{"id":322,"date":"2024-05-22T14:52:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T14:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/?p=322"},"modified":"2026-02-22T22:36:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T22:36:48","slug":"sewage-irrigation-akkar-farmers-use-of-raw-sewage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/2024\/05\/22\/sewage-irrigation-akkar-farmers-use-of-raw-sewage\/","title":{"rendered":"Sewage irrigation: Akkar farmers\u2019 use of raw sewage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Khaled al-Masri rides his motorcycle on a road filled with sewage water. Akkar, Lebanon. November 26, 2023. (Marwan Tahtah\/The Public Source)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is Part 1 of a four-part series on water in Lebanon, covering its unsavory substitutes, its uses and misuses, the origin story of its crisis, and finally, its weaponization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is near dusk in Machta Hammoud, a rural village in northern Lebanon near the Syrian border. As I squelch through a muddy field, I feel a sticky mix of human waste and damp soil clinging to my shoes. I am standing alone, trying to catch the day\u2019s last rays of sun. My colleague, photojournalist Marwan Tahtah, is taking photos of the sewage water that floods nearby farmlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly an old white pickup truck rumbles up. \u201cHey!\u201d the driver shouts. \u201cWho are you? What are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I brace myself. We drove three hours from Beirut, some 148 kilometers away, to find out more about the allegedly widespread use of sewage to irrigate crops here in Akkar, Lebanon\u2019s northernmost governorate. This man could be linked to the local authorities; he might not like us airing their dirty laundry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you journalists?\u201d He looks angry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I nod, slowly approaching the vehicle with a smile that I hope will appease him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you are a journalist, can you please write and tell people about our problems?\u201d he shouts, shaking his finger at me. \u201cCan you tell the world that we\u2019re flooded with sewage? I\u2019m coming back from my land now, winter has started, and the sewage flooded my entire crop \u2014 I don\u2019t know what to do!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you are a journalist, can you please write and tell people about our problems? Can you tell the world that we\u2019re flooded with sewage?” \u2014Sa\u00efd, Machta Hammoud resident<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ask him his name. \u201cSa\u00efd,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSa\u00efd, I promise I\u2019ll tell everyone about this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His face relaxes. \u201cShukran,\u201d he says, and drives away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time we get back to our car, later that day, we notice our shoes are caked in mud and worse. We look for clean water to remove the filth, but the water, too, is dirty. Marwan tries to rub his shoes on some grass, but this requires stepping through sewage. Instead, we find a small dry patch on the muddy road, and try to clean our shoes in the dust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey Do It at Night\u201d
Mohammad Madian Dandachli, a 44-year-old geography teacher, was born and raised in Machta Hammoud. He rented out his small plot of land until the COVID-19 pandemic, when he started planting peanuts, cucumbers, tomatoes, and lettuce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One hot October night, Dandachli recalls, he noticed lights on some neighboring farmland. He didn\u2019t think much of it: farmers are always around their lands, day or night. But after smelling a foul odor, he took a closer look. To his horror, he saw a thick black rubber pipe coming out of an opening in the muddy road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The neighbor, he says, was watering his crops with raw human sewage. \u201cThey do it at night,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause if people found out, they would talk, and no one would buy their crops.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An open manhole pours sewage into the canal bordering agricultural lands in Machta Hammoud. Akkar, Lebanon. November 26, 2023. (Marwan Tahtah\/The\u00a0Public\u00a0Source)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Open manhole pouring sewage water into a canal bordering an agricultural land in Akkar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akkar is Lebanon\u2019s second-largest agricultural area after the Bekaa Valley. It is home to four main rivers \u2014 the Arka, Kabir, Ostuan, and Bared \u2014 and some of the country\u2019s most fertile and productive lands. Akkar grows 14 percent of Lebanon\u2019s produce, from peanuts and wheat to olives, avocados, and cucumbers. In the winter, it is Lebanon\u2019s main producer of leafy greens like lettuce, coriander, parsley, and rocca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also one of the country\u2019s most neglected and economically deprived areas. In 2021, the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) estimated that half of Akkar\u2019s families lived in \u201cextreme multidimensional poverty.