Sustaining the ecological functions of the Litani River Basin, Lebanon

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of environmental projects on the Litani River from 1994 to 2020 (Adapted from Shaban & Hamzé, 2018).

Title	Date	Category	Executing Agencies/Partners/Authors	Major Focus
Pollution of the Litani River and Qaraoun Lake	1994	Technical Report	Jaafar et al.	Pollution
Protection and sustainable management of the soil and groundwater	1997–2003	Project	BGR, CNRS, ACSAD	Pollution and management
Water management plan for the Litani River and Qaraoun reservoir	1998	Research	S. Srour	Management of pollution
Nature and extent of pollution of land resources in Central Bekaa, Lebanon.	1999	Article ICS-UNIDO Workshop	Darwish et al.	Pollution
Environmental Master plan for Litani River and Qaraoun Lake catchment area	2000	Project	Swedish MVM konsult AB, MoE	Management and pollution
Evaluation of water quality of the Qaraoun reservoir, Lebanon: suitability for multi-purposes usage	2002	Article (Envi. Monit. Ass)	Jurdi et al.	Pollution
Water Quality Assessment of the Upper Litani River Basin and Lake Qaraoun	2003–2004	Project	Dia,Wess	Pollution
Water quality in the Litani River and the Qaraoun Lake. Forwarded programme: Integrated water and coastal resources	2003–2005	Project	USAID-Bureau for Asia and Near East	Pollution
Towards an ecosystem approach to the sustainable management of the Litani watershed	2004–2007	Project	IDRC, CNRS, LRA, DSA, Cadham Hayes	Pollution & ecosystem management
Pollutants transport in the soil of Central Bekaa	2006–2008	Project	CEDRE Project	Dynamics of soil infiltration and pollutants transfer to groundwater
Environmental and health risks of nitrates dynamics in the soil-groundwater-food chain	2007–2009	Project	CNRS	Applied research on health and environmental transfer of nitrates
Assessing water quality in the Upper Litani Basin, Lebanon, using an integrated GIS-based DSS	2008	Paper	Assaf and Saadeh	Pollution and management
Preliminary contamination hazard assessment of land resources in Central Bekaa Plain of Lebanon.	2008	paper	Darwish et al.	Pollution
Litani water quality management	2009–2013	Project	USAID/AUB/NGO	Pollution
Regional Coordination for Improved Water Resources Management and Capacity Building-CAPWATER	2012–2015	Project	WB Grant/NASA/CNRS	Crop Mapping, ET, Biomass production, drought, flood in Litani basin. Talal Darwish
Balancing water stress and human crises under a changing climate: Integrating international policy agendas in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.	2016	Project	DFID IIED-AUB, BWE	Water Resources analysis, water balance, and refugees water use.
Water Intelligence for NEAR East (WIN)	2016–2020	Project	IHE-Delft; CNRS. LRA, LARI	Water accounting and water productivity
‘Promotion of Good Agricultural Practices, Including Integrated Pest Management, to reduce agrochemical pollution in upper Litani basin’ - UTF/LEB/028/LEB’	2017–2021	Project	WB Loan CDR, MoA, LARI, LRA, Farmers	To reduce pesticides and fertilizers in the upper Litani basin and Qaraoun Lake area
The Litani River Lebanon an assessment and current challenges	2018	Book	Shaban and Hamze	General assessment
‘Integrating time series ET mapping into an operational irrigation management framework (ITSET)’ - UTF/LEB/028/LEB’	2019–2020	Project	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands DUPC2-IHE Delft AUB, Farmers	To develop a smart application for irrigation scheduling using remote sensing and data fusion

Abbreviations: BGR = Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, CNRS = Conseil National de la Recherche Scientifique, ACSAD = Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands, ICS = International Centre for Science and High Technology, UNIDO = The United Nations Industrial Development Organization, MVM-AB = The Swedish Association of Waste Management Companies, MoE = Ministry of Environment, USAID = The United States Agency for International Development, LRA = Litani River Authority, DSA = Development Studies Association, CEDRE = French-Lebanese research funding programme, AUB = American University of Beirut, WB = World Bank, NASA = The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, DFID = the UK's Department for International Development, IIED = International Institute for Environment and Development, BWE = Bekaa Water Establishment, IHE = Institute for Water Education, LARI = Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute, CDR = Council for Development and Reconstruction, MoA = Ministry of Agricultue, DUPC2 = IHE Delft Partnership Programme for Water and Development.

Table 2. Main targets and indicators of SDG6.

