In an attempt to shed light on environmental issues and to decrease the pollution rates, the Ministry of Environment organized a campaign to clean up the Berdawni River on Saturday, August 3rd. Among the participants were the Minister of Environment Fadi Jreissati accompanied by more than one hundred young volunteers.
Minister Jreissati and the volunteers worked the entire day on Saturday to sort all the garbage thrown at the riverbanks. Jreissati commented on the situation of the Berdawni and claimed that everyone needs to work together for the continued success of this environmental action. He assured that they all could make it through, no matter the amount of work needed.
Jreissati also addressed the young volunteers, congratulating them for their efforts and placing upon them the responsibility of a cleaner future for Lebanon. He expressed his confidence that they are all up to the mission, calling them the hope of Lebanon. According to him, now is the time to fix what we have been destroying.
This is not the first time that the situation becomes unbearable for the Berdawni. On February 2018, the river turned red for apparently unknown reasons. Later on, it was found out that the bloodish-color of the water was the result of a red dye coming from a shop in the region of Hazarta.
This incident caused at the time a certain commotion among the inhabitants of Zahle. They voiced out their concerns about their future on this planet and claimed that everyone will end up paying the price of such continuous destruction to nature. Some even said that the river was crying blood for the lost environment.
The Berdawni is one of Litani’s sixteen tributaries. They are facing pollution problems that have been contaminating not only the water but also all the vegetation they irrigate. This has affected the public health of everyone around these areas.