\u201d Sahel Akkar \u2014 the rich agricultural Akkar plain, which extends across the border into Syria \u2014 is one of the poorest areas within the governorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akkar grows 14 percent of Lebanon\u2019s produce, from peanuts and wheat to olives, avocados, and cucumbers. In the winter, it is Lebanon\u2019s main producer of leafy greens like lettuce, coriander, parsley, and rocca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, since 1992, the Lebanese government and its foreign donors have poured tens of millions of dollars into Akkar\u2019s wastewater sector, including more than $50 million from Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) projects alone. These funds were intended to build water treatment plants and sewage collection networks in Akkar. But all local farmers have to show for these millions are fields full of sewage and Lebanon\u2019s first cholera outbreak in almost three decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the central government\u2019s longstanding abandonment of Akkar, the once-crystal waters of its streams and rivers, for millennia a vital source of irrigation, are now contaminated with raw sewage. Local farmers are forced to irrigate their crops with either contaminated river water or raw sewage, not out of malice but for lack of better options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local farmers are forced to irrigate their crops with either contaminated river water or raw sewage, not out of malice but for lack of better options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the 2019 financial crisis, farmers in Akkar used to pump groundwater to irrigate their lands. But after the banks locked them out of their dollar accounts while the Lebanese lira plummeted, many farmers turned to Akkar\u2019s rivers, Dandachli tells us. Despite being contaminated with sewage, river water became a popular alternative to expensive pumps, which require generators, spare parts, and fuel \u2014 all priced in dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople have a legitimate right to use river waters for irrigation, especially to grow large quantities of good-quality produce,\u201d Ahmad Jahjah, an Akkar resident who works for World Vision, a global development and humanitarian aid organization, points out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
View of the agricultural plastic tents in Miniara from the top of a hill. Akkar, Lebanon. November 26, 2023. (Marwan Tahtah\/The Public Source)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Overview of agricultural plastic tents from the top of a hill in Miniara, Akkar.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But dirty water can be deadly. In October 2022, Lebanon\u2019s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) found Vibrio cholerae, the bacteria that causes cholera, in sewage, irrigation, and potable water sources in Lebanon\u2019s Akkar and North governorates. By June 2023, the MoPH had recorded 671 confirmed cases out of 8,007 possible cases of cholera, an acute diarrheal disease that can kill within hours if untreated. Twenty-three people died as a result of the outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cholera spreads when people ingest food or water contaminated with the bacteria. If infected people don\u2019t have access to clean water and sanitation facilities, they can easily pass it to others through untreated sewage. \u201cIf somebody is sick, whatever they have is going to end up in the sewage,\u201d says Dr. Issmat Kassem, an assistant professor of microbiology at the University of Georgia\u2019s Center for Food Safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cholera is just one of many health crises in the north of Lebanon. Hepatitis A, a highly contagious liver infection spread through fecal matter, has been endemic in Lebanon for three decades. The summer of 2022 saw an upsurge of cases in the north \u2013 and not only of Hepatitis A. Akkar residents we spoke to also noticed a significant increase in chronic and life-threatening illnesses among their families, which they believe is caused by exposure to environmental toxins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see the impact of the situation on people\u2019s health, notably cancer and lung diseases. There isn’t a single family in Sahel Akkar in which none of these illnesses exist.