What Kind Of Service Utilities Can Be Found In Afghanistan?

H2o supply and sanitation in Afghanistan
Data
The flag of Transitional islamic state of afghanistan (1931-2020)
Water coverage (broad definition)	(drinking water): over 67% (2019)^[1] ^[two]
Average urban h2o utilize (50/c/d)	90 for those with access to piped water in Kabul (2005);^[3] much lower for the majority of the population
Average urban water and sanitation tariff (US$/m3)	25 Afghanis (34 U.s. cents) for metered connections; apartment rate for unmetered connections (national tariff, in effect since November 2012)^[4]
Annual investment in WSS	unknown
Share of tax-financing	none
Share of external financing	very high
Institutions
Decentralization to municipalities	Yes
National water and sanitation company	National Water Affairs Regulation Authority
H2o and sanitation regulator	Holding company has regulatory functions
Responsibleness for policy setting	Ministry of Urban Development Affairs Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Evolution
No. of urban service providers	about xv
No. of rural service providers	thousands of Community Evolution Councils

H2o supply in Afghanistan is managed past the National Water Diplomacy Regulation Authority (NWARA), which is based in Kabul, Afghanistan.^[5] The nation'south water supply is characterized by a number of achievements and challenges. Among the achievements are:

the expansion of rural water supply infrastructure with the active participation of communities as part of the National Solidarity Program;
the successful expansion of water supply in the metropolis of Herat and towns such as Kunduz; and
a reform of the institutional framework for urban water supply through the decentralization of service provision from an ineffective national bureau to local utilities managed on the footing of commercial principles.

Challenges include

the tense security situation, especially in the south and due east of the country, that limits the mobility of personnel;
dilapidated infrastructure as a outcome of decades of state of war and neglect;
a high level of non-revenue h2o estimated at twoscore% including water use from illegal connections;
inappropriate pipe materials such as asbestos-cement used for older pipes;
a lack of qualified personnel;
widespread poverty; and
traditional social norms particularly concerning the role of women.

The latter brand information technology difficult, for instance, to read meters within bounds or to involve women in participatory processes.

In urban areas, additional challenges include:

delays in the procurement of big works, due to a large extent to the absenteeism of contractors with sufficient capacity to execute large works;
the pollution of shallow groundwater because of a lack of sanitation; and
poor service quality of piped h2o supply, including service interruptions that are partly acquired by unreliable electricity supply.

Access and service quality [edit]

Overview [edit]

Afghanistan is able to shop 75 billion cubic meters of fresh h2o annually.^{[half dozen]} Every bit of 2019, simply about 67% of the country's population has access to drinking h2o.^[one] ^[two] This number is expected to steadily increase in the time to come,^[7] peculiarly in Kabul later on the Shah wa Arus and Shahtoot dams are completed.^[viii] A number of other smaller dams are being built in other parts of the state.^[9]

Admission to an improved h2o source does not mean that the water is rubber to drink.^[6] For example, protected shallow wells in urban areas are often contaminated with bacteria. Piped water supply can besides be contaminated. Many households without access to an improved source take water from streams and rivers, open wells and unprotected springs, all of which are likewise often polluted. In rural areas women and girls walk long distances to fetch water.

There have been considerable improvements in access to water supply in the concluding several years. A countrywide Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey carried out during the reign of the Taliban in 1997 plant that an estimated 7% of the rural population and 17% of the urban population had access to an improved water source at the time. While the survey results represent estimates that have a sure margin of error, the recorded improvements in rural areas friction match the fact that significant investments were undertaken by NGOs and by the authorities under the National Solidarity Plan initiated in 2003. The improvements in urban areas are somewhat puzzling, since no major investments in water supply systems took place during that period in Kabul and Kandahar. Possibly the 1997 figure does not include the urban population served by public wells. Furthermore, service quality, which is often poor, is not reflected in the in a higher place figures. For case, because of poor electric service, serious voltage fluctuations, poor installation of equipment and lack of preventive maintenance, pump failures are frequent and lead to supply interruptions.^[x]

In 2004 the mortality rate of children under 5 was equally loftier every bit 25%. Half of these deaths were acquired by water-borne diseases. Household surveys indicated that spending on health care was second only to nutrient.^[xi]

Kabul [edit]

Settlements on hills in the city of Kabul. Most of these residents take no access to piped water supply so they pay the many "water carriers" whose chore is delivering water to homes everyday.

