Water pollution in Lebanon reaching dangerous levels.
Lebanese TV network LBCI published a picture June 19 showing a large polluted area along the coastline of Beirut, which then quickly appeared on Lebanese social media networks.
But the main reason for water pollution in Lebanon is the untreated sewage.
The European Union gives loans to Lebanon, and then the only entity controlling what is done with the loan is the Council for Development and Reconstruction.
No data can be found to confirm the center’s information, as the National Council for Scientific Research, which studies water quality all year round, did not respond to a request for comment and their publications are private.
Safaa Baydoun, a researcher on water science at Beirut Arab University who worked as a researcher on the Litani River, Lake Qaraoun and the upper Litani Basin (groundwater), shared some of her research results with Al-Monitor.
“Significant spatial differences have been found between different sites of the Litani River, with the upper Litani exhibiting high levels of dissolved salts, very low levels of dissolved oxygen necessary for the river’s aquatic life and very high levels of toxic ammonia and phosphates exceeding by many folds the criteria for short- or long-term exposure in healthy water bodies,” Baydoun said.
She added, “High levels of organic pollutants are also found.
Domestic sewage and the overuse of fertilizers by farmers accompanied by runoffs are the underlying causes for the high levels of pollutants.
More specifically, the recent assessment of the EU-funded Sustainable Water Integrated Management project in the Litani Basin on the prevalence of mortality due to diarrhea caused by poor water and water quality degradation estimates that there are 0.3 cases of deaths on 13 newborns per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012.” While more activists and scientists voice their concern and request action from the government, this urgent issue still awaits a proper response from the authorities.