HAPPY STORY OF ROGER A.

Today, Roger A. passed by BASSMA's office to thank all the team for finding him a job as a DoorKeeper in a private school...

read more

Bassma is launching the Easter-Ramadan Foodathon Campaign 2024!


Offer a Food pack, and/or a Hygiene pack, and/or a Bread pack.

 

During these hard times we are going through, solidarity is what matters the most.


Starting $30, you can make a difference in families' lives and draw smiles on their faces.


We count on your generous and precious support!

SOCIAL NEWS back
Thank you Rotary Club Beirut Cedars!
23. Jan 2021
Bassma Communication on Engagement 2020
25. Nov 2020
When President Macron meets few NGOs in ...
02. Sep 2020
UNDP Latest Poverty Assessment Report: 3...
17. Sep 2018
الكل في جريدة لنصنع وطنا
09. Feb 2018
The world's food import bill is rising d...
09. Nov 2017
Lebanon’s beaches are toxic
10. Jun 2013

source: www.dailystar.com.lb

 

Flush a toilet in Beirut and the waste water is piped out a kilometer into the Mediterranean and expelled into the sea. Flush the toilet just about anywhere else, however, and the waste is deposited just a few meters away, using the nation’s coastline as a giant toilet bowl.

Beach-goers are swimming in dangerous levels of their own filth at many public beaches and resorts in the country, according to testing conducted by Environment and Development Magazine that measured fecal levels in swimming water in 19 areas along Lebanon’s coast. The report found the water unsafe for swimming, well above international safety limits, in seven areas. Two other areas were borderline unsafe for swimming, according to the results.

“The pollution in the Lebanese sea is from sewage, it’s fecal coliforms,” said Najib Saab from Environment and Development Magazine.

Water samples that the Environment and Development Magazine took from swimming areas in Nahr al-Kalb, Jounieh and Tabarja measured above the 100 fecal coliforms mark considered no longer safe for swimming.

Samples from swimming areas in Ramlet al-Baida, Antelias and Jbeil contained so many fecal coliforms laboratory scientists stopped counting; the areas are filled with sewage water. Samples in Mina, and Sidon came back borderline toxic.

The results given to The Daily Star reveal a widely polluted coast undermining Lebanon’s image as a beach and resort destination. Unsafe levels of fecal coliforms can lead to rashes, diarrhea and vomiting and can spread disease depending on the extent of exposure.

Results can vary widely in the same city based on where the sample is taken, it often depends on where waste is exhausted, which is not widely regulated. Environment and Development Magazine conducted their studies at the American University of Beirut and will publish full results in next month.

“This is an emergency,” said Nada Zaarour, president of Green Party, about the study. “People shouldn’t be swimming at Lebanese beaches.”

“It’s a very serious problem that the Lebanese people are dealing with since we have some of the most expensive resorts on the Mediterranean coast,” she added.

The problem, environmentalists and water experts say, is water treatment.

There are almost no water treatment plants in operation anywhere along the coast. Wastewater from all the major coastal cities is exhausted straight into the sea. Even water from the hinterland goes into the waterways untreated and eventually pollutes the coast.

Water experts say there is very little regulation of wastewater. Some cities, such as Beirut, have long exhaust pipes that move waste a kilometer away from the shore. Some municipalities deposit wastewater directly on the coast, others a few meters into the sea. Private companies often have their own, also unregulated, waste exhaust.

There is no city that is treating all of its waste, said Manfred Scheu a civil engineer and environmental management specialist from GIZ, a German government-owned international development organization.

There are three “outfalls” in Sidon and southern and northern Beirut that discharge waste a safe distance into the sea, Scheu said. All of the others are discharged directly on the coast, and he said that posed a particular danger.

“It means if someone is carrying a disease, the bacteria will reach the sea,” Scheu said.

The national government, municipalities and international organizations have been working on building a slew of waste treatment plants on the coast for years. Treatment plants are in various stages of development in Tripoli, Shekka, Batroun, Jbeil, Tabarja, Dora, Ghobeiri, Sidon, Tyre and several other areas. But various delays continue to slow the projects.

Scheu says he expects the Tripoli plant to become operational this year. Other waste water plants are years away from entering service.

“It’s going to change soon, but not this year,” Scheu said.

 

image: Ramlet el Baida (Hassan Shaaban


TERMS & AGREEMENTS
GOT A BRIGHT IDEA? SHARE IT!
Full Name
E-mail
Country
P.O.Box
City
Telephone number
Do you want to receive BASSMA�s Newsletter?
My bright idea
Fill all required fields
submit
cancel
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.

Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

 

Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

Enter your monthly salary
$
Enter your weekly working hours
hrs
0
0
0
.
0
0
ONE HOUR OF YOUR SALARY
Airtal.
Amlor 5mg.
Amolgal.
Androcur 10.
Augmentin.
Austin.
Bacazyme inj.
Bisoprolol Norman 5mg.
Cal C vita.
Capoten 25.
Cinarin 75 mg.
Cinemet.
Claritine.
Clenil forte.
Coltrate 600.
Coplixol.
Copoclen 25mg.
Depakine crono 500 mg.
Euro fer.
Lipentil.
Marvil 70.
Nazonex
Nexium 40mg.
Prozac 20mg.
Pulmozine
Rabezol 20mg
Risperdal
Seritide 250mg.
Seroxat.
Singular.
Sipriva
Solotik 100mg
Stilnox 10mg
Tavanic 500mg
Toby
Topamax 100 mg.
Venofer 100mg inj.

Get Adobe Flash player

This page requires Flash Player version 10.0.0 or higher.