Bekaa – Along the western Bekaa, Lake Qaraoun appears at first glance to be a calm area of water in the middle of the mountains and plains, but behind this scene hides one of the most complex environmental and water crises in Lebanon. A lake that has transformed in recent years from a national project for water storage and electricity generation into a source of pollution and neglect, before the dangers of war and bombing finally joined it.
Last May, the Qaraoun Dam entered a new phase of threat, after its surroundings were subjected to six Israeli raids in one day that targeted the road adjacent to the dam and some of the electromechanical devices associated with supplying and controlling it with electrical energy. These attacks brought to the fore a more urgent question: What does it mean for the largest water reservoir in Lebanon to become threatened by war, while it is already suffering under the burdens of pollution, corruption, and mismanagement?
A vital facility is under fire
The Director General of the National Authority for the Litani River, Sami Alawiya, said in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Net that the raids targeted the road, which is a structural part of the dam, in addition to its electricity and control system, which led to its direct disruption.
Alawiyah points out that the administration moved immediately by communicating with the President of the Republic to take two urgent measures: the first to declare the dam area a closed military zone, and the second to make contacts with international partners, especially the United States, to neutralize the dam and prevent it from being targeted again.
Although the bombing did not lead to the collapse of the dam or its direct damage, the mere targeting of its surroundings, according to Alawiyah, represents a threat to a facility that enjoys special protection under international humanitarian law, given the catastrophic risks that may result from any serious damage to it.
Dams are classified as protected facilities under the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 1977, as it is prohibited to target them if this might lead to the release of these forces and cause serious casualties among civilians.
Disastrous scenario
Behind the concrete wall of the Qaraoun Dam, the lake holds about 220 million cubic meters of water, while the current quantities range between 130 and 136 million cubic meters.
Alawiya warns that any direct targeting or possible collapse of the dam could lead to the rush of a huge wave of water tens of meters high and hundreds of meters wide, threatening dozens of towns extending from the Qaraoun area in the western Bekaa to the mouth of the Litani River in Qasimiya in the south.
It is not only the threat of floods, but also the collapse of infrastructure, roads and vital facilities, as well as the threat to the lives of thousands of residents residing along the river’s course.
A crisis older than war
According to Alawiyah, there is another parallel challenge facing the Litani River and the Qaraoun Dam, which is “internal failure, corruption, and intransigence in managing the water sector.”
He adds that Lebanon, which has long been presented in school curricula as the “water reservoir of the Middle East,” now possesses water wealth that is difficult to actually benefit from due to two main factors: pollution and lack of investment.
Lake Qaraoun is the most prominent example of this reality. According to the National Litani River Authority, sewage water coming from 64 towns in the central, northern and western Bekaa Valley flows into the river, before ending directly into the lake.
This continuous flow of waste water leads to the pollution of huge amounts of water stored behind the dam, until it becomes unfit for most uses, except for generating electrical power in some periods.
Over the years, Lake Qaraoun has turned into a huge complex of domestic, industrial and agricultural pollutants, and despite the success of the National Litani River Authority, in cooperation with the judiciary, in obligating hundreds of industrial institutions to treat their industrial drainage, the basic problem still exists, according to Alawiyah, due to the non-operation of two main wastewater treatment plants; They are the Marj station in the central Bekaa and the Tamnine al-Tahta station in the northern Bekaa, despite the availability of the necessary international and Arab funding for them.
In the absence of these two stations, dozens of towns continue to pump their waste water into the river, causing the lake to receive huge quantities of organic and chemical pollutants annually.
The green side of the crisis
The sources of pollution do not stop at wastewater. The extensive use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides in the Bekaa Valley leads to the leakage of large quantities of phosphates and nitrates into the water, which creates an ideal environment for the growth of “cyanobacteria” or toxic blue-green algae.
Over the past years, the lake has witnessed the repeated spread of these algae, which produce toxins that may pose a danger to humans and animals and lead to the death of fish and a decline in biodiversity.
Local and international environmental reports warn that the continued rise in temperatures and the increase in nutrients in the water may lead to an exacerbation of the phenomenon in the coming years.
Groundwater depletion
In addition to pollution, the Litani River is facing increasing pressure as a result of the significant depletion of water resources. The expansion of drilling artesian wells, especially in the northern Bekaa regions, has led to the withdrawal of large quantities of groundwater that feed the river’s tributaries, which has reflected a decline in its natural flows.
This coincided with repeated dry seasons and low precipitation rates, so the lake found itself facing a harsh equation: less water and more pollution.
Alawiya summarizes the reality of the Lebanese water sector with a striking analogy, saying that water in Lebanon has become similar to “bank deposits,” and adds: “Just as our financial wealth has become numbers on screens, our water wealth has become present only in geography books.”
He continues that the problem is not the absence of laws, as Lebanon has legislation related to water, environment, waste, and sanitation, but rather the failure to implement them in the required manner, which has turned the largest water reservoir in the country into a mirror of the state’s crisis itself.
In light of the continuing security and environmental risks, Alawiya believes that protecting Lebanon’s water wealth is not achieved through appeals and slogans only, but rather through implementing laws, investing in infrastructure, and adhering to international agreements related to water resources management.
Lake Qaraoun, which was once established to be a symbol of water and electrical development in Lebanon, today embodies a series of accumulated crises: chronic pollution, faltering projects, incapable management, and finally a war that has reached the doors of the largest water reservoir in the country.
Between the danger of environmental collapse and the dangers of bombing, the lake today bears witness to a painful Lebanese paradox. A country described as rich in water, yet leaving its most important natural resources trapped between neglect and threat.
