KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Experts are sounding the alarm over plummeting groundwater levels in Kabul, warning that Afghanistan’s capital could become the first city in the world to run out of water completely within five years.
According to a report by Mercy Corps, groundwater levels in the city have dropped by as much as 30 meters over the past decade, driven by rapid urbanization and the worsening climate crisis.
Nearly half of Kabul’s wells, the main source of drinking water for its residents, have already dried up, the report states. Current water extraction exceeds natural groundwater recharge by 44 million cubic meters each year.
If this unsustainable trend continues, the report warns that all of Kabul’s groundwater sources could be depleted by early 2030, potentially displacing up to three million people.
“There should be a committed effort to document this better and to draw international attention to the need to address the crisis,” Dayne Curry, Mercy Corps Afghanistan country director, told The Guardian. She emphasized that without adequate intervention, global inaction on Afghanistan’s water crisis will result in increased displacement and suffering.
The report also highlights that 80% of Kabul’s remaining groundwater is contaminated with sewage, salinity, and arsenic, posing serious public health risks.
Access to water has become a daily struggle for Kabul’s residents. Some households spend up to 30% of their income on water, and more than two-thirds are reportedly burdened with water-related debt, according to the report.
Kabul’s population has surged sevenfold since 2001—from fewer than one million to around seven million—placing immense pressure on the city’s water infrastructure. Decades of weak governance and a lack of centralized regulation have further compounded the crisis.
In early 2025, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that its partners had received only $8.4 million of the $264 million required to implement planned water and sanitation projects in Afghanistan.
Since the Taliban regained control in August 2021, an additional $3 billion in international funding for water and sanitation has been frozen. The suspension of U.S. aid has further deepened the crisis.
