KABUL (SW): A number of Kabul residents have said due to increasing shortage of water they face a lot of difficulties, and the government needs to address this problem.
According to them, with each passing day, the ground water level is lowering and access to drinking water becomes more difficult.
Samir, a resident of Kabul city, complained that most of the wells have recently dried.
Ahmed, another Kabul resident, said the water level goes down every day, causing concern to the people.
Some well-diggers in the city of Kabul said that well-digging market has flourished due to lower levels of water.
Hayatullah Zarmati, one of the well-digger in the city of Kabul, said the groundwater level has gone about 8 meters below the surface and people are trying to make their water well deeper.
He said that the well-digging had not had a good market before, they used to dig a water well for 35 thousand afghanis, but now they are digging a well for 70 thousand to 100 thousand afghanis.
The National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA) authorities, said the lowering levels of ground water in Kabul is a serious warning.
Kazem Homayoun, the director of planning at NEPA, told Salam Watandar that based on the laws there should be a strategy to prevent water wastage.
According to him, the problem of water scarcity is largely due to inconsistencies between the relevant departments.
Dad Mohammad Behir, an environmentalist, said that population explosion in Kabul, lack of water reservoirs and poor water management are the main reasons for the shortage of drinking water in the capital. He added that negligence of Kabul residents has also contributed to the problem.
Abdul Basir Azimi, the spokesman for the Ministry of Energy and Water, said that preventing the decline of underground water reserves is not only the responsibility of the government, the people should also be involved in preventing water wasting.
According to him, the government is trying to solve the problem of the Kabul inhabitants by constructing Shahtoot and Shaharos dams.
Recently, water levels in major cities like Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat, and Kandahar have gone low dramatically, which has sparked concern for the inhabitants of these cities.
ENDS
