Nestled in a high-altitude valley in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountain range, Kabul is rapidly running out of water. Experts say climate change has played its part, but so has massive population growth and resource mismanagement. Many people, particularly in the poorer areas of the Afghan capital, are left struggling to cope.
Kabul is rapidly running out of water. Experts say climate change has played its part but so has massive population growth and resource mismanagement.
A boy and a girl collect water from a hose connected to a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
Residents collect water from a distribution truck in the Deh Mazang neighborhood in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
Residents carry jerrycans on donkeys after collecting water from a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
A man carries plastic bottles and a jerrycan on his back after collecting water from a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
A girl carries jerrycans on a wheelbarrow after collecting water from a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
Nestled in a high-altitude valley in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush mountain range,
A boy and a girl collect water from a hose connected to a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
A boy and a girl collect water from a hose connected to a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
Residents collect water from a distribution truck in the Deh Mazang neighborhood in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
Residents collect water from a distribution truck in the Deh Mazang neighborhood in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
Residents carry jerrycans on donkeys after collecting water from a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
Residents carry jerrycans on donkeys after collecting water from a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
A man carries plastic bottles and a jerrycan on his back after collecting water from a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
A man carries plastic bottles and a jerrycan on his back after collecting water from a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
A girl carries jerrycans on a wheelbarrow after collecting water from a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
A girl carries jerrycans on a wheelbarrow after collecting water from a well at a mosque in Deh Mazang, Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2026.
KABUL, Afghanistan — The woman was furious. Standing in the muddy lane sloping up the hill in one of the “You see this hair? Even I with my white hair, I have to carry water,” said Marofa, 52, a resident of Kabul’s Deh Mazang neighborhood who, like many Afghans, goes by one name. “These containers are heavy. We have no strength left in our backs, no strength left in our legs.” A mosque down the hill has its own well that provides free water, but it is undrinkable — yellow and brackish — and has to be carried. Potable water is trucked into the neighborhood on three-wheeled motorcycles and sold. For many, the price is too steep.
in Afghanistan in 2021, the new authorities cut pipes some residents had laid to siphon water from a communal well to their homes.
But another resident, 32-year-old Najibullah Rahimi, said the pipes to people’s homes made the well’s water level drop, leaving those living higher up the hill with no water at all. “So the government came and cut the pipes.”
Nestled in a high-altitude valley of the Hindu Kush mountains, Kabul is rapidly running out of water. Its population relies mostly on groundwater extracted from wells. But the groundwater has been receding at an alarming rate, and some wells have to be dug as deep as 150 meters to reach it. An April 2025 report by the aid group Mercy Corps said the level of Kabul’s aquifers had plunged by 25-30 meters over the past decade. Aquifers hold massive amounts of water deep under land surfaces. Water in them collects slowly over years as precipitation seeps in. Too much extraction from aquifers, or changes to the climate bringing less water, leads to depletion.
“Without large-scale changes to Kabul’s water management dynamics, the city faces an unprecedented humanitarian disaster within the coming decade, and likely much sooner,” it said.
The changing climate has only compounded what has long been a growing crisis, said Najibullah Sadid, a Germany-based water resources and environment expert with the Afghanistan Water and Environment Professionals Network. “Even without climate change Kabul would have seen this crisis, with the enormous, unprecedented increase in population and urbanization,” Sadid said. The city has more than doubled in size over the past two decades. Kabul saw a major influx of Afghans returning from neighboring countries after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. It is seeing another now, since
In some parts, shallow aquifers have already dry, Sadid said. And recent rains have little effect as Kabul is now so built up there is little unpaved, natural ground where water can penetrate. “Even if it is raining every day, it will not impact groundwater levels anymore, because there is no place to impact the groundwater,” Sadid explained. Mismanagement of water resources has compounded the problem, he said, singling out beverage companies and greenhouses that use large amounts of groundwater.
“The water situation in Kabul city is in a critical state,” said Ministry of Water and Energy spokesman Qari Matiullah Abid. “The main reasons are that the population has increased significantly, rainfall has decreased and consumption has increased.” He said the government is taking action. It imposed restrictions on groundwater extraction by beverage companies, farmers and other commercial users. Water meters have been installed and quotas imposed on businesses such as car washes and large buildings, and those exceeding their limit are told to move out of Kabul. To help replenish groundwater, check dams – small, temporary structures across waterways – have been constructed in Kabul’s 14 districts, and thousands of absorption wells that help manage stormwater have been dug, Abid said. He also pointed to the completion of Kabul’s Shah wa Arous Dam, inaugurated in 2024 and designed to hold 10 million cubic meters of water, and the removal of millions of tons of sediment from the Qargha Dam, increasing the reservoir’s capacity.
Two major projects which could significantly alleviate the crisis have been delayed. One is a roughly 200-kilometer pipeline from the Panjshir River north of Kabul, and the other is a planned dam and reservoir known as the Shah Toot Dam about 30 kilometers southwest of the city. Together, they could provide water for around 4 million people, according to the Mercy Corps report. “A combination of both would be a sustainable solution for the future,” said Sadid. Although constructing the dam would take several years, the pipeline could be completed relatively fast, he said. Shafiullah Zahid, Kabul Zone Director in Afghanistan’s Urban Water Supply and Sewage state corporation, said the Panjshir pipeline’s roughly $130 million budget has been approved. The original survey, completed under the previous government, “has been completely revised, and now another review is needed,” he said. Once that is completed, “practical work can begin.” The Shah Toot Dam, announced months before the Taliban takeover, was to have been a joint Afghan-Indian project. It too has run into funding delays. If construction begins, it would take six to seven years to complete, Zahid said. But Sadid said Afghanistan’s governments, both current and previous, prioritized other infrastructure over critical water projects. “Numerous roads are being built, flyovers are being built with a lot of money. But there is no priority for water projects,” he said. “They are just doing the projects which are eye-catching and not the projects which are fundamental to the people’s health and people’s fundamental rights. Water is essential. Water is more important than roads.”
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s
Becatoros oversees coverage of southeast Europe for The Associated Press, with frequent assignments to the Middle East and Afghanistan. Based in Athens, Greece, she has worked around the world, including covering war in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
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