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.
Several years ago I heads that Capetown South Africa would be the first major city without water…
Cape Town apparently decided to use desalination.
https://resource.capetown.gov.za/documentcentre/Documents/Graphics and educational material/Desalination_Booklet_English.pdf
Says they start construction in 2026 and expect production starting in 2030.
Does desalination also get rid of microplastics and other chemicals like mercury?
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.
Thanks for the info. The link isnt loading for me, but I hope they are able to leverage renewables to power the desalination, as I’ve heard it is an energy-intensive process.
Yeah, isn’t loading at the moment here either.
hits archive.org
https://web.archive.org/web/20250627211645/https://resource.capetown.gov.za/documentcentre/Documents/Graphics and educational material/Desalination_Booklet_English.pdf