In November 1941, Soviet troops flood the area to the south of the Istra Reservoir near Moscow in an effort to slow the German advance. Just a few weeks later, German troops use the same tactic to create a water barrier to halt advances by the Soviet 16th Army.
Germans flood the Ill River Valley during the Battle of the Bulge (winter 1944-45) creating a lake 16 kilometers long, 3-6 kilometers wide, and 1-2 meters deep, greatly delaying the American Army’s advance toward the Rhine.
Centralized dams on the Yalu (Amnok) River serving North Korea and China are attacked during Korean War.
The German army floods the Pontine Marches, on the coast of Italy southeast of Rome, by stopping pumps and opening dikes, in order to disrupt Allied forces who had established a beachhead at Anzio, Italy. Allied forces are surrounded by German artillery and pinned down for months by heavy shelling. The purpose of the flooding is to bring mosquitoes and malaria, “deliberately introduced as an act of biological warfare.” This has a limited military impact, but devastates the local population,…
Partition leaves Indus basin divided between India and Pakistan; disputes over irrigation water ensue, during which India stems flow of water into irrigation canals in Pakistan. Indus Waters Agreement reached in 1960 after 12 years of World Bank-led negotiations.
The US bombardment of the Japanese-occupied island in June 1944 targets water supply points, resulting in severe shortages.
Egypt sends an unsuccessful military expedition into disputed territory amidst pending negotiations over the Nile waters, Sudanese general elections, and an Egyptian vote on Sudan-Egypt unification; Nile Water Treaty signed when pro-Egyptian government elected in Sudan.
Israel destroys the Arab diversion works on the Jordan River headwaters. During Arab-Israeli War Israel occupies Golan Heights, with Banias tributary to the Jordan; Israel occupies West Bank.
The Youth International Party in the United States threatens to spike Lake Michigan with the hallucinogenic LSD. Lake Michigan serves as the city of Chicago’s drinking water supply. The threat is targeted at the Democratic National Convention of 1968. No known poisonings occur.
Israel, suspicious that Jordan is over-diverting the Yarmouk, leads two raids to destroy the newly-built East Ghor Canal, Secret negotiations, mediated by the US, lead to an agreement in 1970.