Afghanistan: groundwater overuse could cause severe water shortage

The excessive use of groundwater for a variety of purposes has significantly depleted water tables and aquifers throughout Afghanistan and if the trend is not reversed soon the country will face a severe shortage of drinking water, the Ministry of Water and Energy (MWE) said.

Recurrent droughts, low precipitation and poor water management have exacerbated the country’s water crisis, ministry officials said.

“Our assessments indicate that due to several factors, mostly drought and excessive use, about 50 percent of groundwater sources have been lost in the past several years,” Sultan Mahmood Mahmoodi, general director of the water management department at MWE.

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UNICEF estimates that only about 23 percent of households in Afghanistan have access to drinking water (43 percent in urban areas and 18 percent in rural).

According to the MWE, the majority of Afghans use groundwater as their prime and often only source of drinking water. So as groundwater declines, the number of people with access to drinking water declines. The very poor suffer the most as they do not have the means to dig deep wells.

In a bid to ensure people’s access to drinking water and prevent water-related displacement, the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) has dug hundreds of deep wells across the country.

The MRRD’s deep wells have helped tackle the immediate drinking water problem but have created a new burden for children who spend hours collecting water for their families, often at the cost of their education.

The excessive use of groundwater and mushrooming deep wells also have an adverse impact on the quality and quantity of water, experts say.

Read more: IRIN, 14 Sep 2008