Kabul is rapidly running out of water

In the muddy lanes of Kabul’s Deh Mazang neighborhood, 52-year-old Marofa pulls aside her headscarf, revealing her grey-white hair in frustration. “Even I with my white hair, I have to carry water,” she says. “These containers are heavy. We have no strength left in our backs, no strength left in our legs.”

Her plight reflects a growing crisis in Afghanistan’s capital. While a nearby mosque provides well water for free, it’s yellow and brackish—undrinkable. Potable water arrives on three-wheeled motorcycles, but at prices many residents simply cannot afford.

“We have no money for food. How can we get water?” asks 90-year-old Wali Mohammad, anger evident in his voice.

Some residents claim that shortly after taking power in 2021, Taliban authorities cut pipes that had been laid to channel water from a communal well to homes. “They cut off our water. They are powerful and they don’t even give us a reason why,” Mohammad laments.

But the situation is more complex than it appears. Najibullah Rahimi, 32, explains that the home-connected pipes caused water levels to drop, leaving those living higher on the hill with no access at all. “So the government came and cut the pipes,” he says.

This neighborhood’s struggles exemplify a catastrophic water crisis engulfing Kabul. Situated in a high-altitude valley of the Hindu Kush mountains, the city relies predominantly on groundwater from wells. However, this crucial resource is vanishing at an alarming rate, with some wells requiring depths of 150 meters—nearly 500 feet—to reach water.

A 2025 report from Mercy Corps documented a 25-30 meter (80-100 foot) decline in Kabul’s aquifers over the preceding decade. “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,” the report warned.

Climate change has accelerated the crisis. Reduced snowfall from repeated droughts means less gradual melting to replenish groundwater. Instead, Kabul experiences sudden, heavy downpours that cause flooding but contribute little to aquifer restoration.

“Even without climate change Kabul would have seen this crisis, with the enormous, unprecedented increase in population and urbanization,” explains Najibullah Sadid, a water resources expert with the Afghanistan Water and Environment Professionals Network.

Kabul’s population has more than doubled since 2001, swelling from approximately 2.5 million to an estimated 6 million today. Major influxes occurred after the Taliban’s fall in 2001 and again when Pakistan and Iran began expelling Afghan refugees in 2023.

The city’s rapid urbanization has created another problem. “Even if it is raining every day, it will not impact groundwater levels anymore, because there is no place to impact the groundwater,” Sadid notes. The concrete and asphalt covering Kabul prevent water from penetrating to recharge aquifers, while beverage companies and commercial agriculture operations continue drawing heavily from the dwindling supply.

Ministry of Water and Energy spokesman Qari Matiullah Abid acknowledges the severity of the situation. “The water situation in Kabul city is in a critical state,” he says. “The main reasons are that the population has increased significantly, rainfall has decreased and consumption has increased.”

The government has implemented several measures: restricting groundwater extraction by commercial users, installing water meters with usage quotas for businesses, and constructing check dams and absorption wells to help manage stormwater. The Shah wa Arous Dam, completed in 2024 with a capacity of 10 million cubic meters, and the removal of sediment from the Qargha Dam represent recent infrastructure improvements.

However, two major projects that could significantly alleviate the crisis remain delayed. A 200-kilometer pipeline from the Panjshir River north of Kabul and the planned Shah Toot Dam southwest of the city could together provide water for approximately 4 million people.

“A combination of both would be a sustainable solution for the future,” says Sadid. While the dam would require several years to complete, the pipeline could be finished relatively quickly.

Shafiullah Zahid, Kabul Zone Director for Afghanistan’s Urban Water Supply and Sewage state corporation, confirms that the Panjshir pipeline’s $130 million budget has been approved, though the project awaits final review before construction can begin. The Shah Toot Dam, originally planned as an Afghan-Indian joint project, faces funding delays and would require six to seven years to complete once started.

Sadid criticizes the priorities of both current and previous Afghan governments. “Numerous roads are being built, flyovers are being built with a lot of money. But there is no priority for water projects,” he says. “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.”

For residents like Marofa and Mohammad, these long-term solutions offer little immediate relief as they continue their daily struggle for this most basic necessity of life.