Environmental journalist @NatGeo, @NYT, @bbc etc. Global Fellow @ The Wilson Center, Fellow @ Center for Climate & Security
published on The Guardian on May 26, 2015
Poor management of resources, political stalemate and an influx of Syrians fleeing war to settlements like Shatila have exacerbated Lebanon’s water crisis
Water at Shatila refugee camp in Beirut’s southern suburbs is now so salty and ridden with chemicals that metal cutlery rusts after less than half an hour’s exposure to the brine.
“Imagine having water so bad that you can’t have metal cutlery? It’s hell water really,” says Ahmed, a resident at the camp.
Gesturing at the salty, foul-smelling liquid oozing from a nearby tap, his friend Moussa Deeb, an electrician originally from Damascus, adds: “Have you ever woken up and tried washing your face with sea water?”
Camp authorities now have to bring in water for bathing and cleaning from outside.
The site of a brutal massacre during the Lebanese civil war, Shatila’s population has doubled to about 40,000 in the four years since the conflict in Syria began. At least 1.5 million refugees are estimated to have spilled over the border into Lebanon, with many seeking affordable housing in the populous coastal strip.
The water infrastructure was already reeling from decades of over-pumping, and the effect of these new arrivals has been devastating.
Families who used to receive four subsidised gallons of clean drinking water a week must now make do with half of that as cash-strapped camp bosses struggle to meet demand. Few communities in Lebanon have seen their water quality deteriorate as dangerously as Shatila, but the camp’s problems point to the country’s difficulties in coping with a sudden 30% growth in population.
(CONTINUE READING ON THEGUARDIAN.CO.UK)