Lebanon to face severe water crisis if key steps aren’t taken

Lebanon is facing an unprecedented struggle to effectively manage its dwindling water resources as an unplanned and unchecked surge in regional urban migration threatens Middle Eastern drinking and sewage infrastructure, an international conference concluded Tuesday.

The U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia summit on the occasion of World Water Day featured testimonies from lawmakers and academics concerned over the state of water supply in a part of the world where urban populations will increase by 50 percent by the year 2040.

Lebanon, in particular, was set to suffer from severe water shortages if immediate measures were not undertaken, speakers said.

With Lebanon’s annual water consumption, according to the Energy and Water Ministry, to rise from the current 1.37 billion meters cubed to 1.8 billion meters cubed by 2035, Nasrallah said instant action was required to avert the financial and health damage caused by water shortages. “We realize that in Lebanon we are dealing with a water shortage and we cannot deliver sources to all of the people, and over the past few years we didn’t have any plans about how best to use water,” he said.

According to ESCWA’s latest research, 29 million Arabs lack access to reliable and safe drinking water, with 34 million living without adequate sanitation facilities, due to paucity of rainfall and functioning storage facilities.

Energy Minister Jibran Bassil, who sent a speech to Tuesday’s event, said his ministry had already come up with a long-term plan to address a looming water crisis. As well as aiming to install up to 1 million water meters across the country by 2020, Bassil said the ministry was working on safeguarding and procuring better access to public and private subterranean wells.

Hegazi insisted further effort from all Arab states was required. “Despite all the efforts that are being exerted to face all these challenges in the region, the progress is lower than realistic expectations, especially when it comes to providing citizens with water,” she said.