The water shortage in Lebanon

Karantina District, Beirut. A homeless woman drinking water. In Lebanon, tap water is not drinkable. As a consequence of the economic crisis, inflation led to a rise in general price level, so that the price of a bottle of water has been multiplied by 8 since 2019. [2]
Georges is employed in the Tannourine mineral water plant. In recent months, the company had to greatly reduce its production because of power cuts. The transport of water bottles by truck between Tannourine and the surrounding towns is also problematic is also hindered by oil shortages. [3]
Zo Al Norayn Mosque’s water center, Beirut. Some neighborhoods have groundwater reserves from which local residents draw water. Here, the reserves are managed by the mosque, and residents come to fill their cans with drinking water for a lower price than what they should pay for mineral water bottles.
Zo Al Norayn Mosque’s water center, Beirut. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood stock up on water supplies heavily, because the tap water, which is too polluted, cannot be used for cooking either.
Bourj Hammoud district, Beirut. The lack of drinkable water in Beirut has generated a whole industry. Many private companies filter running water, in order to make it drinkable and to sale it.
Tariq El Jdideh district, Beirut. Abid, 26, delivers the cans of filtered water directly to the inhabitants. The increase in the price of gasoline had an impact on the price of of water delivery.
Karantina district, Beirut. When there is no electricity to run the pumps which are used to increase the pressure of the tap water, residents have to use water from emergency tanks.
Qartaba, Mount Lebanon region. While in towns people call in tankers to fill their emergency tanks when they are empty, their supply in the most remote areas is more complicated.
Akram Hindawi is the oldest worker at the water treatment center at the Sabra Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut. The water used to fill the emergency tanks comes from the mountains, and also from the Mediterranean Sea, which is desalinated.
Issam takes care of the maintenance of the machines in a water treatment center located in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra, in Beirut. Due to the lack of electricity and gasoline, the machines only run for a few hours a day, depriving the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra from running water during a part of the day.
Water treatment center at the Sabra Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut. The employees get prepared to go for a tour in the neighborhood to fill the buildings’ tanks with their tanker trucks in the Sabra camp. Using the official exchange rate, the price to fill a cistern with one thousand liters of water is 100 US Dollars (150 000 Lebanese Pounds).
Jdeideh Water Distribution Center, Beirut. Huge tankers go all over the city of Beirut to supply water to the inhabitants. The shortage of gasoline makes this distribution even more complicated every day, because the drivers have to wait for several hours every morning in front of the gas stations in the hopes of filling their tank.
Karantina district, Beirut, For the lowest social classes, access to water becomes more and more complicated. Saddam is a Syrian refugee who has been living in Lebanon for five years. He works as a handler in the port of Beirut, whose explosion on August 4, 2020 killed more than 200 people.
The Zaituna Bay marina in Beirut was badly affected by the explosion, as it can be noticed with the ruins of the luxury hotel « Solidere » in the background. In the front, a swimming pool which remains empty.
Warwick Palm Beach Hotel, Beirut. The water shortage only hits a part of the Lebanese population, the one which is the most vulnerable. The richest minority is not affected by this daily struggle.
Nahr Beirut, Beirut. Rivers are extremely polluted in Lebanon, due to the plastic waste that accumulates there, but also untreated chemical waste discharged by factories. Likewise, 90% of the water used for toilets is discharged into rivers and the Mediterranean Sea. [4]
Many artificial lakes have been dug in the Faraya region to store water from precipitation and snowmelt. However, the poor state of infrastructure causes a loss of almost half of the water before it reaches urban centers. [5]
The Chabrouh dam, in the Faraya region, inaugurated in 2007, is part of a ten-year strategy started in 2000, which aims at building 17 dams in order to store drinking water. [6] However, 21 years later, this dam is the only one which construction has been fully completed.
The construction of Balaa dam, which began in 2013, is progressing steadily. These sites, that are supposed to fight against water shortages, are accused by local NGOs of being corrupted. [7] Here, some of the workers’ children are going back home after having stocked up on water.

ENGLISH :

As Lebanon now faces the greatest economic crisis in its history, UNICEF said in August 2021 that more than 70% of the population was at serious risk of water shortages. [1]

This shortage is closely linked to gasoline and electricity shortages currently plaguing Lebanon, as they affect all at once the pumping, production and distribution of bottled water factories and treatment centers in Lebanon. As the country finds itself in a real political impasse, several million people, especially the most vulnerable social classes and hit hard by economic inflation, are now facing the prospect of being completely cut off from the the water supply.

Through this photographic report made in September 2021, I sought to shed light on the workings of the water industry in Lebanon to understand how this country, even though it has most of the water resources available in the Middle-East, has got into this situation ?

 

FRANÇAIS :

Alors que le Liban affronte à l’heure actuelle la plus grande crise économique de son histoire, l’UNICEF a déclaré en août 2021 que plus de 70% de la population encourait de graves risques de pénurie d’eau. [1]

Cette pénurie est étroitement liée aux pénuries d’essence et d’électricité qui sévissent à l’heure actuelle au Liban, car elles affectent le pompage, la production et la distribution des usines d’eau en bouteille et des centres de traitements de l’eau. Alors que le pays se trouve dans une véritable impasse politique, plusieurs millions de personnes, en particulier les classes sociales les plus vulnérables et touchées de plein fouet par l’inflation économique, sont aujourd’hui confrontées à la perspective d’être complètement coupés de l’approvisionnement en eau.

À travers ce reportage photographique effectué en septembre 2021, j’ai cherché à mettre en lumière les rouages de l’industrie de l’eau au Liban pour comprendre comment ce pays, qui est pourtant celui disposant des plus grandes réserves d’eau du Moyen-Orient, en est arrivé là.