\u201d \u2014Ahmad Jahjah, Akkar resident<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see the impact of the situation on people\u2019s health, notably cancer and lung diseases,\u201d says Jahjah. \u201cThere isn’t a single family in Sahel Akkar in which none of these illnesses exist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a 2021 study of river water in Lebanon, Kassem and other researchers found that 96 percent of the samples they collected from 14 different rivers contained fecal contamination. Between two thirds and three quarters of the water samples exceeded acceptable microbiological standards for irrigation. A third were too contaminated to swim in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another study the researcher worked on between 2021 and 2022 sampled vegetables grown in northern Lebanon. It found that 17 percent of the leafy greens sold in the Tripoli market district contained at least one parasite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite the known risks, Kassem says Lebanon has inadequate safeguards to ensure people aren\u2019t risking their health by simply eating food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs anybody monitoring food safety for the consumer in Lebanon? I\u2019m going to tell you no, no, no, no \u2014 it’s a flat no.\u201d \u2014Issmat Kassem, microbiologist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry of Economy and Trade monitors food and water safety in commercial establishments that prepare and\/or sell food, including bakeries, restaurants, and supermarkets. But an employee from the consumer protection department in the ministry, who asked to remain anonymous because they\u2019re not authorized to speak to the press, tells The Public Source that the Agriculture Ministry is responsible for making sure that agricultural produce meets public safety standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs anybody monitoring [food safety] for the consumer in Lebanon?\u201d Kassem asks. \u201cI\u2019m going to tell you no, no, no, no \u2014 it’s a flat no.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deeply Rooted Neglect
Flies buzz tirelessly around us as we approach Khaled al-Masri, a farmer in Miniara. A deep rainwater canal runs between the road and his field, flowing toward the Mediterranean Sea. The dark, sludgy matter it contains reeks so strongly that I feel disoriented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I ask al-Masri if we could speak elsewhere, he invites us into a large plot of land filled with parsley. When I see the fresh green leaves, my first thought is that I would love to use them to make some tabbouleh. My second, however, wandered to imagine whether the parsley would taste as expected or if it might be tainted with the taste of sewage. I quickly dismiss this unsavory image from my mind and carry on with our conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe smell is really not that bad,\u201d al-Masri says, with a grin. \u201cYou should come during the summer! It\u2019s impossible to walk here because of the smell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explains that due to the recent rainfall, some of the contaminated matter in the canal had drained into the sea. Sometimes, local farmers even divert river waters to the canals to accelerate the flow of sewage into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat about the state?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe state?\u201d al-Masri says, rolling his eyes. \u201cWhat state?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water treatment plants are a much cheaper and safer alternative for irrigation than contaminated river water. Government-run treatment plants could turn sewage water into water that is fit for safe agricultural use, at an affordable cost for farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for Akkar to have functioning sewage treatment, it would first need to have a solid sewage collection system in place. As of November 2019, Akkar had 16 wastewater recycling plants, but most villages don\u2019t have the pipes to transfer sewage to a plant. Only 62 percent of Akkar residents are connected to a public sewage system, compared to virtually all households in Beirut. Of the other 38 percent, nearly 30 percent use septic tanks, which often overflow. Another eight percent openly drain their sewage into roadside or rainwater canals, which end up in rivers and the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roots of this neglect run deep. For Lebanon\u2019s central government, Akkar has always been an afterthought \u2014 tacked on to Lebanon by French Mandate powers in 1920, this so-called \u201cgateway to Syria\u201d was ruled by semi-feudal landlords for decades. During the latter half of the 20th century, special interests began steering the Lebanese state away from agriculture and toward banking, real estate, and other non-productive sectors. This shift further marginalized Akkar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children in Akkar on their way to fill up water from a well, July 1967.

