A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-velocity stream of water. Typically, a water cannon can deliver a large volume of water, often over dozens of meters. They are used in firefighting, large vehicle washing, riot control, and mining. Most water cannons fall under the category of a fire monitor.
Firefighting
Water cannons were first devised for use on fireboats. Extinguishing fires on boats and buildings near the water was much more difficult and dangerous before fireboats were invented. The first fireboat deployed in Los Angeles was commissioned on 1 August 1919. The first fireboat in New York City was Marine 1, deployed 1 February 1891. There may have been other fireboats elsewhere even earlier. Fire trucks deliver water with much the same force and volume as water cannons, and have even been used in riot control situations, but are rarely referred to as water cannons outside this context.
Riot control Earlier forms of water-based crowd control predate the development of truck-mounted water cannons. During the Greek elections of 1892, a political demonstration in Athens was dispersed after police asked army firefighters to deploy water pumps and hoses against the crowd. The incident was reported contemporaneously and illustrated in the Spanish periodical La Ilustración Española y Americana, which described a “copious artificial rain” produced by the pumps to disperse demonstrators. By the early 1930s, water-based crowd control in Greece began to transition from improvised use of stationary pumps to motorized firefighting vehicles capable of delivering sustained, pressurized water streams. The introduction of petrol-powered fire engines in Greece began in 1923, and by 1931 the Hellenic Fire Service had expanded its fleet with additional motorized vehicles manufactured by firms such as Fiat and Magirus. Following the establishment of the Hellenic Fire Service in 1930, such vehicles were occasionally deployed, alongside police forces, during major labor unrest. Contemporary trade-union publications and press reports describe the use of motorized water pumps by the fire service to disperse striking tobacco workers in cities including Thessaloniki, Volos, and Kavala between 1933 and 1936, representing a transitional stage between manual pumping systems and later purpose-built police water cannon vehicles. Contemporary photographic evidence published in the press depicts a motorized fire-service water pump spraying demonstrators during the May 1936 tobacco workers’ strike in Thessaloniki.
The first truck-mounted water cannon was used for riot control in Germany in the beginning of the 1930s. The most modern versions do not expose the operator to the riot, and are controlled remotely from within the vehicle by a joystick. The Austrian-built WaWe 10.000 by Rosenbauer used by German police can carry 10,000 litres (2,200 imp gal) of water, which can deploy water in all directions via three cannons, all of which are remotely controlled from inside the vehicle by a joystick. The vehicle has two forward cannons with a delivery rate of 20 litres per second (260 imp gal/min), and one rear cannon with a delivery rate of 15 litres per second (200 imp gal/min)
Water cannons designed for riot control are still made in the United States and the United Kingdom, but most products are exported, particularly to Africa and parts of Asia such as Indonesia.
Alternative payload
Dye
In 1997 pink dye was reportedly added to the water used by South Korean and Indonesian police to disperse a riot. The implication is that they might use this mark to make it easier to arrest rioters later. The United Kingdom, which had sold the water cannon to Indonesia, condemned this practice (although the Royal Ulster Constabulary had used a water cannon with purple dye during The Troubles in Northern Ireland) but later approved the sale of further water cannons to them.
Electrified water jet In 2004 Jaycor Tactical Systems was experimenting with additives (salt and additives to reduce the breakup of the stream into droplets) that would allow electricity to be conducted through water. They have demonstrated delivery from a distance of up to 20 ft (6.1 m), but have not yet tested the device on people. Although referred to as an electrified water cannon, this experiment involved a water jet much less powerful than a water cannon.
Tear gas Most modern water cannons are capable of adding tear gas to the stream.
Other types Water cannon differ from other similar devices in the volume of water delivered in a given time, the nozzle speed, the pressure that it is delivered at, and to a lesser extent the total volume that can be delivered. They are also generally portable. The method of employment is also important in labeling a device a water cannon. Nevertheless, the distinction between a water cannon and other similar devices is fuzzy. For example:-
Pressure washers generally produce an extremely high pressure stream where the power of the stream drops off significantly over a very short distance. Water pistols and other toys deliver much lower volumes of water at a much lower pressure. Ultra high pressure water jet cutters are used to cut a wide variety of materials including granite, concrete (see hydrodemolition), ceramics, fabric and even Kevlar. One such cutter delivers 55,000 psi (380 MPa) through a nozzle 0.003 inches (76 μm) in diameter at 1 kilometre per second, which can cut a person at a close range. There are reports of accidental deaths involving the industrial use of high-pressure water.
Usage Water cannon are still in large scale use in Chile, Belgium, the Netherlands and other parts of the world.
Australia The New South Wales Police Force purchased a water cannon in 2007 and had it deployed on standby during an APEC meeting in Sydney that year. It was the first purchase of a water cannon by a police service in Australia. However, it ended up not being used during the APEC meeting, and was never used during any instance of civil unrest. Eventually it was retired and converted to a water tanker for fire department use.
Germany
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