Fire is exchanged over “all-Arab” plan to divert the Jordan River headwaters (Hasbani and Banias) and presumably preempt Israeli National Water Carrier; Syria halts construction of its diversion in July 1966.
Protesters in poor communities of Cape Town, South Africa riot over inadequate water and power. Hundreds burn tires, destroy cars, and throw rocks at police in anger over the lack of basic services.
Violence breaks out in the town of Yopal, Colombia, which has been without water for nearly two years following the destruction of a water treatment plant by a landslide. Demonstrations at government offices and offices of the water company lead to injuries and arrests.
Control over power and water infrastructure and intentional attacks on that infrastructure are being used as weapons in the civil war in Syria. Officials estimate there has been a 50 percent reduction in access to safe water in the country since the war began.
Dynamiting of a canal reservoir in Paulding County, Ohio by a mob regarding it as a health hazard. State Militia called out to restore order.
During the Persian Gulf War, Allied forces target water and sanitation facilities in Iraq’s second-largest city, Basra. The damage is unrepairable.
Thousands of farmers in Karnataka try to prevent the release of water from two dams (Krishna Raja Sagar and Kabini) on the Kaveri River. Injuries to protestors and police are reported. The water releases are ordered by the Indian Supreme Court, which requires Karnataka to deliver water downstream state of Tamil Nadu despite severe drought. The dispute continues later in the year when Karnataka again halts releases.
Continued serious water tensions between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan lead to the deployment of 130,000 Uzbekistani troops on the Kyrgyz border to guard reservoirs straddling the two countries. Uzbekistan accuses Kyrgyzstan of releasing too much water from the Toktogul reservoir. Kyrgyzstan, through media leak, hints that in case the reservoir would be blown up, the resulting flood would sweep away Uzbekistan’s Ferghana and Zeravshan Valleys.
The Tyuyamuyun reservoir in the delta of the Amu Darya is a point of contention between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Violence occurrs in 1992 over the re-direction of drainage waters and raids by both sides to cut off pipes and irrigation canals. Today, the Tyuyamuyun remains one of several disputed areas in continuing water dispute with Uzbekistan.
Conflict between the government of Laurent Gbagbo and opposing rebel forces leads to extensive violence and regional conflict. In late September 2002, there are reports of several mass graves discovered in the Bangolo. In Zeregbo and Bahably, four water wells are found with human remains. Early reports indicate that western rebel groups who captured the area killed the persons in the mass graves and wells between December 2002 and January 2003.