An acute water shortage in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India leads to fights among locals and one death. The government expresses concern about large-scale public unrest due to a severe drought and major water shortages.
In July, workers at the Cellatex chemical plant in northern France dump 5,000 liters of sulfuric acid into a tributary of the Meuse River after they are denied workers’ benefits. A French analyst points out that this is the first time “the environment and public health were made hostage in order to exert pressure, an unheard-of situation until now.”
Contamination of a North Carolina reservoir with unknown materials. According to Clark: “Safety caps and valves were removed, and poison chemicals were sent into the reservoir….Water had to be brought in.”
Members of the Rajneesh religious cult contaminate a city water supply tank in The Dalles, Oregon, using Salmonella. A community outbreak of over 750 cases occurred in a county that normally reports fewer than five cases per year.
A water dispute in Pakistan’s tribal region leads to 116 deaths. In early September, the Mangal tribe cut off the supply of irrigation water to lands used by the neighboring Tori tribe, leading to fighting.
Insurgents from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seize the Fallujah Dam in Iraq and close the floodgates to cause upstream flooding and to cut downstream water supply. The objective is to flood the area around the city of Fallujah to force government troops to retreat and lift a siege, while cutting water supplies and hydroelectricity generation for other parts of the country.
Water and food supplies are cut off during Arab siege of Jerusalem from December 1, 1947 to July 10, 1948. Arab forces block the road to Jerusalem, in an attempt to defeat Jewish Jerusalem. Shortages cause Israelis to begin rationing water on May 12, limiting each person to 2 gallons per day (8 L), of which 4 pints (2 L) are for drinking.
A woman was killed in a dispute over the price of water in El Gedaref, Sudan. This violent clash triggers more fighting between familial groups, leading to at least eight more deaths and dozens of injuries.
A remotely detonated explosive on a road used for delivering supplies to the Silvan Dam construction site kills one civilian, a child. The bomb is thought to be planted by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and targeted at military vehicles.
Union of South African troops capture Windhoek, capital of German Southwest Africa in May 1915. Retreating German troops poison wells – “a violation of the Hague convention.”