Al-Qaeda threatens U.S. water systems via call to a London-based, Saudi-owned magazine. The spokesman told the magazine that “al Qaeda [does not rule out] using sarin gas and poisoning drinking water in U.S. and Western cities.”
Four incendiary devices are found in the pumping station of a Michigan water-bottling plant. The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) claims responsibility, accusing Ice Mountain Water Company of “stealing” water for profit. Ice Mountain is a subsidiary of Nestle Waters.
A bomb blast at the Cali Drinking Water Treatment Plant kills 3 workers May 8th. The workers were members of a trade union involved in intense negotiations over privatization of the water system.
Jordanian authorities arrest Iraqi agents in connection with a botched plot to poison the water supply that serves American troops in the eastern Jordanian desert near the border with Iraq. The scheme involved poisoning a water tank that supplies American soldiers at a military base in Khao, which lies in an arid region of the eastern frontier near the industrial town of Zarqa.
During the US-led invasion of Iraq, water systems are reportedly damaged or destroyed by different parties, and major dams are military objectives of the US forces. Damage directly attributable to the war includes vast segments of the water distribution system and the Baghdad water system, damaged by a missile.
Insurgents bomb a main water pipeline in Baghdad. City engineers say this is the first strike against Baghdad’s water system during the Iraq War, which began in March 2003. The bombing occurs around seven in the morning, when a blue Volkswagen Passat stops on an overpass near the Nidaa mosque and an explosive is fired at the six-foot-wide water main in the northern part of Baghdad, said Hayder Muhammad, the chief engineer for the city’s water treatment plants.
The United States halts two water development projects as punishment to the Palestinian Authority for their failure to find those responsible for a deadly attack on a US diplomatic convoy in October 2003.
Four people are killed in October and more than 30 injured in November in ongoing protests by farmers over allocations of water from the Indira Ghandi Irrigation Canal in Sri Ganganagar district, which borders Pakistan. Authorities impose curfews on the towns of Gharsana, Raola and Anoopgarh.
There are two incidents in early November at Abidjan’s main jail, La Maison d’arr?t et de correction d’Abidjan (MACA) , in which prisoners are killed. The first incident is sparked by a lengthy water shortage; prisoners reportedly had not had water for 5 days except for small rations of drinking water. At least 7 prisoners die and 30 are injured in the ensuing riots. U.N. human rights officials said they were investigating the riot and could not give a final…
On November 4, the army carries out “Operation Dignity” and mounts surprise attacks on Bouake, stronghold of opposition forces and the largest city in the north, shattering an 18-month ceasefire. The Government cuts off electricity and water supplies to the north the day before the attacks. They remain off for about a week.