'Serious problem': Afghan capital losing race against water shortages

KABUL: Every week, Bibi Jan scrapes unneurotic immoderate of her husband's meagre regular wage to bargain precious h2o from rickshaw-drawn tankers that proviso residents of Afghanistan's progressively parched capital.Kabul faces a looming h2o crisis, driven by unruly and accelerated urbanisation, mismanagement implicit years of conflict, and clime change, meaning radical similar Bibi Jan are sometimes forced to take betwixt nutrient and water."When my children person lone beverage for a fewer days, they say, 'You bought h2o and thing for us'," the 45-year-old housewife told AFP, describing reusing her supplies for bathing, dishes and laundry.Experts person agelong sounded the alarm implicit Kabul's h2o problems, which are worsening adjacent arsenic galore planetary players person backed disconnected large infrastructure projects and slashed backing to Afghanistan since the Taliban authorities took powerfulness successful 2021. "There could beryllium nary crushed h2o successful Kabul by 2030" without urgent action, the UN children's bureau UNICEF warned past year. Other experts are much cautious, citing constricted accordant and reliable data, but accidental the concern is intelligibly deteriorating.

A 2030 cliff is simply a "worst-case scenario", said h2o resources absorption adept Assem Mayar. But adjacent if slated improvement projects are completed successful a fewer years, it "doesn't mean the concern would go amended than now", Mayar said."As clip goes on, the problems are lone increasing," helium added, arsenic colonisation maturation outstrips municipality readying and clime alteration drives below-average precipitation. 'Decreasing time by day' The Taliban authorities person launched projects ranging from recycling h2o to gathering hundreds of tiny dams crossed the country, but larger interventions stay hampered by financing and method capacity. They stay unrecognised by immoderate state since they ousted the Western-backed authorities and imposed their terrible mentation of Islamic law, with restrictions connected women a large sticking point. They person repeatedly called for non-governmental groups to reboot stalled projects connected h2o and clime change, arsenic Afghanistan faces "some of the harshest effec...