Applicability of Urban Water Simulation Models for Estimating Urban Water Balance of Kabul City: A Review

Computational models have gained recognition as effective tools for estimation of urban water balance. Beyond personal skills, the selection of an appropriate model requires an understanding of the city’s water system, the capabilities of the model and data requirements. Kabul represents a rapidly urbanizing city with limited water and sanitation infrastructure. To analyze the urban water balance of Kabul, ten prominent open-source and commercial hydrological models were evaluated. The characteristics of the models along with their data requirements, calibration parameters, and applications are assessed through a review of previous studies and user manuals. The study demonstrates that assessing Kabul’s urban water balance requires explicit consideration of processes such as snowmelt, groundwater abstraction, surface water–groundwater interaction and irrigation. The urban water balance of Kabul and cities with similar conditions can be effectively modeled using tools such as MIKE SHE, SWAT, and WEAP. The flexibility of the MIKE SHE model and its ability to use time-varying raster data make it a viable option for analyzing water balance under changing land cover and climatic conditions. Lumped models account for limited spatial variability and rely on empirical fitting. In contrast, physically based models reduce reliance on empirical calibration. However, they are more data-intensive and complex than simpler conceptual models.