| Water Conflicts Component1 #51416 Water is a factor in many global disputes. "Shutting somebody's water off," is the equivalent of condemning them to death, which people know instinctively. That is why privatization of water supplies is controversial. To accept it, people have to trust the supplier. |
Serious conflicts are hostile, which rules out minor political spats over water use, as in California and surrounding states. - Israel-Palestine: Both sides have attacked water sources, supply systems, and sewage systems for years. The latest dispute is Israelis hogging water and overcharging Palestinians for it. In the best of circumstances, thriving here requires paying careful attention to water supplies and limiting water use.
- North Korea in 2009 released 40 million cubic meters of water Hwanggag Dam, causing a tidal wave downstream. South Korea fears that the North will unleash this river if they have a conflict.
- Pakistan: Taliban threatened to blow up the Warzak Dam, the main water source for Peshawar, a provincial capital.
- Both Hezbollah and Israel damaged water facilities on both sides of the Lebanese border during the 2006 Israeli incursion.
- Afghanistan: the Kajaki Dam in was damaged during fighting between NATO and the Taliban, which continue trying to disrupt its rebuilding.
- Somalia and Ethiopia: Many clashes have occurred in boarder region disputes for water and pasture.
- Kenya: Tribal disputes over grazing and water were part of the political unrest that recently gripped the country.
- Afghanistan:The U.S. unintentionally bombed the Kajaki Dam in 2001, cutting electricity to Kandahar.
- Cali, Columbia: A bomb blast at the water treatment plant killed three workers during tense negotiations over privatization of the water system.
- India: Thousands of farmers stormed the Hirakud Dam to protest allocating water from it to industry.
This short list is a sample from the Pacific Institute.
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