Lebanese water
... Lake and a dam to be built on the Assi River. Desalination is another method in acquiring water and is done by separating salt from the water in sea water. For Lebanon it is rarely used but in the other Arab countries that are poor in water supply it is used more frequently. Although Lebanon is rich with H2O except it uses less than 20% of this amount and is threatened to diminish due to a lot of different problems. ƒæ The random disposing of household and industrial solid waste and chemicals into the sea, rivers and land is causing the pollution of underground and sea water which in turn causes diseases which in fact happened several times in 1990. ƒæ The absence of adequate sewage networks in the majority of villages in mountain areas is leading to pollution of surface and underground water sources. This is especially due to the calcareous nature of the Lebanese soil, which does not allow filtration of the sewage before reaching water tables and underground water sources. ƒæ Indeed, until today, open sewers to the sea are the predominant sewage disposal technique, while the sea is also a major disposal area for other industrial and public wastes. Problems such as the privatization of coastal areas for the establishment of recreational facilities, as well as illegal fishing techniques, represent major threats to the environment of the coast and which also causes an increase in the concentration of harmful metals in the sea which in turn will cause poisoning after intake of local sea food. ƒæ The primitive and traditional ways in irrigating land causes a loss of most of the water used for irrigation. The use of harmful pesticides and fertilizers that cause pollution of underground water. ƒæ The misuse of water in homes where it is represented by the wasting of water for no reason or inefficiency in water employment ( leaving faucet open, taking showers while keeping the water going down¡K) ƒæ Failure of the ministry of environment to pass down laws to minimize pollution and to spread awareness between the people for greater efficiency in water use. ƒæ The overuse and the over digging of wells caused a decrease in the amount of underground water or the salization of some of them. And some people in the war used to dig wells to dispose their garbage which created a major problem in polluting underground water. ƒæ Climate change and global warming is also indirectly causing a diminish in water rainfall (an example is what happened this year; we didn¡¦t see rainfall except in mid November.) ƒæ Poor infrastructure in the cities causing problems in fresh water piping and problems in the sewage system. Since water is a must in every day life and the diminishing amounts of clean water will cause future wars between nations, we must move to find solutions to increase our water storage ability. In addition to this we must find solutions to reduce pollution to cause an improvement in health and our everyday life. Some of these solutions are: ƒæ Building wastewater treatment plants along rivers in order to clean them from pollutants before ending into the sea ƒæ Pass laws forcing all industrial firms to filter their waste products and recycle them if it is a possibility. ƒæ Giving f...