{"id":155688,"date":"2025-11-27T03:14:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T03:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/155688\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T03:14:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T03:14:12","slug":"violence-over-water-is-on-the-rise-reached-a-record-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/155688\/","title":{"rendered":"Violence over water is on the rise, reached a record last year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Algeria, water shortages<\/a> left faucets dry, prompting protesters to riot and set tires ablaze.<\/p>\n

In Gaza, as people waited for water at a community tap, an Israeli drone fired on them, killing eight. <\/p>\n

In Ukraine, Russian rockets slammed into the country\u2019s largest dam, unleashing a plume of fire<\/a> over the hydroelectric plant and causing widespread blackouts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These are some of the 420 water-related conflicts researchers documented for 2024 in the latest update of the Pacific Institute\u2019s Water Conflict Chronology<\/a>, a global database of water-related violence.<\/p>\n

The year featured a record number of violent incidents over water around the world, far surpassing the 355 in 2023, continuing a steeply rising trend<\/a>. The violence more than quadrupled in the last five years.<\/p>\n

In 2024, there were 420 water-related conflicts\u00a0globally<\/p>\n

The majority of incidents were in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Eastern\u00a0Europe.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/p>\n

Russia and Ukraine<\/p>\n

51 conflicts<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/p>\n

Russia and Ukraine<\/p>\n

51 conflicts<\/p>\n

Pacific Institute<\/p>\n

Sean Greene LOS ANGELES TIMES<\/p>\n

The new data from the Oakland-based water think tank show also that drinking water wells, pipes and dams are increasingly coming under attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn almost every region of the world, there is more and more violence being reported over water,\u201d said Peter Gleick, the Pacific Institute\u2019s co-founder and senior fellow, and it \u201cunderscores the urgent need for international attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers collect information from news reports and other sources and accounts. They classify it into three categories: instances in which water was a trigger of violence, water systems were targeted and water was a \u201ccasualty\u201d of violence, for example when shell fragments hit a water tank.<\/p>\n

Not every case involves injuries or deaths but many do.<\/p>\n

The region with the most violent incidents was the Middle East, with 138 reported. That included 66 in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both in Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n

In the West Bank there were numerous reports of Israeli settlers destroying water pipelines and tanks and attacking Palestinian farmers.<\/p>\n

In Gaza the Israeli military destroyed more than 30 wells<\/a> in the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Yunis.<\/p>\n

Gleick noted that when the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants<\/a> for Israeli and Hamas leaders last year, accusing them of crimes against humanity, the charges mentioned Israeli military attacks on Gaza water systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an acknowledgment that these attacks are violations of international law,\u201d he said. \u201cThere ought to be more enforcement of international laws protecting water systems from attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Water systems also were targeted frequently in the Russia-Ukraine war, in which the researchers tallied 51 violent incidents.<\/p>\n

\"People <\/p>\n

Residents collect water in bottles in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, where repeated Russian shelling has left civilians without functioning infrastructure.<\/p>\n

(George Ivanchenko \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Russian strikes disrupted water service in Ukrainian cities, and oil spilled into a river<\/a> after Russian forces attacked an oil depot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese aren\u2019t water wars. These are wars in which water is being used as a weapon or is a casualty of the conflict,\u201d Gleick said.<\/p>\n

The researchers also found water scarcity and drought are prompting a growing number of violent conflicts. <\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change is making those problems worse,\u201d Gleick said.<\/p>\n

Many conflicts were in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n

In India, residents angry about water shortages assaulted a city worker.<\/p>\n

\"In <\/p>\n

In Jammu, India, a woman carries a container of drinking water filled from leaking water pipes in March.<\/p>\n

(Channi Anand \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

In Cameroon, rice farmers clashed with fishers, leaving one dead and three injured.<\/p>\n

At a refugee camp in Kenya, three people died in a fight over drinking water.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an increase in conflicts over irrigation, disputes pitting farmers against cities, and violence arising in places where only some water is safe to drink. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A man carries jugs to fetch water from a hole in the sandy riverbed in Makueni County, Kenya in February 2024. <\/p>\n

(Brian Inganga \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Gleick, who has been studying water-related violence for more than three decades, said the purpose of the list is to raise awareness and encourage policymakers to act to reduce fighting, bloodshed and turmoil.<\/p>\n

The United Nations, in its Sustainable Development Goals,<\/a> says every person should have access to water and sanitation. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe failure to do that is inexcusable and it contributes to a lot of misery,\u201d Gleick said. \u201cIt contributes to ill health, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, water-related diseases, and it contributes to conflicts over water.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Latin America, there were dozens of violent incidents involving water last year.<\/p>\n

In the Mexican state of Veracruz, protesters were blocking a road<\/a> to denounce a pork processing plant, which they accused of using too much water and spewing pollution, when police opened fire, killing two men.<\/p>\n

In Honduras, environmental activist Juan L\u00f3pez, who had spoken up to protect rivers from mining, was gunned down as he left church<\/a>. He was the fourth member of his group to be killed.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A man fills containers with water because of a shortage caused by high temperatures and drought in Veracruz, Mexico in June 2024.<\/p>\n

(Felix Marquez \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be more attention on this issue, especially at the international level, but at the national level as well,\u201d said Morgan Shimabuku, a senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. \u201cIt is getting worse, and we need to turn that tide.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been few events reported in the U.S. in the recent years. In 2024, there were cyberattacks on water utilities in Texas and Indiana.<\/p>\n

In one, Russian hackers claimed responsibility for tampering with an Indiana wastewater treatment plant. Authorities said the attack caused minimal disruption<\/a>. In another, a pro-Russian hacktivist group manipulated systems at water facilities in small Texas towns<\/a>, causing water to overflow.<\/p>\n

The Pacific Institute\u2019s database now lists more than 2,750 conflicts. Most have occurred since 2000. The researchers are adding incidents from 2025 as well as previous years.<\/p>\n

During extreme drought in Iran worsened by climate change,<\/a> farmers were desperate enough to go up against security forces, <\/a>demanding access to river water. Iran\u2019s water crisis, compounded by decades of excessive groundwater pumping, has grown so severe that the president said Tehran no longer can remain the capital<\/a> and the government will have to move it to another city.<\/p>\n

Tensions also have been growing between Iran and Afghanistan over the Helmand River<\/a>, with Iranian leaders accusing their upstream neighbor of not letting enough water flow into the country.<\/p>\n

Gleick said if the drought persists and the Iranian government doesn\u2019t improve how it manages water, \u201cI would expect to see more violence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Algeria, water shortages left faucets dry, prompting protesters to riot and set tires ablaze. In Gaza, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[89,103172,23436,273,16609,16983,111,139,69,103171,103173,103168,103174,387,6739,147,13118,103169,376,103170],"class_list":{"0":"post-155688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-attack","9":"tag-city-worker","10":"tag-drought","11":"tag-environment","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-israeli-palestinian-conflict","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-pacific-institute","18":"tag-palestinian-farmer","19":"tag-peter-gleick","20":"tag-record-last-year","21":"tag-researcher","22":"tag-river","23":"tag-science","24":"tag-violence","25":"tag-violent-incident","26":"tag-water","27":"tag-water-system"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}