Pierre Haidar, a resident of the town of Miniara, points to the homes built atop the gentle, rolling slopes of the Akkar plain. The homes overlook fields, olive groves, and grazing grounds. Their sewage, however, flows into open rainwater canals along the roadside. These, in turn, discharge directly into the sea or into the rivers \u2014 and then onto crops. \u201cThis means that farmlands are watered by their town\u2019s sewage!\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1999, researchers found that Akkar\u2019s groundwater was heavily contaminated with nitrates from agricultural runoff, failing to meet international drinking water standards and posing a serious, multigenerational risk of disease. Researchers warned that failure to take action would result in future generations paying the price for current agricultural practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akkar finally became its own governorate in 2003, but it took the central government another 11 years to appoint a governor. As of 2008, 25 percent of households in Akkar were still relying on artesian wells or private water networks dating back to the 1960s and 1970s, many of which have not been properly maintained since their installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2011 and 2017, following Syria\u2019s uprising and subsequent civil war, Akkar\u2019s population increased by 40 percent. The region\u2019s antiquated infrastructure has spectacularly failed to meet the needs of its rapidly growing population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
View of the rest of the town of Miniara. Akkar, Lebanon. November 26, 2023. (Marwan Tahtah\/The Public Source)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Overview from the top of a hill of the Miniara town in Akkar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfinished Projects
Between 1990 and 2021, the central government received $1.3 billion in foreign loans and roughly $200 million in grants earmarked for wastewater projects in Lebanon. Much of this funding was directed to the CDR, a public institution created by government decree in 1977, during Lebanon\u2019s civil war, to oversee planning and contracting. Throughout its history, the CDR\u2019s board and upper management has consisted of allies of Lebanon\u2019s political heavyweights, including former prime ministers Rafik and Saad Hariri, as well as Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2001 and 2020, the CDR issued $763.3 million worth of wastewater contracts nationally, according to government watchdog Gherbal Initiative. Our review of the CDR\u2019s publicly available contract summaries, in addition to those published by Gherbal, found that, as of the time of publication, the CDR has awarded at least $79.40 million in contracts dedicated either partially or in full to wastewater management in Akkar since 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The projects, funded by donors including the Islamic Development Bank, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, and the Italian government, range from building water treatment plants to establishing wastewater pipeline networks. Some contracts include both wastewater and drinking water components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our review reveals that contractors have so far received at least $51.21 million under these agreements, with the remaining $28 million due to be disbursed upon the completion of these projects. Despite these significant outlays, however, the reality in Akkar points to a gaping disparity between ambitious plans and their outcomes on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Akkar plain, says Jahjah, \u201cis plagued by unfinished projects.\u201d Even when completed, projects form a patchwork, failing to connect into a usable integrated whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most expensive wastewater infrastructure contracts that the CDR has launched in Akkar, based on our review, is a $47.17 million contract awarded to Homan Engineering Company Limited to supply and lay more than 17,000 meters of sewer pipes and connect over 1,000 houses to sewage networks in Halba, Akkar\u2019s capital, and three other nearby localities, according to the CDR\u2019s description. Since 2017, $36.76 million has already been spent on the contract, according to the CDR, which notes the contract is proceeding \u201cas scheduled\u201d and is due to be completed by December 31, 2024. Since 2014, Gulf Spectrum has received $1.49 million for its consultancy and supervision services on the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Akkar plain is plagued by unfinished projects.” says Ahmad Jahjah, Akkar resident. Even when completed, projects form a patchwork, failing to connect into a usable integrated whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homan\u2019s lead on the project, Imad Hawi, tells The Public Source that the company has delivered the project as stipulated in its contract. The CDR\u2019s contracting portal showed the contract as roughly 75 percent done as of press time. The Public Source could not independently confirm the degree to which the project is finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Hawi opines that the project itself is insufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe implemented the project completely and it\u2019s closed, we have nothing left,\u201d Hawi says. But because the project doesn\u2019t include connections from the sewers to a functioning wastewater treatment plant, \u201cno one benefits from it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order for people to benefit from this project, Hawi says the state \u201cneeds to commit to new projects to take our line and connect it to the Qobbat Shamra station and the Qobbat Shamra station also needs to become operational,\u201d adding that nothing is currently being planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe people will complain [about the project] because, in the end, we didn\u2019t reach a destination. We reached a manhole on the plain and it\u2019s closed and we stopped there\u2026It was necessary to do this work. But to make this money worthwhile, and benefit Akkar, we need these two points: a line and a treatment plant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about potential criticisms from Akkar residents who don\u2019t see benefits from the region\u2019s infrastructure projects, Hawi says: \u201cI swear, I don\u2019t know what to say to people. They\u2019re right. What can I say? Even the places that have water treatment plants are not working. It\u2019s a disaster!