“The government doesn’t supply us with water, so the people have to resort to their own means,” explains the local official, requesting to remain anonymous “We can get a permit from the government, but since everyone is digging illegally it doesn’t matter.” With its abundant rivers, springs and high precipitation levels,Lebanon has enough water to meet local demand well into 2035, according to a report published by the American University of Beirut. Nearly 6 billion cubic meters of rainwater fell in Lebanon this year, more than enough to meet local annual consumption levels of 1.4 billion cubic meters. “The rest of the 4.5 billion,” says Ferid Belhaj, director of the Middle East Department for the World Bank, “went straight to the Mediterranean.” So why does Lebanon experience water shortages that propel so many of its citizens to resort to digging illegal wells? “Because is there is no infrastructure in place to catch that excess water, or manage that water. There is no way to make sure the water is exploited in the way it should be,” Belhaj tells The Daily Star. The water sector in Lebanon is governed by Law 221/2000, which obliquely prescribes overlapping responsibilities on the Energy Ministry and four autonomous water services that have headquarters in north Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, Beirut and Mount Lebanon to manage the sector. Though the Energy Ministry has set a clear procedure for issuing well permits, it is often bypassed through bribing local monitors or appealing to politicians. These practices were confirmed in a risk assessment carried out by the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs. The municipal council member in Riyaq said he had “pulled some strings” with his political connections to dig his well 10 years ago. He said at least one neighbor had bribed local workers from the water service to look the other way when they dug theirs as recently as five years ago. Over the years, what began as a personal initiative to secure an unceasing supply of water grew into an illegal water network supporting at least nine families in the neighborhood where the municipal council member lives. Four pipes connect to his well and pump groundwater up to four apartments in his building, and another across the street. He says he shares the water with neighbors free of charge. But the initial cost of tapping the underground aquifer is steep. On average one well costs $1,500-$5,000 depending on depth, as the process often requires the use of expensive drilling equipment, pumps and fuel to operate. Because of Lebanon’s complex geography, in some areas individuals must dig as deep as 600 meters to tap a water source. Families in the Riyaq area pool money together and share the spoils once the well is complete. Those The Daily Star spoke to said it was a better long-term investment than counting on the Bekaa Valleywater service’s unreliable deliveries, which cost around $200 a year. “I wouldn’t blame the Lebanese, I would blame the institutional set up,” says Ramez Kayal, president of ELARD, an environmental and water-management consultancy firm that has researched the subject at length. “When you want to prevent people from drilling you have to provide an alternative,” he says, blaming the state for falling short on its responsibility to deliver water to citizens. Those who dig illegally, he says, don’t have a choice. Citizens can apply for a permit to dig private wells, but these come with certain restrictions. Wells cannot be more than 100 meters deep and must be far from water bodies. Kayal says his firm’s research has found that even those who profess to have a permit, including industries, also break the rules and dig deeper. “Everyone cheats,” he says. But the families in Riyaq The Daily Star spoke to said they felt certain they would not be caught. The government has no underground measuring system in place to detect consumption levels across the country. “It’s not our responsibility,” Khalil Azar, head of pumping stations and projects for the Bekaa Valley water service, says of the illegal wells in the district. Legally, the Energy Ministry does not have the authority to crack down on the practice – that task falls on the shoulders of the Interior Ministry. Azar says though the water service is responsible for distribution, underfunding and nepotism within the hiring process has rendered it unable to fulfill its duties. “To fix the problem, you need to fire all the staff,” he says curtly. Most higher-level employees, he contends, were appointed to appease politicians. To run the water service efficiently requires a staff of 780, he says. At the moment it is making do with 250. Of these, more than half are over the age of 60. “There’s a lot of political interference, and there’s pressure on us to hire certain individuals,” he says. “It could be a barber, or a taxi driver, who comes in to the office once a month, signs a piece of paper and gets paid, then leaves.” For any project over $20,000, a meager sum in terms of infrastructure development, local water authorities must file a request with the Energy Ministry. To hire someone new they need approval from the Civil Service Board. “They can’t run their institutions properly because there are a lot of constraints,” Kayal says. “Basically the government created the [water services] and gave them responsibilities but no power,” he adds. “They [the government] control their money, they control the people who are hired, so there is no accountability.” That some employees of the water services are prone to accept bribes should come as no surprise, Kayal adds, especially as public sector workers are typically not paid high salaries. Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian acknowledged the corruption in the water sector at a news conference in May and said he was working to implement a national strategy to improve it, approved by Cabinet in 2012. But he said the absence of a national budget would be a limiting factor, alluding to the political deadlock that has characterized the government of Prime Minister Tammam Salam. The political stalemate might cost Lebanon a $474-million World Bank loan to fund a crucial water-supply project if Parliament does not approve it by December. Belhaj, the regional head of the development bank, says, if completed, the Bisri dam could provide the poor in Beirut and Mount Lebanon with a cheaper and reliable provision of water. “When it comes to adopting policies [in Lebanon], you get into politics and, unfortunately, the institutions that are supposed to be pushing these policies forward are not always functioning the way they should,” he says. “Politics is all over the place, and sometimes it is in places it should not be.” The Daily Star
