The 7 million people in the Afghan capital are facing an existential crisis that the world must urgently address, the non-governmental organization Mercy Corps said.
Experts have warned that Kabul could become the first modern city to be completely without water.
Water levels in Kabul's water bodies have fallen by up to 30 meters in the past decade due to rapid urbanization and climate degradation, according to a report by NGO Mercy Corps.
Meanwhile, nearly half of the city’s boreholes, Kabul residents’ primary source of drinking water, have dried up. Water extraction now exceeds natural recharge by 44 million cubic meters each year.
If these trends continue, all of Kabul’s water resources will dry up as early as 2030, posing an existential threat to the city’s seven million residents.
“There needs to be a concerted effort to better document this and bring international attention to the need to address the crisis,” said Dayne Curry, Mercy Corps Afghanistan country director. “Without water, people are leaving their communities, so the international community’s failure to address Afghanistan’s water needs will only result in more migration and more hardship for the Afghan people.”