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other cases, projects that have a complete plan including both a treatment plant and a sewer network seem to struggle to come to fruition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2014 and 2018, the European Union funded a \u20ac15 million project to \u201cimprove infrastructure at [the] local level in areas most affected by the influx of Syrian refugees.\u201d Under this program, in 2015, Irish humanitarian agency Concern Worldwide issued a contract for the design, construction, and temporary operation of a wastewater treatment plant in Machta Hammoud, along with the construction of a sewer network inside the village. But to this day, residents and experts say the plant is still not in service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to a query on the project\u2019s status, a Concern Worldwide representative told The Public Source that \u201cthe project is ongoing and we are actively working with all involved to bring it to completion as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naji Ramadan, the mayor of Machta Hammoud, says that the plant is not operational because it isn\u2019t connected to the local sewage system. \u201cThe railways authority was opposed to sewage pipes passing through its lands,\u201d he says, \u201cso the work stopped for two years.\u201d He added that the dispute was now resolved, and work was expected to resume in the spring. When we follow up on the status of the project in the spring, the mayor tells us that the work has not resumed, that the project is now under revision due to past mistakes, and that the wastewater treatment plant is still not operational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether the railways authority approves a project in the lands it owns depends on its long-term ramifications for a possible railway, says Ziad Nasr, head of the board of directors of the railways authority. \u201cWe have no objection to building any facilities within the railway property,\u201d he says, \u201cas long as they do not conflict with the re-establishment of railway transport lines. With this approach in mind, we study the file and either give approval or give rejection.\u201d Nasr says he\u2019s out of the office and does not have the case file open in front of him and so he is not aware of the exact problems facing this project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But until the government installs sewage pipes and connects them, the project will be connected to nothing \u2014 and sewage will continue to flow into fields. \u201cHow the heck can you build a plant that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, that is not even connected to the sewage system?\u201d says Dr. Kassem. \u201cThey\u2019re just there collecting dust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow the heck can you build a plant that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, that is not even connected to the sewage system? They\u2019re just there collecting dust.\u201d \u2014Issmat Kassem, microbiologist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 23, 2023, The Public Source, in partnership with government watchdog Gherbal Initiative, requested from the CDR access to the full contracts for projects related to sewage systems in the Akkar region. According to Law No. 28\/2017, a state institution has up to 15 days to respond to such requests. The Public Source followed up on seven separate occasions since then; but at the time of publication, over six months later, the CDR has yet to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Public Source also reached out to two of the main project funders, the Islamic Development Bank and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, asking whether they had received updates regarding the progress of their projects in Akkar. The Islamic Development Bank did not respond. The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development redirected our queries to the CDR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CDR has a number of major contracts for Akkar wastewater listed as \u201cunder preparation\u201d for future issuance, totaling $99.25 million<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CDR has a number of major contracts for Akkar wastewater listed as \u201cunder preparation\u201d for future issuance, totaling $99.25 million, according to The Public Source\u2019s tally. When we called a representative at the CDR to ask about the status of these projects, they responded that they are not allowed to give out any answers and that the only answer we can get is through a formal submission of a request to access information, all of which have been previously ignored. The CDR did not provide any further information about if and when these tenders might be launched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Establishing Jurisdiction
Lebanon has four regional water establishments that are, at least on paper, responsible for managing drinking water, irrigation, sanitation, and sewage. In 2001, Law No. 377 transferred responsibility for wastewater management from various levels of local and central government, from municipalities to ministries, to the regional Water Establishments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A tractor tills a plot of land in the village of Machta Hammoud, with olive trees in the background. Akkar, Lebanon. November 26, 2023. (Marwan Tahtah\/The Public Source)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Farmer uses his tractor to till the green land in Akkar
