The Daily Star- Lebanon’s rivers are alarmingly polluted with untreated sewage and waste, posing health risks for consumers who use the water at home and for farmers who irrigate their crops with it, local scientists warned.
The latest findings, which confirm the results of a slew of research on river pollution over the past decade, come ahead of the government’s unveiling of a road map next week to fight the contamination of the Litani River Basin and Qaraoun Lake.
Two new studies by Beirut Arab University and Lebanese University researchers show high concentrations of heavy metals, residue from olive oil production, dangerous bacteria and other toxins – evidence of untreated waste and illegal dumping in the Hasbani River in South Lebanon and the Lower Litani River Basin.
“This alarming situation indicates that people using the water for consumption or recreation are at high risk of contracting waterborne diseases and that agricultural products resulting from irrigation pose a risk to residents of the basin or to consumers,” said Rasha Badr, lead researcher of the Hasbani study.
The first study, conducted by Badr and overseen by professors in the department of biological and environmental sciences at BAU, measured the Hasbani’s water quality.
Badr looked at various chemical properties of the water, heavy metal concentrations and pesticide levels, as well as the presence of dangerous bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli.
She collected 60 water samples from 20 locations along the river from January to November 2013, and published the research in the Journal of Global Biosciences.
Photo: ©The Litani river is seen from the Western Bekaa village of Saghbin, Saturday, March 2, 2013. (The Daily Star/Hasan Shaaban)