Water is usually affected by several factors that lead to changing its color and smell. In the summer or when the temperature rises, the color of the water in Lake Qaraoun changes to become green. The most prominent reasons that lead to this are:

Climate change and temperature rate:
The climate in general has an effect on the color of the water, as it varies according to temperature, and ranges from blue to green as it rises. Loss of ecosystem health in lake water may also lead to a shift in color.

Cyanobacteria:
Bacteria that live in water, become more active and float to the surface as temperatures rise. Therefore, the green color increases in the summer as a result of the reproduction of these types of bacteria, which are also called “blue-green algae.”

The technical teams at the Litani River National Authority have begun the winter sewer cleaning work that they carry out annually as the precipitation season approaches, in order to avoid rainwater overwhelming public and private property.

 

A graph of the water stock in #Qaraoun_Lake comparing the water stock in it during the period from 2019 to 2022.

Works of the annual program for cleaning the facilities of the diversionary dam in the Zararia area

Hona Beirut episode 9-11-2022 - with the Director General of the National Authority of the Litani Ri

The pollution problem in the upper basin of the Litani River is still exacerbated by the flow of huge amounts of untreated sewage directly into the riverbed and Qaraoun Lake. In this context, the Director General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Authority of the Litani River, Dr. Sami Alawiyeh, revealed that in the absence of good management and drawing up a clear directive plan for the sanitation sector, centralized solutions are adopted for sewage treatment systems associated with defects in studies and designs, poor implementation and unsustainable operation. Due to the need for huge sources of energy and the lack of technical and financial capabilities to operate them, in addition to the continued connection of rainwater networks and the transfer of industrial waste to those networks leading to refinery plants. As a result of all this, there was a failure to treat this water, and the lack of validity of the treated water to mix with the water medium, and thus its unsuitability for irrigation, and the absence of periodic monitoring of the quality of the water coming out of it.

For more info click here (Arabic Version)

The head of the Union of Municipalities of Iqlim al-Tuffah, Hajj Bilal Shehadeh, accompanied by the mayors of Homin al-Fawqa and Jarju`, and a delegation from the town of Arabsalim, visited the Director General of the Authority, Dr. Sami Alawiyeh, in order to emphasize the necessity of observing the rights of the villages and towns of Iqlim al-Tuffah to benefit from the energy produced through the Litani plant, whether through the expansion of medium-voltage stations or transmission via high-voltage lines 66 kV from the Awali station.