Congress of South African Trade Unions, South African Municipal Workers Union and the South African Communist Party marched on the Nelspruit council to protest against plans to privatise water and sanitation services.
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.
A chemical agent is discovered in the main waterline supplying the city of Kukes, Albania. The water supply is shut-off, impacting Kukes and the surrounding villages.
Yemeni tribesmen, thought to be from the Jahm tribe, attack and destroy a pipeline in the Marib province in order to pressure the national government to build water distribution systems and power plants in their region.
Malaysia supplies about half of Singapore’s water and in 1997 threatened to cut off that supply in retribution for criticisms by Singapore of policy in Malaysia.
A water pipeline that delivers water from San Silvestre marshland to the Ecopetrol Industrial Complex is attacked. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is presumed responsible.
In summer 1999, Tajikistan releases 700 million cubic meters of water from the Kairakum reservoir without warning its downstream neighbors. Among other effects, this cuts water to cotton crops in southern Kazakhstan, causing significant losses to farmers. At the same time, Kyrgyzstan cuts flows to southern Kazakhstan in retaliation for Kazakhstan’s failure to supply coal under barter agreements.
NATO attacks petrochemical and fertilizer factories in Pancevo, Serbia, claiming they are “dual use,” producing chemicals and parts for both military and civilian uses. The attack leads to the extensive release of ammonia, ethylene dichloride, and other chemicals into the Danube River and contaminates the city’s water supply.
Explosives are placed along a water supply pipeline by the Comit? R?gional d’Action Viticole in France. No injuries to people are reported.
A water tank is damaged from a petrol bomb thrown by unknown assailants in Istanbul, Turkey.