Target	Indicator (Custodian Agencies)
6.1 By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all	6.1.1 Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services (World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF))
6.2 By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations	6.2. la Proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services (WHO/UNICCF) 6.2.1b Proportion of population using a handwashing facility with soap and water available (WHO/IJNICEF)
6.3 By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally	6.3.l Proportion of wastewater safely treated WHO/united Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habita/United Nations Statistics Division (LINSD)) 6.3.2 Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality (united Nations Environment Programme/LNSD)
6.4 By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity	6.4.1 Change in water-use efficiency Dar time (Food and Agriculture Organization of the united Nations (FAO)) 6.4.2 Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources (FAO)
6.5 By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate	6.5.1 Degree of integrated water resources management implementation (D— 1 00) (united Nations Environment programme) Proportion of transboundary basin area with an operational arrangement for water cooperation (united Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)/United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE))
6.6 By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes	6.6.1 Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time (united Nations Environment Programme/Ramsar Convention)
6.a By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies	6.a.1 Amount of water- and sanitation-related official development assistance that is part of a government-coordinated spending plan (WHO/United Nations Environment Programme/Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD))
6.b Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management	6.b.l Proportion of local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of Baal communities in water and sanitation management (WHO/United Nations Environment programme/OECO)

Source: Adapted from United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2017).

Figure 1. Location of the Lake Quaraoun and Litani basin in the map of Lebanon, East Mediterranean.

Figure 2. Water use in Lebanon between 1998 and 2017, Km³ year⁻¹ (Source: FAO, 2016).

Figure 3. Disposal of solid waste near agricultural fields in Central Bekaa Plain (Photo: T. Darwish). Field inspection of nitrate content in shallow aquifers in Central Bekaa area, Spring 2002 (Source: Darwish et al., 2004).

Figure 4. Shallow water table depth in the Central Bekaa Plain of Lebanon reveals high vulnerability to contamination (Source Darwish et al., 2004).

Figure 5. Irrigation of fruit trees using non treated sewage water, mixed with collected shallow water table (drainage water) in Central Bekaa (a and b). Sediments on soil surface after irrigation using non treated sewage water in Central Bekaa (c).

Table 3. Tolerable annual load of trace elements to agricultural soils and their limit content in sludge.

Elements	Permissible annual Load (g.ha^–1) *	Applied with one irrigation event using non treated sewage water in Central Bekaa (mg.kg^–1)**	Limit content in sludge ((mg.kg^-1) dry matter)***
Lead	400	21	800
Cadmium	6	0.28	20
Chrome	300	40	1000
Cupper	360	31	1000
Nickel	100	30	200
Zinc	1200	147	3000

* German Act on soil protection; 1998;

**measured in dried suspended material (Darwish et al., 2004);

***Arrêté du 8 Janvier 1998 du Journal Officiel, France.

Figure 6. Green-blue water coloured by cyanobacteria pigment in the reservoir of Quaraoun, collected on February 2020 (Source: LRA, 2020).

Figure 7. Driving forces of water sector regression in water supply and sanitation services defined by the questioned stakeholders of the Litani River Basin (Source: Shaban et al., 2018).

Figure 8. Amount of water leaching (mm) as a function of irrigation technique and nitrogen application (N0-Control drip no nitrogen; Ncd- Control drip nitrogen soil application; Ncs- Control macro sprinklers nitrogen soil application; N1-3- Full Fertigation with nitrogen in N2=Ncs) (Source: Darwish et al., 2003).

Figure 9. Outlets of non-treated sewage water (spots in red) ejected directly to the Litani River (Source Litani River Authority, 2020)

Table 4. Contextualization of SDG 6 to the Litani River Basin.

Target	Indicator	Average SDGs implementation by 2019	Source of information
6.1. Drinking Water	6.1.1 Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services.	37.5%	Ratio of annual yield of legal wells to total well water including illegal in Bekaa; MOE/UNDP/ECODIT, (2011)
6.2. Sanitation and Hygiene	6.2.1 Proportion of population using safely sanitation services.	<20%	Based on LRA map on treatment stations functionality (Figure 7)
6.3. Water Quality and Wastewater	6.3.1 Proportion of wastewater safely treated	10%	LRA
	6.3.2 Proportion of water bodies with good ambient water quality	30%	Lower / Upper Litani basin
6.4. Water Use and Scarcity	6.4.1 Change in water use efficiency over time	40%	Darwish et al. (2003, 2006); Karam et al. (2003)
	6.4.2 Level of water stress	30%	Freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources
	6.4.2.1 Surface water	15%	Area irrigated with collective irrigation schemes (6000ha)/ total irrigated land in the basin.
	6.4.2.2 Groundwater	20%	Seasonal Pumping/seasonal recharge. Water metres installed only on domestic wells.
6.5. Water Resources Management	6.5.1 Degree of integrated water resources management implementation (0-100)	40%	Shaban et al. (2018)
6.6. Ecosystems	6.6.1 Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time	−40%	Author’s estimation based on the deterioration of water quality and its impact on ecosystem services.

Figure 10. Depth to groundwater (m) in several groundwater nodes vs. the five monitoring wells in the Upper Litani Basin (Source: Hackett, 2020).

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