

In starting my game over a few times in the last week, I've noticed sometimes nobody mentions the thief sometimes, and sometimes I'm able to hear about and catch him.
The only difference I've noticed thus far is in the cases where I don't hear about him, I have Ian with me. Not saying this is the difference, but it's atleast one thing I've noticed.

That's possible. I had him with me also.

You have to go out for a day's travel before you can even getback inside the vault. I've found I have to wait until after the 90 day mark to trigger the water thief. I was tryign to progress without too much back and forth this time through and tried getign teh quest rigth up and until 89th day and no luck, and immediately after teh 90 day custscene the water thief quest opened up.
Makes sense if you think about how desperate an honest man has to be to steal when living within a realtive utopia.