As of 2005, about one-half a million people or 15% of the population of Kabul were continued to the piped water supply system through an estimated 30,000 firm connections. Some of those who are non connected receive water from their neighbors or from public mitt pumps, both of which are considered as improved water sources. Many Kabul residents get their h2o from up to 100,000 shallow private wells that are oft polluted and vulnerable to drought.^[12] Co-ordinate to a U.s. Geological Survey report carried out from 2005 to 2007, nearly a quarter of shallow wells have fallen dry. Roughly 40% of the remaining wells could fall seasonally or permanently dry because of increased withdrawals, if they are not deepened. Reduced water availability considering of the impacts of climate change could further exacerbate the situation.^[13]

The public piped water supply organisation provides about sixty,000 cubic meter of water per day through split up piped networks in 2005 from 3 different sources:

The Logar River aquifer due south-east of the metropolis;
The Afshar well field drawing from the Paghman River aquifer to the west;
The Alaudin well field cartoon from the Upper Kabul Aquifer to the southward.

In addition, a small-scale part of the city is connected to a distribution system served by the Qargha Karez. However, this traditional water supply arrangement had fallen dry out in 2002.^[14]

H2o supply to those fortunate enough to be connected was about 100 liter per capita per-day, assuming 15 people per connection and ane third of physical water losses in the distribution network. This per capita water utilise is about as high as in Germany. However, water quality is poor, supply is intermittent and the great majority who practice not have access to the piped network have to get by with much less water. The Kabul water project aimed at tripling the number of house connections to 90,000 and doubling water production from existing well fields as well as from a new well field on the Lower Kabul River aquifer, providing water to more than 600,000 people.^[xv]

The Kabul water projection was to be financed by both KfW (well field extension and reservoir) and the World Bank (transmission line, distribution network, house connections and meters).^[sixteen] The projection was supposed to be completed in 2010. Nevertheless, the World Bank withdrew from the project because of disputes over procurement.

Kandahar [edit]

In Kandahar in that location is only i network supplied by 3 or iv deep wells. In 2002, it delivered merely ii,500 cubic meter per-day to a city of nearly half a meg. Most of the population depends on polluted shallow wells that are at hazard of running dry. For irrigation purposes the population of Kandahar depends on the Dahla Dam north of the metropolis.

Herat [edit]

As of 2012 Herat had more than 39,000 house connections, all of which are equipped with meters. About 45 percent of the population in the service area of the water company had admission to piped water supply, including 85 percent in the city itself and around 30 per centum in the surrounding areas. Since 2008, the local public h2o company – officially called a "strategic business concern unit" of the national water company - has been operating at a profit. The profit is reinvested in infrastructure. Co-ordinate to the German language development agency GIZ, the service of the Herat water utility "can be compared to like set-ups in industrialized countries."^[17] With 105 employees in 2013 the water utility is non overstaffed; its ratio of 2.5 employees per i,000 connections corresponds to international practiced practise. The utility receives its h2o from wells. Virtually one-half the wells are inside the city and the other half in the outskirts. Drinking water quality is non systematically monitored. According to a non-representative survey carried out in 2013, 2-thirds of customers receive only intermittent h2o supply with interruptions of up to one and a half days, one third indicated that the amount of h2o received - lx liter per capita per day on average - was insufficient, i third said that their h2o meters had non been read for at least the last half-dozen months, and well-nigh all complained well-nigh insufficient h2o force per unit area. The water company collects only about 75 per centum of the full amount of h2o billed. With German financing, a new well field, manual line and storage facilities were completed in 2008. The additional water quantity allowed to quadruple the number of house connections between 2002 and 2012. The new well field has also improved water quality, according to residents surveyed. Households not connected to the piped network utilize shallow wells or water vendors.^[4]

The Afghan-India Friendship Dam (Salma Dam) was built in Herat Province in 2016. Another is the Pashdan Dam, which is under construction and expected to be completed in 2021.

Kunduz [edit]

In Kunduz water supply improved substantially since 2007. From April 2007 until December 2009 the number of connections increased from 370 to 2,100, providing piped h2o supply to well-nigh one third of the city. The network was expanded from 14 to 71 km. A new calculator-aided accounting organization is being introduced to help increase the share of bills paid. In 2008, for the start time revenues covered operating costs.^[17] Residents of Kunduz rely on water from the Kunduz and [Khanabad] Rivers] for irrigation purposes.

Lashkar Gah [edit]

Information technology was announced in 2005 that a USAID-funded project would build vi reservoirs in Lashkar Gah, with responsibility for the water supply then being handed over to the Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority. The city had been without fresh water for the previous thirty years due to the contamination of the Helmand River.^[18] The people of Lashkar Gah rely on the Kajaki Dam for irrigation, which is located near by in the Kajaki District of Helmand Province.

Zaranj [edit]

Residents of Zaranj volition be receiving drinking h2o from the Kamal Khan Dam, which is located virtually 95 km to the southeast of Zaranj in the Chahar Burjak District of Nimruz Province.

