Deep wells behind receding underground water in Nangarhar

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): The underground water level in eastern Nangarhar province has receded by several meters due to the excessive use of deep wells’ water to irrigate leased out lands of the Canal Department.

Maulavi Sayed Fazel Ahad Hashimi, the head of Nangarhar Water Basin Authority, told Pajhwok Afghan News that they had prevented digging new wells in Nanagarhar province since the Islamic Emirate (IE)’s return.

He said the current deep wells had been dug during the previous government and excessive use of their water had resulted in dropping the underground water level.

As an instance, Hashimi said: “In a village in Farm Hadi area, the water level was about eight meters deep from the surface of the ground some years ago, but now it has plummeted to 108 meters, the villagers get their drinking water from a humanitarian organization”.

Hashimi said the officials examined the underground water level every month and the water level had dropped by around 40 or 50 centimeters during the past one month.

Officials of the Canal Department also accepted the tenants mostly irrigated the leased lands from deep wells.

Sayed Humayoun Gharibmal, the spokesman of the Canal Project, told Pajhwok that they had advised the tenants to use drip irrigation system.

Gharibmal said: “Some of the companies which have rented lands from the Canal Project practically use the drip system, others are switching to the system while other companies have been promised to use the trickle irrigation”.

Besides companies, farmers have also been advised to use canal water for irrigation, which can also help enrich the underground water source, Gharibmal added.

Qari Islamuddin, a contractor of Canal Project, said the officials of Canal Project had advised them to use the canal water for irrigation and close the wells.

Islamuddin said: “We were using water pump to irrigate the land from deep wells, but people started complaining about the receding underground water level, so officials of the Canal Project also told us to use the canal water, now we pump the water from the canal, we also use solar power to pump the water from the canal into our drip system for further frugality”.

The Canal Project Contractors Union had agreed to solve this problem by avoiding the use of wells for irrigational purposes, he added.

Sayed Anwar, a resident of Zoor Kalai of Behsud district, told Pajhwok most of the land belonging to the Canal Project was rain-fed and farmers had to use water pumps to irrigate the land from deep wells that resulted in decline of the underground water level.

“This problem will persist until the use of water pumps is completely prevented,” he said.

Bidar, a resident of Jalalabad city, told Pajhwok they dug a seven-meter deep well in their house which had been working quite perfectly. The well dried up and they further dug it 25 meters deep, but could not reach the water table, he said.

Some time ago, Nangarhar River Basin officials expressed concern about drought gripping more than 15 districts and Jalalabad city.

aw/ma

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