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CDR receives funds from foreign parties and hires contractors to do the construction. In theory, once the project is finished, the CDR delivers these sewage systems and water treatment plants to the water establishments for day-to-day operation. But in reality, administrative disputes between the CDR, municipalities and water establishments over ownership and operation costs of sewage networks continue to this day, as each tries to avoid taking on the considerable financial burden of running these services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaby Nasr, head of the technical department at the North Lebanon Water Establishment, says Akkar does not presently fall under the NLWE\u2019s jurisdiction. \u201cThe Akkar plain area does not fall within the scope of [NLWE] involvement yet, neither for water nor sanitation,\u201d he tells us. \u201cMeaning that the villages and towns located in the Akkar plain do not have the infrastructure needed for drinking water, irrigation, or sewage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NLWE will not be authorized to work in Akkar until the transition from municipal control is complete, according to Nasr. Caretaker Minister of Energy and Water Walid Fayad, who has tutelage (supervisory) authority over the four regional Water Establishments, did not respond to a request for clarification on why the ministry has not transferred responsibility to the NLWE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no continuity in the work, on the contrary, if someone does something good, you will undo what they did, and start again from scratch.\u201d\u2014Ahmad Jahjah, Akkar resident<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In comparison, Wassim Daher, the director general of the South Lebanon Water Establishment (SLWE), says that the CDR has been slowly transferring the operations of some of the treatment plants in the south to the SLWE, but that the establishment\u2019s lack of funds means it struggles to afford the maintenance. As a result, only a few water treatment facilities are currently operating in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water treatment plants require consistent power supply to be operational, Jawad Taher, water and development advisor and consultant, points out \u2014 a costly prerequisite for most of Lebanon\u2019s water establishments and municipalities. \u201cThe treatment plants cannot be reasonably managed if we don\u2019t fix these issues,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Taher, part of the problem lies with the parameters set by the CDR, meaning assumptions about the cost and reliability of energy, consumption of the population, seasonality, influent quality, land availability, etc., which are aligned with European or North American regulations. While having high standards is not wrong, it is also highly unrealistic in Lebanon, he argues, where the water establishments are woefully underfunded and understaffed, and \u201chave no way of covering the operational costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only five of Lebanon\u2019s 67 water treatment plants are fully or partially operational, a 2023 report by the nonprofit research and advocacy organization Legal Agenda reveals. The north\u2019s largest treatment plant, in Tripoli, was only partially operating. It is supposed to be connected to Nahr al-Bared in Akkar governorate. But as of 2023, the connecting line was not completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no continuity in the work,\u201d says Jahjah. \u201cOn the contrary, if someone does something good, you will undo what they did, and start again from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, whether these projects will get carried out to completion is only one part of the picture. Until Akkar\u2019s towns and villages have a network of sewage pipes to funnel their sewage to treatment plants, all of its multimillion-dollar projects will be connected to nothing \u2014 and sewage will continue to flow downhill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only do we irrigate with sewage water and dirty water, we even fight for it!\u201d \u2014Khaled al-Masri, Akkar farmer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2023, Lebanon\u2019s Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW) and Ministry of Environment (MOE) launched an ambitious project, funded largely by the the European Union and administered by UNICEF, to get 11 of Lebanon\u2019s water treatment plants up and running, as well as \u201cpromoting public awareness\u201d of wastewater\u2019s \u201cimpact on the environment and health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akkar\u2019s farmers are all too aware of wastewater\u2019s impact on their health. But until the government gets its [—-] together, they will keep using the contaminated water, even though they know the consequences. They have no other choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only do we irrigate with sewage water and dirty water,\u201d says Masri, laughing ruefully, \u201cwe even fight for it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Additional reporting by Dana Hourany<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With editorial support from Simon Assaf and Paul Cochrane<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Part 2 of this series, we follow the truckers who bring water to households when the government fails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Layla Yammine is a journalist at The Public Source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Salame is a contributing investigative journalist at The Public Source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saseen Kawzally is a contributing translator with The Public Source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Annia Ciezadlo is the investigations editor at The Public Source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chlo\u00e9 Benoist is a contributing editor at The Public Source.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is Part 1 of a four-part series on water in Lebanon, covering its unsavory substitutes, its uses and misuses, the origin story of its crisis, and finally, its weaponization.<\/p>\n

It is near dusk in Machta Hammoud, a rural village in northern Lebanon near the Syrian border. As I squelch through a muddy field, I feel a sticky mix of human waste and damp soil clinging to my shoes. I am standing alone, trying to catch the day\u2019s last rays of sun. My colleague, photojournalist Marwan Tahtah, is taking photos of the sewage water that floods nearby farmlands.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16,6],"class_list":["post-322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-articles","tag-feature_home","tag-thepublicsource"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329,"href":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions\/329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laylayammine.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}