As Kabul wakes each morning under a blistering sun residents brace for another day of water shortages that threaten to upend life in Afghanistan capital. Once a city of hope for millions Kabul is now on the verge of becoming the first modern capital to run completely dry.
This looming disaster is not the result of a single cause but the culmination of years of rapid population growth, relentless groundwater extraction, and a fast-changing climate. According to a recent Mercy Corps report, nearly half of Kabul boreholes have already gone dry, and the water table has dropped by up to 30 meters over the past decade.
For families like that of 42-year-old Raheela, every drop counts. She and her children rush to collect water from private tankers each morning, paying steep prices for a few liters. “We don’t have access to drinking water at all,” she said. “It’s affecting our daily life deeply.” Others, like Ahmad Yasin’s family, have spent months saving just to dig private wells, only to find the water too contaminated to drink safely.
Mercy Corps estimates Kabul is using 44 million cubic meters more water per year than its aquifers can replenish a rate that experts say is unsustainable. Climate change is making matters worse. Less snow in the Hindu Kush mountains means less groundwater recharge, while erratic rainfall triggers flash floods that cause more harm than relief.
Contamination is another urgent issue. Up to 80% of the city’s water is polluted due to poor sanitation and unregulated industrial waste. Waterborne diseases are rampant, with many residents reporting frequent vomiting and diarrhea.
The crisis is impacting education and livelihoods. Children miss school to queue for water, while adults lose work hours fetching and boiling unsafe supplies. For women, the crisis is even more precarious, forcing them to risk Taliban harassment for a basic necessity they can no longer take for granted.
And international support is faltering. The U.S. freeze on foreign aid, including USAID’s funds, has left the country’s water and sanitation needs critically underfunded just $8 million of the required $264 million has arrived. The result is a humanitarian emergency unfolding in real time, with few resources to contain it.
In the absence of immediate intervention, Kabul could face a complete groundwater collapse by 2030, UNICEF warns.
Possible Solutions, Still Elusive
Experts suggest a combination of short-term relief and long-term planning. Expanding rainwater harvesting, protecting recharge zones from urban sprawl building sustainable infrastructure to treat wastewater, and increasing investment in water purification technologies could help ease the pressure. International donors could also play a pivotal role by restoring and streamlining humanitarian aid.