Afg's Samangan province suffers from drinking, irrigation water shortage

KABUL: Following the continued droughts, residents in the northern Samangan province of Afghanistan complain that they will have to migrate if the water shortage crisis issue is not resolved, reported Pajhwok News Agency.

One of the tribal elders Qari Abdul Basir Hakimi said that Samangan province did not have enough water for agriculture and drinking.

Consequently, farmers drilled deep wells unprofessionally and hence the extensive use of drinking water led to a water shortage crisis in the province, Pajhwok News Agency reported.

He further warned that if the issue of excessive use of drinking water will not be taken care of, the residents of Samangan province would soon have no water for drinking.

Alauddin, one of the farmers in Samangan province raised the issue and said, “In the past, the wells were up to five meters deep and we got water for agriculture while now the level of water declined by up to 30 meters and we could not properly use them for irrigation of our crops.” He further said that the lack of rainfall, as well as snowfall, resulted in drought, resultantly the farmers having to drill deep wells to get water for their crops, according to Pajhwok News Agency.

Moreover, one of the farmers from the Hazrat Sultan district Habib Rahman, added that the shortage of water in streams and rivers forced farmers to drill deep wells.

“If we don’t drill deep well we could not continue with our agriculture,” he added.

According to Engineer Rohullah Mohammadi, director of Khelam River Zone, climate change, lack of snowfall and rainfall, and extensive use of groundwater were the primary reasons behind the digging of the deep well.

He however added that a strategy had been put in place to address the problems faced by farmers and issues related to the use of groundwater, reported Pajhwok News Agency.

On the bases of this strategy, Mohammadi said, no farmer would be allowed to drill deep well on its own without conducting a survey and the consent of engineers.

This came after United Nations released a report mentioning that over 60 families in Afghanistan are facing drinking water crisis.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said that 79 per cent of people in Afghanistan lack sufficient access to water for essential needs like drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing, Afghanistan-based Khaama Press reported.

The water crisis in Afghanistan is further enhanced by various challenges, particularly the most severe drought in 30 years, a deepening economic turmoil, and the enduring effects of forty years of warfare.

These compounding factors have caused an alarming situation where half of the population is facing acute hunger, with an alarming six million people on the edge of famine, according to Khaama Press report.