SAR-I-PUL (Pajhwok): More than 36,000 families in some remote areas and districts of northern Sar-i-Pul province lack access to clean drinking water, officials say.
Some residents of the province also say people living in areas away from the provincial capital have been struggling with shortage of clean drinking water.
Damla Juma Haqyar, rural rehabilitation and development director, told Pajhwok Afghan News their information showed more than 36,000 families in 180 villages in Al Jihad, Sancharak, Gosfandi districts lacked access to potable water.
He said: “Unfortunately there is no underground water in the mentioned areas to dig wells for drinking water, some people in those areas consume water from pools fed by rain and snow or they buy a 20-liter drum of water for 25 to 30 afghanis.”
He added he had an emergency meeting with provincial officials to solve the problem and they shared the issue with aid giving institutions , including United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), but the problem remained.
This year, he said, they tried to supply water to these families through tankers in cooperation with donor institutions, but did not succeed.
Mullah Woles, a resident of Gandeh village in Sayad district, said that 50 villages were using a two-inch tap whose water was transferred from a village 35 kilometers away.
He added: “We are in great trouble, sometimes the water arrives and sometimes it doesn't."
Residents of Sar-i-Pul province have long been complaining about the lack of potable drinking water.
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