Typhoons or hurricanes have contaminated or destroy water delivery capabilities, as in New Orleans and elsewhere.

FORBES: Water Emergencies: Time for New Plans and Technology

Those against the project say it will destroy local water supplies.

BBC: Peru declares state of emergency over disputed mine

The Natural Resources Defense Council argues that the new airport will destroy wetlands and hurt water quality in the Bay.

NPR: New Airport Project Divides Environmental Groups

When wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, droughts and other calamities destroy access to clean drinking water, the human consequences are almost immediate and enormous.

FORBES: For 2 Cents A Day Each, We Can Save Hundreds of Millions From Deadly Drinking Water

Failure to destroy the third dam, however, meant the water supply was restored to German factories within six weeks and the dams were repaired within five months.

BBC: National Memorial Arboretum plants Dambusters tribute

Some scientists say densely packing fish into cages or nets in natural bodies of water, frequently just offshore, can destroy delicate habitats while the waste generated can elevate nitrogen levels to harmful levels.

WSJ: Guidelines for Eating Sustainable Seafood

Water sweeping off the mountains also causes floods, which destroy irrigation canals and can even sweep away the mud huts in which most rural Afghans live.

ECONOMIST: Missing trees reflect the country's woeful recent history