Water supply and sanitation in Lebanon
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Water supply and sanitation in Lebanon is characterized by a number of achievements and challenges. The achievements include the reconstruction of infrastructure after the 1975–90 Civil War and the 2006 war with Israel, as well as the reform of the water and sanitation sector through a water law passed in 2000. The law created four Regional Water Establishments to consolidate numerous smaller utilities.
Data | |
---|---|
Access to an improved water source | 100%;[1] 80% access to piped water supply (2008) |
Share of collected wastewater treated | Low |
Continuity of supply | Average of 6 hours per day in summer and 9 hours per day in winter with wide disparities between regions (2008)[2] |
Average urban water use (L/person/day) | 150 (estimated) |
Average urban water and sanitation tariff (US$/m3) | US$159 per year flat fee, corresponding to US$0.97/m3 (Beirut in 2008) |
Share of household metering | 16% in Beirut-Mount Lebanon (2010); zero in some other areas |
Annual investment in WSS | US$129m (late 90s and early 2000s) |
Share of self-financing by utilities | low |
Share of external financing | 73% for water, 56% for wastewater (Council for Development and Reconstruction only) |
Non-revenue water | about 40% |
Institutions | |
Decentralization to municipalities | Limited to sanitation |
National water and sanitation company | No |
Water and sanitation regulator | CDR |
Responsibility for policy setting | Ministry of Energy and Water |
Sector law | Water Law 221/2000 |
Service providers | 4 Governmental Regional Water Establishments |
The challenges include poor service quality, in particular intermittent water supply that persists despite the availability of relatively abundant water resources; the slow implementation of the water reform; the separation of responsibilities between various entities such as the Council for Development and Reconstruction, which are de facto in charge of investment, and the Regional Water Establishments, which are in charge of operation and maintenance; limited institutional capacity in the public sector, and in particular the Regional Water Establishments; politicization of decision-making; the absence of an autonomous regulatory agency; poor information about water resources, sector performance and assets; a very low share of metering and the absence of volumetric water tariffs; a high level of water distribution losses; limited cost recovery for water supply; and no cost recovery for sewerage and wastewater treatment. These challenges persist more than two decades after the end of the Civil War.
The Lebanese water and sanitation sector has received and continues to receive substantial foreign aid in the form of grants and soft loans from a dozen Western and Arab donors.