During the Persian Gulf War, Allied forces target water and sanitation facilities in Iraq’s second-largest city, Basra. The damage is unrepairable.
The flow of the Euphrates is interrupted for a month as Turkey finishes construction of the Atat?rk Dam, part of the Grand Anatolia Project. Syria and Iraq protest that Turkey now has a weapon of war. In mid-1990 Turkish president Turgut ?zal threatens to restrict water flow to Syria to force it to withdraw support for Kurdish rebels operating in southern Turkey.
During the Gulf War, targeted attacks on transformers and turbines at water treatment plants leave whole cities, such as Basra, without water or wastewater treatment. And due to embargos, parts needed to fix the plants are not available. It is estimated that at least 25% of water treatment plants in Iraq do not have backup power supply and are inoperable after electrical grids are damaged.
A large amount of dynamite is discovered near a water pumping station near Moshav Ramon, prior to detonation. The detonation would have likely caused flooding and damage to agricultural land.
During the Gulf War, Iraq destroys much of Kuwait’s desalination capacity during retreat.
During the Persian Gulf War, Allied Coalition forces damage Baghdad’s modern water supply and sanitation system”intentionally and unintentionally. “Four of seven major pumping stations were destroyed, as were 31 municipal water and sewerage facilities in Baghdad”resulting in sewage pouring into the Tigris. Water purification plants were incapacitated throughout Iraq” (Arbuthnot 2000). Following the damage, the New England Journal of Medicine reports that, during the first eight months of 1991, childhood death in Iraq increases by 47,000 and the country’s infant…
To quell opposition to his government, Saddam Hussein reportedly poisons and drains the water supplies of southern Shiite Muslims, the Marsh Arabs, or Ma?d?n. The marshes of southern Iraq are intentionally targeted. The European Parliament and UN Human Rights Commission deplore use of water as weapon in region.
Lethal concentrations of potassium cyanide are reported discovered in the water tanks of a Turkish Air Force compound in Istanbul. The Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) claims credit.
Potassium cyanide is discovered in lethal quantities in the water supply of a Turkish air force base. No one is poisoned prior to the discovery. The attack is attributed to the Kurdish Workers’ Party.
Over the course of a few days, militant groups in the Abkhazia region of Georgia attack and damage numerous water supply structures, leaving at least twelve villages without water. In addition, one person who is thought to be responsible for the placement of an explosive device on a water tower is killed when the device detonates.