The water crisis in Lebanon is not a new issue. While in other countries people depend on the government to supply them with water, Lebanese people have to rely on private companies. There are 15 rivers coming from the mountains of Lebanon, which is a big number for a small country. Yet, Lebanese households are suffering from water shortage. Lebanon is described in French as
The Castle of Water
(Le Château d’Eau). However, a reportage made by
Al Jazeera
shows us the gravity of the water situation in Lebanon. In fact, people have to pay 2 water bills: one for the government and one for a private company. This is not acceptable for a country that is rich in water. The Lebanese government secured $600M USD from the World Bank and other sources to build a dam. The project is set to be completed by 2022. An engineer said that this project will solve most of the shortages and supply water to 2 million Lebanese people by 2035.