Saturday December 2, 2017
Kabul (BNA) Attended by a number of government high ranking officials, the ‘National Urban Conference’ has recently been held in Kabul to discuss urban problems the people are faced with.
Water supply networks and purification of wastewater were among the issues focused during the conference.
Head of waters management department in the ministry of urban development, Ryaz Darmal told they have taken necessary measures to prevent the urban problems.
Totally, 92 percent of our people have access to potable water, he further said.
Calling digging deep wells the only problem before them, he said some water factories have forcibly dug deep wells and sell it to bazaar. The move has negatively affected the wells around the factories and has caused to dry them up, he added.
The water level has decreased in a number of areas, as in Alauddin, the water level has downed by 26 meters—an action which faced the residents with serious problems.
The ministries for urban development and energy and water have proposed many water drafts to the presidential office in order to establish a water administration, through which it pressures people to save the water.
At the same time, officials of the ministry for urban development are making effort to prevent those dig deep wells and sell it out to market, without paying tax to the government.
Those private water supply companies which install devices in houses to know how much the people consume water, should ask the people to save the water, Darmal went on to say.
According to him, unfortunately, our people consume over 5 cubic meters water, most of whom don’t have miters to know how much water they spend during a day, a move which is another challenge they are faced with.
To prevent reckless digging of deep wells, the ministry of urban development has proposed many drafts to Afghanistan’s high council of lands on establishing water reservoirs in Kabul and opening of water purification factories in a bid to save the water, he continued.
To save the underground waters, the ministry of water and energy intends to work on a number of water projects and purify unusable waters, he added.
Pointing at Shahtoot, Qargha and Gulbahar dams, he said work on them was about to be completed.
It is merit to mention that purification of wastewaters is the future plans of the water department so to provide the ground for people to access drinking water for the next thirteen years.
Shukria Kohistani
