Fact Sheet Water Supply within Beirut-Mount Lebanon

I. Introduction II. Problem Statement

 Water Establishment Beirut-
Mount Lebanon (WEBML) in
charge of:
 Domestic- and agricultural
supply within the Jeita
groundwater (GW) catchment;
 Supply for Beirut.
 Purification at Dbayeh treatment
plant.
 Supply within the JSC is based
on springs (Assal, Labbane,
Afqa, etc.) and Chabrouh.
 Supply in Beirut: mainly Jeita,
but also other springs (e.g.
Kashkoush, Antelias, etc.).
German Lebanese Technical Cooperation Project Protection of Jeita Spring
 High seasonal variation of
Jeita’s discharge (1-55
m3/s).
 Water shortage in Beirut
between Sep and Nov.
 Water shortage caused by:
1. Rapid depletion of GW
systems after snow melt;
2. Inefficient tapping of Jeita
and water conveyance
infrastructure (e.g. 30%
loss between Jeita and
Dbayeh).
 Dimension of Jeita-Dbayeh
canal and tunnel (3.1 m3/s)
and Dbayeh treatment plant
(320,000 m3/d) insufficient.
 Water canal is facing
multiple hazards (e.g. drilled
wells, infiltrating sub-
stances, etc.).
 Old infrastructure (>100
years) is not reliable.
 Treatment in Dbayeh of
insufficient operating grade
and quality.
 Low trust of citizens in
public water supply.

III. Domestic Distribution & Conveyance

Jeita - Dbayeh Decentralized Supply Chabrouh & Assal Spring

Polluted surface water can intrude into Illegal tapping at Afqa spring. Chabrouh dam supplies Keserwan
Jeita-Dbayeh canal. and Metn.
 Conveyance of:  Local spring water is used for  Storage volume: 9.3 MCM.
Jeita spring;
 domestic purpose within the  Main inflow from Labbane
Jeita wells (x 2);
 GW catchment. spring, small inflow from
Kashkoush spring;
  Quality of spring water depends internal catchment.
Kashkoush wells (x 6 wells);
 on landuse practices within the  Good water quality due to
Nahr el Kalb surface water-
 catchment. long residence time of
intake at Mokhada dam.  Water trucks deliver water from stored water.
 Max. delivery per day: 255,000 private owned wells to custom-  Assal spring: Sufficient
3
m (max. capacity of tunnel). ers. and safe supply in
 Jeita-Dbayeh canal and tunnel  Water vendors sell water gal- Keserwan throughout the
is a single-lane conveyor to lons to households. year.
Dbayeh: No alternative line in  Approx. 700 private wells.
case of physical collapse. If  None of the decentral water
damaged, Beirut will not have sources is subject to govern-
water for a long time. mental control!

IV. Dbayeh Treatment Plant V. Irrigation Conveyance

 The only water treatment filters);  Between May & Sep: 60,000 m3
plant for Beirut. 4. Chlorination. must be diverted from Jeita-
 Max. treatment capacity (in  Poor maintenance has Dbayeh canal for “irrigation”.
3
full efficiency): 320,000 m . caused deterioration of  Supply system not demand
 Treatment steps: treatment systems. driven (continuous supply).
1. Screening;  Poorly equipped labora-  Spring water from Afqa, Assal,
2. Flocculation; tory adds uncertainty to Hadid, Labbane and Rouaiss.
3. Filtration (rapid sand the quality of output.

Council for Development & Reconstruction (CDR)

Water Establishment Beirut & Mount Lebanon (WE-BML) Federal Institute for Geosciences &
Ministry of Energy & Water (MoEW) Natural Resources
Fact Sheet
German Lebanese Technical Cooperation Project Protection of Jeita Spring Water Supply within Beirut-Mount Lebanon

WEBML is in charge of domestic water supply in Keserwan, incl. potential water storage options.

VI. Recommendations
Resources Management Conveyance
 Establish GW protection zones.  Installation of water meters: only when
 All springs that are used for domestic supply supply is metered, volumetric pricing
must be fenced in: schemes should be established - which
 Access only granted to WEBML- and ministe- are the basis for water savings.
rial staff;  Introduce volumetric block-pricing
 No access to farmers; schemes.
 No access to livestock.  Establish leak-detection system to reduce
 Construction of additional reservoirs (Nahr es physical water losses.
Salib or -Zirghaya) to increase available  Improve tapping at Jeita spring to reduce
resources for the period Sep-Nov. overflow and unaccounted water.
 Establish managed aquifer recharge (MAR) in  Renew Jeita-Dbayeh water conveyor:
Nahr Ibrahim to increase resources in Jeita’s  Construction of a two-pipe conveyor
aquifer. (alternative pipe for maintenance and
 Establish a hydrological monitoring system at emergency);
 Conveyor needs to be completely
spring discharges and Dbayeh intake to allow
sealed to prevent pollution and illegal
reliable water infrastructure planning.
connections;
 Dbayeh: 3
 Enlarge flow capacity to 400,000 m /d.
 Increase quantitative
 Reform agricultural water rights for proper-
treatment potential;
ties attached to the canal: Since in many
 Introduction of contin-
cases there is no agricultural activity,
uous maintenance
irrigation water supply is not justified.
scheme;
 Introduce demand driven irrigation supply
 Improve laboratory
system to reduce wasting of water.
capacity and increase Rapid sand filter at Dbayeh:
 Establish hydropower generation units
monitoring frequency frequent back washing is
needed to prevent clogging. along topographic gradients.
and parameters.
Council for Development & Reconstruction (CDR)
Water Establishment Beirut & Mount Lebanon (WE-BML) Federal Institute for Geosciences &
Ministry of Energy & Water (MoEW) Natural Resources