Thread by @JpLawrence3

Thread 1/10
Raw sewage pours into the fetid waters of Kabul River each day, including some of what comes from the US Embassy and the military hq for Resolute Support NATO.

Reporters at @starsandstripes followed this story for months. Here's what we found:
stripes.com/news/sewage-fr…

2/10
Each night, sewage trucks from all over Kabul, Afghanistan dump their loads at the Makroyan Waste Water Treatment Plant, the only legal dumping site in the city. But the plant hasn’t worked for ~two years because of poor maintenance (grass grows in the crack of a key pipe).

3/10
Sewage dumped at Makroyan is diverted into this pipe before reaching the non-functional plant.
“Since the wastewater treatment plant does not function and its canals are damaged, the sewage from Makroyan dumping site directly goes into the Kabul River" a plant official said.

4/10
The impact is felt by about 3,000 families living on the Kabul River near Makroyan. Some told Stars and Stripes that they suffer from persistent gastrointestinal issues due to sewage in the water, which also seeps into underground aquifers that locals use for drinking water

5/10
Kamal, a 7-year-old boy playing along the river with his father and brother, told us he often suffers from diarrhea. “It hurts my stomach,” he said of the water. Another man that day said recently suffered from typhoid, a disease linked to contaminated drinking water.

6/10
Into the river each month goes ~21,000 gallons of raw sewage from portable toilets at the US Embassy, and ~12,000 gallons of sewage from US and coalition troops, per contractors who shared receipts.
This is just a fraction of sewage from all over Kabul that comes to Makroyan

7/10
Repairs to the Makroyan are delayed due to land disputes +difficulty of replacing decades-old parts, said the plant's VP. Until the plant is fixed, “all the wastewater will go into the Kabul River until a new treatment center is built.”

8/10
We at @starsandstripes also visited a dump site the Afghan government says is illegally handling the US Embassy's trash. The company said it was only transporting trash per its license. But on our visit, workers showed off their recycling machines.
stripes.com/news/afghan-go…

9/10
One takeaway:
The intl community, although not solely responsible for the situation, should at least hold their contractors to higher standards to ensure sewage and trash does not damage health/the environment, said the Afghan govt's National Environmental Protection Agency.

10/10
Throughout this reporting process, spokesmen would tell us one thing, then our in-person visits/talks with people on the ground would tell us another.
I'm reminded of this Bob Woodward story (linked), with the lesson, "Get off your ass and go there."
gwtoday.gwu.edu/lesson-bob-woo…