Rafi Schwartz
For the past half-century, the city of Kabul has endured more than its fair share of hardship and tragedy. As Afghanistan's capital works to move past its violent history, a new challenge has emerged to threaten Kabul's future in a way no occupying army or theocratic regime ever could. The city faces a "severe and multi-faceted water crisis" which, if not addressed immediately, "will soon pose an existential threat" to Kabul's six million residents, said a new study by the nonprofit Mercy Corps. If allowed to continue, the crisis will earn Kabul the ignominious distinction of becoming the first major capital in modern history to fully exhaust its subterranean water supply.
How much water does Kabul have?
Kabul's underground aquifers have "plummeted 25-30 meters in the past decade" with usage "exceeding natural recharge by a staggering 44 million cubic meters annually," said Mercy Corps. The "vast majority" of Kabul's subterranean water comes from "melting snow and ice in the Hindu Kush mountains," which feed the city's three main aquifers, with only some 20% of households connected to "piped running water from centralized sources."
At the same time, nearly half the city's boreholes are dry, while the remaining wells are "functioning at only 60% efficiency," the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in 2023. According to Mercy Corps, 90% of Kabul residents rely on "water pumped from borewells to supply their daily needs."
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