Global Rundown
- Kabul, Afghanistan may be the first modern city to run out of water, a new report warns.
- Restoring and protecting wetlands along the Russian border with eastern Europe may be strategically important to slow future invasions, some scientists and officials say.
- Communities along the Thailand-Myanmar border are protesting mining operations they say have contaminated local water sources with arsenic.
- A state of emergency has been declared in Russia’s largest grain-growing region amidst ongoing drought.
The Lead
Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan and home to 7 million people, is at risk of becoming the first modern city to run out of water, according to a report from the NGO Mercy Corps.
Over the last decade, water levels in the city’s reservoirs have dropped up to 98 feet; if trends continue, Kabul could run short as soon as 2030.
Nearly half of the city’s water is retrieved from boreholes, though extraction is outpacing natural recharge by 44 cubic meters of water each year. Amidst these shortages, “some households spend up to 30 percent of their income on water, with over two-thirds incurring water-related debt,” the report says.
According to the Guardian, population growth has been a key factor in the city’s water shortages. Fewer than one million people lived in Kabul as recently as 2001. In just a quarter century, the number has climbed seven-fold. Widespread pollution is another concern, exacerbated by aging infrastructure and neglect. Up to 80 percent of Kabul’s groundwater, contaminated with sewage, arsenic, and salt, is unsafe to drink.
Recent political upheaval has furthered the crisis in a country heavily dependent on foreign aid. Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, nearly $3 billion in international water and sanitation aid has been frozen, and since President Donald Trump took office for a second term, 80 percent of USAID funding has been cut globally.
Water, sanitation, and hygiene programs in Afghanistan require roughly $264 million each year. In January, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced the country’s partners had received just over $8 million.
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This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
250,000
Acres of peat and wetlands a group of scientists and military strategists have proposed to restore and protect near Russia’s border with Eastern Europe, creating a natural front that would stymie future Russian invasions, Yale Environment 360 reports. Leaders have suggested the line of natural defense for Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, and eastern Germany, citing “a 2016 Belarusian publication that detailed how wet peatlands can bear 75 percent less load from military vehicles than drained areas.” The idea, which would also likely bring down carbon emissions in areas where peatlands have already dried out, has been met with mixed reactions. Some officials are concerned the wetlands belt would restrict movement of their own forces, while others are fundamentally opposed to weaponizing nature that would not be publicly accessible.
1,500
Number of people who gathered in early June at a protest in Chiang Rai, Thailand “to demand the closure of illegal mines in Myanmar” whose operation has been linked to local water pollution near the two countries’ border, Mongabay reports. Arsenic and other toxic substances have been detected in high concentrations in the Kok River, which originates in Myanmar and eventually flows through the Thai city of 200,000 people. On both sides of the border, communities along the waterway have reported skin rashes, elephants with signs of illness, and fish die-offs. Testing in the nearby Sai River has revealed further contamination.
On the Radar
A state of emergency has been declared in Rostov, Russia’s largest grain-growing region, amidst ongoing drought, Reuters reports. The declaration allows wheat farmers to seek compensation for anticipated financial losses, despite the summer’s expected harvest of 148 million tons being slightly more than last year’s yield. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of wheat. Last week, it was reported that China, the world’s largest wheat producer, was expecting its drought-affected wheat harvest to drop to its lowest levels since 2018.
Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region
Pattinson Co. Quarry: The eastern Iowa quarry, which neighbors the Mississippi River and pumps nearly 1 billion gallons of groundwater each year, is seeking permission from the state’s Department of Natural Resources to quadruple its annual water withdrawal, Inside Climate News reports.
Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television, Michigan Public and The Narwhal work together to report on the most pressing threats to the Great Lakes region’s water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work here.
- Michigan Democrats want to make more polluters pay for cleanup — Michigan Public
- ‘Horrific impacts’: as B.C. prepares to fast-track projects, a mining watchdog warns past mistakes could be repeated — The Narwhal
- Michigan triples ‘do not eat’ fish warnings as PFAS contamination concerns rise — Great Lakes Now
- Toxic Michigan site ‘cautionary tale’ as Trump eyes environmental cleanup cuts — Bridge Michigan