Page 1 Fact Sheet 2010–3037

May 2010

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Prepared in cooperation with the Afghanistan Geological Survey

under the auspices of the U.S. Agency for International Development

Availability of Water in the Kabul Basin, Afghanistan

Role of the USGS in Evaluating Water Availability in the 

Kabul Basin

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), under an agreement 

funded by the United States Agency for International 

Development (USAID), has been working with the Afghanistan 

Geological Survey (AGS) and the Afghanistan Ministry of 

Energy and Water (MEW) since 2004 to address questions about 

future water availability in the Kabul Basin that have arisen as a 

result of population growth in the region and the potential effects 

of climate change on the basin’s water resources. As part of this 

collaborative and multidisciplinary assessment, to the extent 

possible in a war-stricken country, a database of groundwater 

and surface-water information was compiled and data-collection 

networks were developed to improve understanding of, and 

provide a scientific basis for, the management of water resources 

in the Kabul Basin.

Location and Geology of the Kabul Basin 

The Kabul Basin is an 80-kilometer-long valley, formed by 

the Paghman Mountains to the west and the Kohe Safi Mountains 

to the east, that contains Kabul City and surrounding communities 

in Afghanistan (figs. 1 and 2). Subbasins of the Kabul Basin, 

formed by interbasin ridges and river drainages, include Central 

Kabul, Paghman and Upper Kabul, Logar, Deh Sabz, Shomali, and 

Panjsher (fig. 1). 

The Kabul Basin (fig. 3) is in a “basin and range” setting in 

which the valleys are filled with sediments consisting of sand and 

gravel and the mountain ranges are composed of uplifted bedrock. 

The upper aquifer, which is the primary aquifer, consists of highly 

permeable sands and gravels that typically are less than 80 meters 

thick in the valleys. The upper aquifer is underlain by a secondary 

aquifer consisting of less permeable, densely compacted sands, 

gravels, and clays that may be as thick as 1,000 meters or more in 

some parts of the valley.

DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

MINISTRY OF MINES AND INDUSTRIES

1352

Importance of Water Availability in the Kabul Basin

The availability of water resources is vital to the social and economic well being and rebuilding of Afghanistan. 

Kabul City currently (2010) has a population of nearly 4 million and is growing rapidly as a result of periods of relative 

security and the return of refugees. Population growth and recent droughts have placed new stresses on the city’s limited 

water resources and have caused many wells to become contaminated, dry, or inoperable in recent years. The projected 

vulnerability of Central and West Asia to climate change (Cruz and others, 2007; Milly and others, 2005) and observations 

of diminishing glaciers in Afghanistan (Molnia, 2009) have heightened concerns for future water availability in the 

Kabul Basin of Afghanistan. 

Figure 1. Location of the Kabul Basin, Afghanistan.

Barik Ab

River

Logar River

Panjsher River

Panjsher

River

Kabul River

Kabul River

Paghman

River

Kabul Basin boundary—Includes the watershed

 boundary to the immediate basin

Groundwater subbasin boundary

EXPLANATION

Base from U.S. Geological Survey Shuttle Radar

Topography Mission data, 2000, 30-meter resolution 

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 42 N

World Geodetic System, 1984

Barik Ab

River

Logar River

Panjsher River

Panjsher

River

Kabul River

Kabul River

Paghman

River

0 5 MILES

0 10 KILOMETERS

Paghman and

Upper Kabul

Paghman

Mountains Kohe Safi

Mountains

Kabul

City

Paghman and

Upper Kabul

Bagram

Logar

Shomali

Deh

Sabz

Panjsher

69° 69°30'

34°30'

35°

Cent ral Kabul

Pakistan

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan Tajikistan

Iran

China

Afghanistan Kabul 35°

30°

65° 70°
Page 2 

Line of cross section

Not to scale

Thrust fault zone

Water table

Sparse

precipitation

Evapotranspiration

Melting

glacier

Water table

Thrust fault zone

Fine-grained lens Fine-grained lenses

River

Geology modified from Bohannon and Turner, 2007

A

B

EXPLANATION

 Fan alluvium

 Loess

 Alluvium

 Lower aquifer

 Conglomerate

Sediments

 Upper aquifer

Bedrock Irrigation system

Homes

Well

Kabul Basin

 boundary

Fault, 

 approximately

 located

Relative

 movement

 along fault

 Sandstones

 Limestones

 Metamorphics

 Intrusives

Figure 4. Afghanistan Geological Survey engineers training with 

U.S. Geological Survey personnel in the Kabul Basin.

