PAN (Translated by RAWA), June 21, 2008
Thousands of Families in Zaranj are Faced with Water Scarcity
He added that the problem of water had been told to the authorities several times but all they had got were empty promises.
Ahmad Shah Sabir
Thousands of families in the south and north of Zaranj (capital city of Nimroz) are faced with shortage of drinking water and most of them have to buy water.
People of Zaranj face great shortage of water (Photo: PAN)
More than 20 thousand people in the south of the city have been facing shortage of water for the past ten days. They demanded the solution for this problem urgently.
Mohammad Nasir, a resident of the area of Palan Panj, told PAN that the water that had been drawn from the Hirmand River to the houses of the people a year back by a French organization through the mayor and the people, had been cut because the river had dried up.
He added that most of the deep wells surrounding Zaranj had been used by the people. A tractor containing 20 liters of water was transported to the people at a cost of five Afghanis but now the wells have also dried up and 20 liters of water cannot be found even for 16 Afghanis.
He continued, “We are forced to buy mineral water. A liter and a half bottle of this water imported from Iran is sold for 16 Afghanis. Most people can’t afford to buy even that.”
The residents of the north of Zaranj face similar problems.
Izzatullah, a resident of the north of Zaranj said that the water drawn up from Iran to their area had been cut for the past four days for unknown reasons.
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An old man added that the water of Zaranj is salty and can’t be used; people of the north and center of Zaranj use the water that comes from Iran.
He added that the problem of water had been told to the authorities several times but all they had got were empty promises.
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A government authority in Nimroz, without naming himself, told PAN that Iran had dug big wells (called Chah Nima) near the border of Nimroz and the water of the Helmand River is taken in over there and transported to the agricultural lands of Zabul through canals.
Head of Agriculture and Irrigation of Nimroz said that to stop this act of Iran a lot of facilities and budget is needed which they don’t have.
The authorities in Nimroz said that when floods come Iran closes its canals and the water of the Hirmand River comes into the city of Zaranj and the peoples suffer great losses.
In floods of the Hirmand River in 1990 and 1992 most of Zaranj and the district of Kong had been completely covered by water. In these disasters half the houses had been destroyed and the people had suffered big losses.
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