Afghanistan

[Schneemann]

Kabul, immerhin mit geschätzt rund 4,5 Mio. Einwohnern, könnte bald das Wasser ausgehen, was bedeuten würde, dass die Stadt faktisch nicht mehr bewohnbar ist. Die Faktoren sind vielfältig: Quasi ein unkontrolliertes Bevölkerungswachstum, massive Grundwasserentnahmen, fortschreitender Klimawandel und Missmanagement. Hinzu kommt, dass es in dem kriegsgeschädigten Land keine Wasseraufbereitung gibt und Abwasser einfach abgeleitet wird, was die theoretisch noch nutzbaren Wasserressourcen mehr und mehr verseucht...

For the first time in modern history a capital city is on the verge of running dry [...]

Kabul is inching toward catastrophe. It could soon become the first modern capital in the world to run completely dry according to a recent report by Mercy Corps, a non-government organization that warns the crisis could lead to economic collapse.

Population growth, the climate crisis, and relentless over-extraction have depleted groundwater levels, experts say, and nearly half the city’s boreholes have already gone dry. [...] Kabul relies almost entirely on groundwater, replenished by snow and glacier melt from the nearby Hindu Kush mountains. But years of mismanagement and over-extraction have caused those levels to drop by up to 30 meters over the last decade, according to Mercy Corps. Kabul now extracts 44 million cubic meters more groundwater each year than nature can replenish, Mercy Corps said, a staggering imbalance that’s steadily draining the city’s reserves and its residents’ finances. [...]

Up to 80% of Kabul’s groundwater is contaminated, according to Mercy Corps, a consequence of widespread pit latrine use and industrial waste pollution. [...] The crisis is further compounded by Kabul’s vulnerability to climate change.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/19/asia/...t-intl-hnk

Schneemann