blocking the taps in the bathrooms used to be a fairly regular occurance in some of the seedier places I used frequent in my youth. I never did understand the point of it as switching off the water meant the toilets couldnt be flushed either and they would end up in a terrible state - in my inebriated youthful state I used to think that they were only shooting themselves in the foot cos theyd have to pay some unfortunate staff member to clean the toilets out.
Now I understand!! It lets them charge a fortune for water!!!