Overview of Hydrologic Data Collection and Analysis

Climatic, geologic, and hydrologic data were evaluated for 

the Kabul Basin. The Afghanistan Geological Survey engineers 

have been measuring water levels and collecting water-quality 

and chemical data since 2004 (fig. 4) as a part of a training effort 

(“capacity building”) by the USGS.

Temperature and Groundwater Levels

Average annual precipitation (1957–77 and 2003–06) in 

the Kabul Basin is about 330 mm/yr (millimeters per year), 

but annual precipitation has varied considerably in the past 

few decades, ranging from several years of no precipitation in 

the early 2000s to about 525 mm/yr in 1959 (Mack and others, 

2010; Safi and Vijselaar, 2007; Houben and Tunnermeier, 2005). 

Observations of past (1961–91) and recent (2003–07) mean 

monthly temperatures in the basin indicate an apparent warming 

trend (fig. 5). The rate of temperature increase has been greatest, about 2 degrees Celsius per decade since the early 1960s, 

Paghman Mountains

Kabul Basin

Figure 2. Kabul Basin, looking northwest toward the 

Paghman Mountains. 

YEAR

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10 1970

1972197419761978198019821984198619881990199219941996199820002002200420062007

Trend line

DIFFERENCE, IN DEGREES CELSIUS

Figure 5. Difference between annual mean February temperature and 

historical mean February temperature in the Kabul Basin, 1970–2007. 

Figure 3. Generalized geology and topography of the Kabul Basin, Afghanistan: (A) simplified geologic map and (B) schematic cross section. 

The line of cross section is shown in (A).
Page 3 

in February. Remotely 

sensed vegetation data 

indicate that February 

temperatures likely 

increased at the same 

rate during 1992–2002. 

Following a 

severe drought that 

affected much of 

Afghanistan from 

about 1998 to 2004, 

annual precipitation 

increased to normal levels and some 

groundwater levels 

have risen (fig. 6, upper 

line). Groundwater levels 

in some urban areas, such 

as Kabul City (Akbari and others, 2007), however, continued to 

decline (fig. 6, lower line) as groundwater withdrawals increased 

to meet the water-supply needs of the growing population 

(Broshears and others, 2005).

Water Quality

The Afghanistan Geological Survey collected water-quality 

samples at 8 surface-water sites and 92 groundwater, spring, 

and karez sites in the Kabul Basin. (A karez is a tunnel system 

used to extract shallow groundwater.) Bacterial contamination 

(total coliform and E. coli) commonly was detected in both 

surface water and groundwater at levels that exceed international 

drinking-water standards. In the more populated areas of the 

basin, such as the Central Kabul subbasin (fig. 1), values of 

several water-quality parameters, such as specific conductance 

(fig. 7) and concentrations of chloride, nitrate, and boron, 

indicate contamination from human activities. These findings 

reflect the absence of waste- and wastewater-treatment facilities 

in the region, and may also indicate that wells generally 

were constructed without grouting and may be subject to 

contamination from surface sources. The quality of water in less 

populated areas was relatively good. 

Origin and Age of Groundwater in the Kabul Basin

Chemical and isotopic analysis of surface-water and 

groundwater samples indicates that shallow groundwater (less 

than 100 meters below land surface) typically is 20 to 30 years 

old, whereas groundwater in deeper aquifers likely is thousands 

of years old. Most recharge (water that replenishes the groundwater resource) is derived from leakage of streamflow. The 

availability of groundwater in the Kabul Basin varies considerably among and within its subbasins but primarily depends on: 

• surface-water infiltration from rivers and streams, 

• water leakage from irrigated areas,

• subsurface groundwater inflows from mountain fronts and, 

• groundwater storage in thick sediments.

Is Water Availability Adequate to Meet the 

Increasing Demand?

