KABUL, Sept. 28 -- Severe drought and water shortage have added to the miseries of Afghans, who have already been drained by ongoing terrorist attacks, war, fighting and a deteriorating economy.
The pervasive drought has affected hundreds of thousands of people in 22 of the country's 34 provinces.
Lying in a parched region with low rainfall and high temperatures, Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul is facing a severe water shortage. The government has warned there will be a scarcity of water over the next five years.
Prolonged drought and a soaring population are mostly behind the heavy groundwater drop in the capital city, where deadly explosions and suicide attacks are still oppressing the masses.
"In recent years, climate change, years of drought and a growing population have decreased groundwater in Afghanistan and caused concerns in Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and some other neighboring and regional countries as well," Abdul Latif Muzafarkhil, technical chief of the state-owned Water Supply Directorate, told Xinhua recently.
Hard-hit Kabul residents have to fetch water from hand-operated pumps, often far from their homes. Some even have to drill their own wells between 50 to 60 meters deep, with the deepest ones descending more than 100 meters in the capital, where only 10 percent of the population has direct access to drinkable water.
"About 54 wells have been dug so far by the Water Supply Directorate across Kabul, although many of the shallow wells are running dry," the official said.
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