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‘End is near’: Will Kabul become first big city without water by 2030? (www.aljazeera.com)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Kabul, a city of over six million people, could become the first modern city to run out of water in the next five years, a new report has warned.

Groundwater levels in the Afghan capital have dropped drastically due to over-extraction and the effects of climate change, according to a report published by nonprofit Mercy Corps.

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[-] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago

Several years ago I heads that Capetown South Africa would be the first major city without water...

[-] [email protected] 28 points 1 day ago

Cape Town apparently decided to use desalination.

https://resource.capetown.gov.za/documentcentre/Documents/Graphics%20and%20educational%20material/Desalination_Booklet_English.pdf

Permanent desalination is planned because seawater is available all the time, whether it rains or not, so it’s more reliable than any other water source. About 97% of water on Earth is in our oceans. We can make use of this huge resource through the process of desalination, which makes it drinkable and usable for us. Although desalination is the most expensive supply option and there are environmental issues that need to be well-managed (such as the salty ‘brine’ it produces as a waste product), it is an important part of the diversified water supply ‘mix’ going forward.

Says they start construction in 2026 and expect production starting in 2030.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Does desalination also get rid of microplastics and other chemicals like mercury?

[-] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago

Both distillation and reverse osmosis should get rid of microplastics. Reverse osmosis should get rid of mercury in any form, while it would depend on other chemical properties (evaporation rate, temperature source water is heated to, etc.) on whether distillation would remove chemicals like mercury.

Some further reading.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 23 hours ago

They apparently have some temporary desalination stuff in place now to bridge the gap, dunno what it's using.

The planned permanent plant apparently uses reverse osmosis (which, at least last time I looked, was much more widely used than distillation).

https://greencape.co.za/library/paarden-eiland-desalination-plant/

Jun 1, 2025 The planned permanent Paarden Eiland plant will be a 70 Ml/day seawater desalination plant with a multi-barrier process that will include pre-screening, dissolved air flotation, rapid gravity sand filtration, reverse osmosis, a potential advanced oxidation process, a disinfection step, stabilisation of the water, and safe brine disposal.

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this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025

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