The population of Kabul City increased at a rate of about 

4 percent per year during 2002–07 (Rashid Fahkri, Afghanistan 

Central Statistics Office, written commun., 2007). High 

population growth rates in the Kabul Basin are expected to 

continue; on the basis of United Nations population projections, 

the population of the Kabul Basin could more than double to 

9 million by 2057. Groundwater resources in the upper aquifer 

during years of normal precipitation and in the northern Kabul 

Basin are considerable. Existing community water-supply wells 

that are shallow, or screened near the water table, likely would 

be affected by increased groundwater withdrawals, however, 

and could be rendered inoperable or dry during summer 

months with groundwater-level declines as small as about 

1 meter. Simulations of the effects of increasing water use on 

groundwater levels indicate that a large percentage of existing 

shallow water-supply wells in urban areas may contain little or 

no water by 2057 (Mack and others, 2010). 

Kabul

City

Average specific conductance, in microsiemens per centimeter at 25 degrees Celsius: 

 circles represent samples from wells, squares represent samples from springs, 

 and diamonds represent samples from rivers.

EXPLANATION

0 5 MILES

0 10 KILOMETERS

Kabul Basin boundary

Groundwater subbasin boundary

1,501 to 2,000

Greater than 2,000

Less than 500

501 to 1,000

1,001 to 1,500

69° 69°30'

34°30'

35°

Kohe Safi

Mountains

Paghman and

Upper Kabul

Paghman

Mountains

Kohe Safi

Mountains

Paghman and

Upper Kabul

Bagram

Logar

Shomali

Deh

Sabz

Cent ral Kabu l

Base from U.S. Geological Survey Shuttle Radar

Topography Mission data, 2000, 30-meter resolution 

Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 42 N

World Geodetic System, 1984

Kabul

River

Logar River

Ghorband 

River

Panjsher

Kabul

River

Kabul

River

Logar River

Panjsher

River

Figure 7. Specific conductance of surface-water and groundwater 

samples from the Kabul Basin as an indicator of water-quality patterns. 

Figure 6. Groundwater levels in two 

wells in the Kabul Basin, 2004–07. Sept. Nov. Mar. May July Sept. Nov. Mar. May July Sept. Nov. Mar.

May

July

Sept.

Nov.

2004 2005 2006 2007

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

DEPTH TO WATER, IN METERS FROM LAND SURFACE

22

Well in Logar

Well in Kabul City
Page 4 

Potential Effects of Climate Change on Availability of 

Water in the Kabul Basin

The fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental 

Panel on Climate Change (2007) identified climate patterns 

that include warming trends for southwestern Asia. During the 

next 50 years, a 10-percent reduction in total annual precipitation is anticipated in Afghanistan (Vining and Vecchia, 2007). 

Increased surface temperatures in mountainous regions would 

be likely to result in reduced snowpacks and cause snowmelts 

to occur earlier in the year. A 10-percent reduction in recharge 

was simulated to assess the hydrologic effect of potential climate 

change on groundwater resources in the Kabul Basin. This 

simulation showed that the resulting groundwater-level declines 

could cause about one quarter of all existing shallow supply 

wells to become inoperable or dry. In the headwater areas of the 

Paghman and Upper Kabul and Shomali subbasins, more than 

50 percent of the shallow supply wells could become inoperable. Where water use is large and recharge is small—in Kabul 

City, for example—groundwater-level declines may reach tens 

of meters. Currently, most of the total annual recharge occurs in 

late winter and spring, during peak snowmelt periods (fig. 8). 

Increased temperatures may cause recharge to peak earlier in 

the year, shifting it away from the summer period, when water 

is needed most. For example, a comparison of streamflow in 

the Panjsher River at Shukhi in 2006 with historical monthly 

streamflow observations (fig. 8) indicates a shift in peak monthly 

streamflow to earlier in the year, as indicated by the observation 

of a period-of-record high flow in May and below-normal flows 

in June and July of that year.

Potential Sources of Water to Meet Future Water-Supply 

Needs in the Kabul Basin 

Afghanistan has an immediate and growing need for water 

to meet the demands of the Kabul Basin’s rapidly increasing 

population. Existing water supplies may be adversely affected 

by increased withdrawals and future climate change. Although 

existing water supplies in some parts of the basin are adequate 

for current needs, the quality of that water has deteriorated as a 

result of human activities. Improvements in sanitation and well 

construction may improve the quality of drinking water in many 

parts of the basin. Considerable groundwater reserves may be 

present in deep, currently unused aquifers; however, this water 

likely is thousands of years old, and additional study would be 

needed to determine the sustainability of this water source. Continued training of Afghan scientists and engineers and development of water-resource management plans in coordination with 

local communities would help to alleviate the water-resource 

concerns facing Afghanistan and the citizens of the Kabul Basin. 

