The main technical problems are the:
These issues are aggravated by the absence of legislation for the management and monitoring of both surface and groundwater resources in the village and the basin as a whole, and the lack of awareness among the community to prevent or mitigate such issues.
Overexploitation and Pollution of the Damour River
There has been a decrease in the volume of the water discharged at the mouth of the river between the years 1992 and 2001. In the year 2000-2001, around 96% of the discharge occured during the wet season (December-April) with a total yield of 55.468 million m3/yr. This amount corresponded to a 55.07% reduction when compared to the average annual yield of 100.717 million m3/yr. This can be attributed to the:
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Drop in the precipitation levels, and
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Overexploitation of the groundwater (springs and/or aquifers) and surface water sources.
In addition, there are several industrial activities in neighboring villages, such as olive pressing, stone cutting, concrete and asphalt production. Such industries tend to dispose their waste in the river. The detected Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) levels confirm the possible release of such wastes. Additionally, sewage disposal, from restaurants and residences into the river is also practiced due to the absence of wastewater treatment plants. Moreover, the presence of agricultural plains along the river is the major cause of the presence of agrochemicals. This has been confirmed through the levels of phosphates in river samples.
Overexploitation of BWA Public Wells
The fourteen BWA wells are utilized for external water supply (western Beirut) from July to January. The extracted volume of water reaches up 7.2 million m3/yr (Table 2). This practice puts pressure on the water aquifer, leading to seawater intrusion, as was confirmed by the elevated TDS and chlorides levels in well water samples.
Overexploitation of Private Wells in the Saadiyat Area
The Saadiyat area is an agglomeration of displaced population residing in illegal dwellings and depending on private wells as a source for domestic water supply. The heavy reliance on these wells, in the absence of piped water networks, and the uncontrolled utilization of such sources led to the abstraction of excessive amounts of water. The daily values of water consumption reached 340 to 400 L/capita/day, thus exceeding the normal average domestic consumption values of 150 L/capita/day. Such values could explain the elevated TDS and Chlorides levels in the analyzed water sample of the private wells as a result of seawater intrusion.
Water Losses through the Piped Water Networks and Improper Irrigation Practices
The water losses through the network were estimated to range between 25 and 50% during the winter season and 45 and 61% during summer. This is inline with the general situation in Lebanon with respect to water losses. Such figures are estimates, since water gauging systems are deficient in the area. This made it difficult to estimate the exact water losses through the network. The agricultural sector depends mainly on the Damour River, in addition to few artesian wells for irrigation. Results confirmed the overexploitation of the river water and the wells, when comparing actual water consumption values with theoretical ones. The highest level of water consumption occurs during the summer season and is coupled with the use of surface irrigation techniques.
All the aforementioned factors led to the degradation of the quality of the water resources in the area. Water quality measurements revealed an increasing trend in the levels of chlorides over the years (1990-2003) in the water samples taken from the public wells of the BWA, which confirm the possibility of seawater intrusion. The water samples taken from the municipal and private wells in the area further confirmed seawater intrusion, as the chlorides and TDS levels were found to be high, exceeding the Guidance Value and the Maximum Admissible Value of the MOE, and ranging between 20 to 1240 mg/L and 239 to 1850 mg/L, respectively. The highest chloride and TDS levels were detected in Saadiyat due to the existence of numerous wells, in addition to the direct contact of the Sannine Aquifer with the sea.
Despite the deficiencies in sanitation services, contamination by was not detected in any of the well and network samples. However, this does not necessarily reveal the absence of any risk of contamination of the groundwater resources by the sewage discharge. Conversely, sewage contamination was detected in the two river samples (D2 and D3). This is due to the sewage discharge into the river without prior treatment. Moreover, the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) levels in the two river samples indicate the existence of industrial waste in the river. This was expected given the presence of several industrial activities along the river, such as olive pressing, stone cutting, concrete, and asphalt which tend to discharge their wastewater in the river without any prior treatment (ELARD, 2003).