Islamic State closes the Fallujah Dam floodgates and diverts water over an irrigation channel into a side valley, inundating land up to 100km away and placing parts of the city of Abu Ghraib under up to four meters of water. More than 10,000 houses and 200 square kilometers of farmland are flooded and extensive livestock killed. Water for millions of people in the cities of Karbala, Najaf, and Babil is cut off for a time.
In less than a week, several water projects are the targets of explosives, killing six employees of one of the water projects and damaging the infrastructure in Al-Shirqat District, Saladin Governorate, and Mushirfah, Nineveh Governorate, Iraq.
In Iraq, Islamic State blocks access to water in the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh (also known as Bakhdida), take over farms and agricultural land, and expel most of the 50,000 residents.
At least two people die from a blast at a water purification plant in the city of Fallujah, in Al Anbar Province. More than 20 people are hospitalized from chlorine poisoning from the destruction of a water-purification chemical storage facility.
Two schools and a solar-powered tube well are destroyed in a blast attributed to militants in the Mohmand Agency. No injuries are reported.
Reports from a military spokesperson from Iraq say secuirty forces fought off militant groups trying to sieze Haditha and a nearby dam on the Euphrates River. 40 militants are killed by the security forces.
In Nigeria, Tiv/Agatu farmers and Fulanis herdsmen clash over access to grazing land and water points. In April 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan orders military operations in Benue, Nasarawa, and Plateau states in an effort to reduce the violence.
After Russia annexes Crimea from the Ukraine, they accuse the Ukraine of cutting off the water supply in the North Crimea Canal, leading to a water shortage for Crimea’s agricultural fields growing grapes, rice, maize, and soya. The canal delivers water from the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine and accounts for 80% of Crimea’s water supply. The Ukraine government denies any political motive for the cut in supply, describing the reduced flow as a temporary result of building a flow…
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.
Tensions revive in the area of Jammu and Kashmir in early 2014 when upper caste women reportedly restrict access to higher quality water sources.