timing belt?

hey i drive a 99 civic dx and i am having some issues, more annoying than anything, anyhow, when driving up hills in fourth or fifth not steep hills my car makes a odd belt noise, not overly loud but it's there and you can hear it, now i am thinking that it may be the timing be for it also happens when i'm in 1st and taking of if i don't hit the clutch just right, i have also noticed a loss of power and was wondering if that would be a side affect of this if this is the problem at all, also i heard that you must change the water pump at the same time.....is this a must or a should???? anyhelp would be better than what i got thanks

I would start by checking the other belts first. If the noise is still there then it could be a bad timing belt tensioner. Timing belts need to be replaced every 90K miles. A bad tensioner can cause a belt to break which could result in serious engine damage. Water pumps should be replaced with the timming belt since it's driven by the t/belt and it's all apart anyway. It's just senseless not to replace it while it's all apart. Nothing like having the t/belt replaced and find out a month later the water pump is leaking. Now you need to replace the timing belt again along with the water pump.