Kabul may turn into the world’s first capital to expire of water fully, specialists say, blaming the disaster on fast inhabitants development, local weather change, and mismanagement.
The Afghan capital’s groundwater ranges have plummeted by as much as 30 meters previously decade, whereas virtually half of town’s boreholes — the principle supply of consuming water for the residents — have dried out, in accordance with a current examine by the Mercy Corps NGO.
Demand for groundwater within the metropolis is disproportionately excessive: every year, 44 million cubic meters extra water is extracted than can naturally be replenished — almost double the sustainable charge.
Kabul’s inhabitants has grown from about 2 million in 2000 to greater than 6 million in 2025, placing immense strain on its water provides.
The town’s aquifers are additionally being drained by greater than 100,000 unregulated borewells and lots of of factories and greenhouses, in accordance with Mercy Corps and Afghan water administration specialists who spoke to RFE/RL.
“Kabul has some 400 hectares of greenhouses that devour about 4 million cubic meters of water yearly. mentioned Najibullah Sadid, a water sources and local weather change researcherbased mostly in Germany. “There are additionally greater than 500 beverage companies working in Kabul. Only one such firm, Alokozay, the most important comfortable drink firm within the metropolis, makes use of about 1 million cubic meters of groundwater every year.”
The United Nations has warned that with out swift motion, Kabul’s groundwater might be depleted by 2030, posing an existential menace to residents and sparking a serious wave of migration.
‘Having To Select Between Water And Meals’
Many components of Kabul have already run dry, and residents rely totally on the restricted quantity of water they buy from tankers.
One one that lives within the comparatively prosperous space of Taimani in northwestern Kabul says he spends 1 / 4 of his wage on water.
“My month-to-month wage is 21,000 Afghani ($300) and I spend not less than 5,000 Afghani ($70) on water for our household of 10 individuals,” he advised RFE/RL on June 26. “We use this water for tea, cooking, washing-up, laundry, and bathing.”
“There are numerous households that may’t afford to purchase water, it’s like having to decide on between water and meals,” the Taimani resident mentioned.
He additionally mentioned that those that can’t pay for water journey a number of kilometers to deliver it from areas which have public water pumps. Even in sweltering summer season climate, many condominium blocks in Kabul solely get water a couple of times every week.
Water contamination is one other main problem that has plagued Afghanistan, the place almost 80 p.c of individuals don’t have any entry to secure consuming water, in accordance with the United Nations.
Most of Kabul’s groundwater is contaminated with sewage, toxins, and excessive ranges of arsenic, specialists say.
Potential Options
The Western-backed former Afghan authorities, which collapsed in 2021, obtained greater than $4 billion from worldwide donors to overtake its water sector, in accordance with the World Financial institution, however the sector stays largely underdeveloped each within the capital and the remainder of the nation.
Officers of the present Taliban-led authorities in Kabul didn’t reply to RFE/RL’s request for remark. Nonetheless, many native specialists imagine the Afghan capital may nonetheless resolve its water disaster comparatively rapidly if decisive steps are taken.
“This drawback just isn’t new. For over a decade, varied proposals on the right way to sort out the issue have been offered to Afghan authorities, but it surely has by no means been a precedence for them,” Sadid advised RFE/RL.
Among the many proposed options is the development of the Shahtoot dam and reservoir, some 30 kilometers southwest of Kabul. If accomplished, it will provide consuming water to greater than 2 million of town’s residents and assist replenish its aquifers.
One other venture envisages the development of a 200-kilometer pipeline to divert greater than 100 million cubic meters of water per 12 months from the Panjshir River to the capital.
Feasibility research for each initiatives had been carried out underneath the earlier Afghan authorities.
In April, the Taliban’s Ministry of Power and Water mentioned it was awaiting price range approval to start building work on the Panjsher River pipeline. The federal government is reportedly looking for extra traders to fund the $170-million initiative.
In the meantime, the Shahtoot venture is predicted to be completed in 2027, if Afghanistan succeeds in elevating funds. It’s estimated that it’s going to price round $236 million to finish the dam and reservoir.
Abdul Baset Rahmani, a Kabul-based skilled on water sources and local weather change, says that the water scarcity within the Afghan capital might be “resolved inside a year-and-half, if there’s a political will to take action.”
Nonetheless, he additionally warns of pressing wants within the brief time period, calling on worldwide support businesses “to offer emergency help to the impoverished individuals in Kabul who can’t afford to purchase consuming water.”
“Such help would spare these individuals from huge monetary and psychological pressure, forestall illnesses, and assist many youngsters to return to high school,” he says. “There are numerous youngsters who can’t get training as a result of in an effort to assist their households they stroll a number of kilometers day-after-day to locations the place water is distributed freed from cost.”
Support teams, such because the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross (ICRC) and the UN Youngsters’s Company, UNICEF have undertaken a number of initiatives in Afghanistan lately to assist lots of of hundreds of individuals entry clear consuming water.
Their initiatives in 2024 included the restore of “1,315 hand pumps and the set up of 1,888 bio-sand filters to take away contaminants from water,” in a number of Afghan provinces, in accordance with the ICRC.
However regardless of these efforts, until extra pressing authorities motion is taken and main infrastructure initiatives are accomplished, Kabul’s water disaster is more likely to persist and will in the end power an estimated 3 million individuals – or roughly half its inhabitants — to flee town.