Responsibility for water supply [edit]

Responsibilities within the authorities [edit]

Policy setting and the channeling of resource provided by external donors for h2o supply investments is the responsibleness of at least 5 Afghan Ministries.

The National Water Affairs Regulation Authority (formerly the Ministry of Water and Free energy) is responsible for water resources direction.^[19]
The Ministry of Urban Development Affairs is responsible for urban h2o supply.
The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development is responsible for rural water supply.
The Ministry building of Finance is, together with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, responsible for the National Solidarity Fund, which is the major program for rural h2o supply in the country.
The Ministry of Public Wellness undertakes programs to railroad train women to educate the population most the importance of hygiene and clean water in preventing affliction.^[20]

Service provision in urban areas [edit]

The government has a policy of creating decentralized local public utilities run on the basis of commercial principles. Prior to 2007 there was a Central Authorisation for Water Supply and Sewerage (CAWSS) with provincial water departments in the 14 Afghan towns that had piped water supply systems. The entity did not perform well and was not run on the basis of private sector principles. As part of sector reforms the agency was dissolved and replaced past the Afghan Water Supply and Sewerage Corporation (AUWSSC), a property company for local utilities chosen "Strategic Business Units" that are to be run based on commercial principles. Every bit of 2010, the utility in Herat (encounter above) was probably the corporation's best-run strategic business unit in the land.

There are few qualified technical staff due to low salaries and poor working environments. Most of the staff working on projects are funded by donors and exit one time a project ends.^[21] However, there are encouraging exceptions. For example, a brother-and-sister team in the city of Ghazni increased revenue collection from water tariffs by 75%, aided past the fact that meters located within bounds can only be read by a woman if no man is in the house.^[22]

Service provision in rural areas [edit]

NGOs play a major role in providing water supply and sanitation in rural areas of Afghanistan. In 2003, through its Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Evolution (MRRD), the Government began to play a role in rural water supply. It adult a "Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Policy/Strategy" for Transitional islamic state of afghanistan. The strategy emphasizes the integration of wellness and hygiene pedagogy with water supply and sanitation and gives local communities a key role. They are supposed to decide about the type of infrastructure to be installed, finance part of its investment costs, and to operate and maintain it.^[11] This is to exist washed through democratically elected Community Development Councils (CDCs) that have been created throughout Transitional islamic state of afghanistan since 2003 every bit part of the National Solidarity Program. The councils receive so-chosen cake grants and are themselves in accuse of choosing what to do with the block grants and selecting the companies that install the infrastructure. Almost 22,000 Councils have been created in all of Afghanistan's provinces as of 2010. About ane quarter of the projects financed through the National Solidarity Programme are for h2o supply, sanitation and flood control, amounting to eleven,700 projects with a value of Usa$157m financed between 2003 and 2010.^[23]

However, the Councils have limited to no technical skills in water engineering. Provincial Rural Rehabilitation and Development (PRRD) units provide technical assistance to the CDCs during the planning and construction stage, hiring social mobilizers to consult with communities and to appoint caretakers to ensure operation and maintenance. But the technical support to the Councils is often insufficient. Co-ordinate to a 2010 World Depository financial institution report, the quality of hand pumps installed is sometimes inferior, making them more prone to suspension downwards. The PRRDs take no mandate or ways to support CDCs in case of major repairs or rehabilitation. "Capacity at the province or districts to support such maintenance or rehabilitation is almost nonexistent due to lack of tools, staff, and funding", says a 2010 World Bank study.^[21]

External cooperation [edit]

The main external partners in the h2o sector are Deutschland, the United States and the World Banking concern.

Federal republic of germany [edit]

Germany provides financial cooperation through KfW development bank,^[24] as well as technical aid through GIZ^[17] and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resource, BGR. German cooperation in the h2o sector is focused on urban areas, in particular on Kabul and Herat, as well as Balkh, Kunduz, Takhar and Badakhshan provinces in Northern and Northeastern Afghanistan. BGR supported groundwater monitoring and modeling in the Kabul basin besides as training of local partners from 2003 to 2006.^[25]

U.s.a. [edit]

Through USAID, the United states supports urban water supply through the Commercialization of Transitional islamic state of afghanistan H2o and Sanitation Activity (CAWSA) projection since 2008. USAID works mainly in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-east-Sharif, Gardez and Ghazni in the east too as Jalalabad.^[26] From Oct 2009 until September 2012, USAID also funded the Afghan Sustainable H2o Supply and Sanitation (SWSS) Project.^[27]

Earth Bank [edit]

