The Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS-L) launched the 38th annual report on the “environmental reality of the Lebanese coast” to provide reliable scientific data that allows Lebanon’s government to develop effective and sustainable public policies.
The sites were selected based on environmental standards to determine beach pollution and its impact on public health.
These sites feature popular swimming pools, points near estuaries, public and private rocky and sandy beaches, and points close to sewage estuaries.
The report highlighted that the surface water in Beirut and Tyre (southern Lebanon) contains large quantities of microplastic pieces.
However, “Beirut’s water is the most polluted,” the report said, adding that “the quantities found in this study are more than twice as high as elsewhere in the Mediterranean.”
According to the CNRS-L, 7 out of 37 sites range from contaminated to very polluted and not suitable for swimming.
These sites are contaminated with large amounts of fecal bacteria, as the levels are higher than the permissible levels:
Tripoli – Public Beach
Jounieh – Public Beach (sandy beach)
Dbayeh – Near the Port
Antelias – Antelias’ River Estuary
Beirut – Al Manara (below Manara, Beirut)
Beirut – Ramlet Al Bayda Public Beach
Tyre – The Restaurants’ Beach (شاطئ المطاعم)
In addition, 6 of the 37 sites are wary of unsafe critical and bacterial contamination rates in their waters, which are considered moderate, and are subject to intermittent or circumstantial contamination. Here are the sites:
Akkar – Kalayaat
El Minieh – Private Beach
Tripoli – Al Mina facing Abdel Wahab Island
Batroun – Bahsa Public Beach
Khalde – Private Beach
Sidon – Public Beach
The CNRS-L also reported that the main bacterial contamination is mainly due to sewage and landfills coming from “the continuous failure to treat wastewater before it reaches the shore.”
Here are the 24 Cleanest Beaches In Lebanon according to the same report.