References Cited

Akbari, M.A., Tahir, M., Litke, D.W., and Chornack, M.P., 2007, Ground-water 

levels in the Kabul Basin, Afghanistan, 2004–07: U.S. Geological Survey 

Open-File Report 2007–1294, 46 p.

Bohannon, R.G., and Turner, K.J., 2007, Geologic map of quadrangle 3468, Chak 

Wardak-Syahgerd (509) and Kabul (510) quadrangles, Afghanistan: U.S. 

Geological Survey Open-File Report 2005–1107–A, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. 

Broshears, R.E., Akbari, M.A., Chornack, M.P., Mueller, D.K., and Ruddy, B.C., 

2005, Inventory of ground-water resources in the Kabul Basin, Afghanistan: 

U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2005–5090, 34 p.

Cruz, R.V., Harasawa, H., Lal, M., Wu, S., Anokhin, Y., Punsalmaa, B., Honda, Y., 

Jafari, M., Li, C., and Huu Ninh, N., 2007: Asia. Climate Change 2007: 

Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of working group II to the 

fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, 

Parry, M.L., Canziani, O.F., Palutikof, J.P., van der Linden, P.J., and Hanson, 

C.E., eds., Cambridge, U.K., Cambridge University Press, p. 469–506.

Houben, George, and Tunnermeier, Torge, 2005, Hydrogeology of the Kabul Basin, 

Part I: Geology, aquifer characteristics, climate and hydrology: Hannover, 

Germany, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), p. 45

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007, Climate change 2007: accessed 

May 2, 2010, at http://www.ipcc.ch/. 

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.L., Plummer, L.N., 

Rezai, M.T., Senay, G.B., Verdin, J.P., and Verstraeten, I.M., 2010, Conceptual 

model of water resources in the Kabul Basin, Afghanistan: U.S. Geological 

Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2009–5262, 240 p.

Milly, P.C.D., Dunne, K.A., and Vecchia, A.V., 2005, Global pattern of trends 

in streamflow and water availability in a changing climate: Nature, v. 438, 

p. 347–350.

Molnia, B.F., 2009, Inventorying and monitoring the recent behavior of 

Afghanistan’s glaciers, debris-covered glaciers, supraglacial lakes, and the 

potential for catastrophic flooding (jökulhlaups): in European Geosciences 

Union General Assembly 2009, Geophysical Research Abstracts, v. 11, 

EGU2009-13939, Vienna, Austria, April 19–24, 2009.

Safi, Hassan, and Vijselaar, Leendert, 2007, Groundwater monitoring—Evaluation 

of groundwater data: Kabul, Afghanistan, DACAAR, p. 99.

Vining, K.C., and Vecchia, A.V., 2007, Water-balance simulations of runoff and 

reservoir storage for the Upper Helmand watershed and Kajakai Reservoir, 

Central Afghanistan: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 

2007–5148, 16 p.

By T.J. Mack, M.P. Chornack, T.B. Coplen, L.N. Plummer, M.T. Rezai,1 and 

I.M. Verstraeten

1 Afghanistan Geological Survey

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the contributions of M. Amin Akbari (who 

passed away in 2009) and the staff of the Afghanistan Geological Survey 

Hydrogeology Group, and M. Hanif Ashoor, of the Afghanistan Ministry 

of Energy and Water. The authors also acknowledge the contributions 

of U.S. Geological Survey personnel including Douglas G. Emerson, 

Bernard E. Hubbard, David W. Litke, Robert L. Michel, Gabriel B. Senay, 

and James P. Verdin.

0

100

200

300

400

500

Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept.

DISCHARGE, IN CUBIC METERS PER SECOND

0

2006 water year

MONTH

Maximum

Mean

Minimum

Historical

Figure 8. Historical (1966–80) mean and recent (2006) mean monthly 

streamflow for the Panjsher River at Shukhi in the Kabul Basin. 

Additional Information

USGS Afghanistan Project Product Number 177

The report on which this Fact Sheet is based can be accessed at:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2009/5262

For additional information on this study, contact:

tjmack@usgs.gov, or

International Water Resources Branch, U.S. Geological Survey

420 National Center

Reston, VA 20192