The primary vehicle for World Bank support to water supply in Transitional islamic state of afghanistan is the National Solidarity Programme (run across above under rural h2o supply), using funds from various countries channeled through the International Evolution Association or the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund.^[28] In addition, in 2006 the World Bank approved a US$40m grant to support an urban water supply projection to improve water supply in Kabul. Still, past 2010 almost no funds were disbursed and the infrastructure component of the project had been cancelled. Information technology is now to be replaced by a pilot project to support pocket-sized private operators, connecting 500 customers in one area of Kabul.^[29]

Run across as well [edit]

Listing of dams and reservoirs in Afghanistan
List of rivers in Afghanistan
Drought in Transitional islamic state of afghanistan
Health in Afghanistan

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b "Afghanistan". world wide web.globalwaters.org . Retrieved 2021-03-xx .
^ ^a ^b "Wash: H2o, sanitation and hygiene". UNICEF. Retrieved 2021-03-20 .
^ Calculated based on a water production of threescore,000 m3 per twenty-four hour period, 30,000 connections, 33% concrete losses and xv persons per connection
^ ^a ^b KfW:Herat Drinking Water Supply, Ex-post evaluation, 2013
^ "National H2o Diplomacy Regulation Say-so". Retrieved 2021-03-20 .
^ ^a ^b "'Afghanistan can store 75 billion cubic meter water'". Pajhwok Afghan News. March 31, 2021. Retrieved 2021-03-31 .
^ "Awareness-raising about clean h2o". KfW. February xiii, 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-twenty .
^ "India to complete dam for safe drinking h2o in Kabul". The Hindu. November 25, 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-20 .
^ "Taliban attacks 'security outpost' in Faryab's Dahandara dam". Khaama Press. March 28, 2021. Retrieved 2021-03-31 .
^ USAID:Client Service the Key to Success, 13 June 2010
^ ^a ^b Globe Banking company:Transitional islamic state of afghanistan Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project, Implementation Completion Study, June 25, 2010, p. 1
^ Pier Giorgio Nembrini:Geneva Foundation. Cities in war:thirsty cities, Kabul water supply: development since the 1992-94 ceremonious war, October 2002
^ Mack, T.J., Akbari, M.A., Ashoor, M.H., Chornack, M.P., Coplen, T.B., Emerson, D.G., Hubbard, B.E., Litke, D.W., Michel, R.50., Plummer, L.Due north., Rezai, M.T., Senay, G.B., Verdin, J.P., and Verstraeten, I.M., 2010, Conceptual model of h2o resource in the Kabul Basin, Afghanistan, U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2009–5262, p. 65 and 70f.
^ D. Banks with contributions past M.H. Hamid, Norwegian Church building Assist: Water Assessment Mission to Afghanistan, Jan-February 2002, Part F. Urban Water Supply Systems in Afghanistan, posted on the website of the Center for Policy and Man Development at Kabul Academy
^ Beller / IGIP / BETS: Water for Kabul, Baronial 2005
^ World Bank:Afghanistan Urban Water Sector Project, Project Information Document, March 2006
^ ^a ^b ^c GTZ:Water – a source of life.Improving water supplies in Afghanistan, May 2010
^ USAID Field Report Transitional islamic state of afghanistan February 2005 ReliefWeb
^ "Transitional islamic state of afghanistan National Water Information System development". Retrieved 2021-03-xx .
^ UNICEF:UNICEF and Afghan Ministry of Health gainsay affliction past recruiting women to teach, May 2005
^ ^a ^b World Bank:Afghanistan Rural H2o Supply and Sanitation Projection, Implementation Completion Report, June 25, 2010, p. 17
^ USAID: Female Meter Reader Raises Revenues, ix February 2010
^ World Banking concern: Third Emergency National Solidarity Project, Emergency Project Paper, June 2010, p. 108
^ KfW:Transitional islamic state of afghanistan – Improved Basic Services for the Population, June 2010
^ BGR:Transitional islamic state of afghanistan - Improvement of groundwater-protection to prevent droughts in the Kabul Basin
^ USAID Transitional islamic state of afghanistan:Infrastructure
^ USAID
^ Globe Depository financial institution:Afghanistan National Solidarity Program
^ World Depository financial institution:Implementation Condition & Results, Afghanistan Urban Water Sector Projection, October 2010

External links [edit]

National Water Affairs Regulation Authorization (NWARA)
H2o shortages worsen in Transitional islamic state of afghanistan as drought persists (Al Jazeera, Dec. 28, 2018)
Legislation on Use of Water in Agronomics: Transitional islamic state of afghanistan (Library of Congress)
Transitional islamic state of afghanistan: Water management for peace (The Interpreter, Oct. 4, 2019)
Is Water Scarcity a Bigger Threat Than the Taliban in Transitional islamic state of afghanistan? (The Diplomat, Oct. ten, 2018)