Due to poor policy and planning, and lack of protection, conservation and equitable strategies, fresh water is exposed to many dangers in a country like Lebanon, which is blessed with this renewable resource as a key part of its existence and the lives of its inhabitants. . The most important of these risks are pollution, poor distribution, uncontrolled consumption, and costs that will be difficult (or even impossible) to cover in the short and long term.
The first risk is entirely related to fresh water pollution. The most important source of pollution is its mixing with liquid domestic sewage and solid waste, and then industrial and agricultural waste, etc. Here it is necessary to bear in mind the grave mistakes made by the concerned ministry, that it has not developed a strategy in which it considers closure as a priority waste in networks, theft and sewage treatment rather than the construction of costly and unnecessary dams. Aside from running solar-powered stations and pumps instead of diesel generators, for example, the biggest cause of water reduction is cost or loss of electricity! Also, this interference, in light of flow and leakage from the networks, means the ingress of sewage and dirty water into the water of the networks and houses. Even if water is treated at stations before shipping, it will not reach homes safely and properly, with the possibility of increasing treatment processes and adding chlorine as the cost increases, while surface and ground water will pollution is expected to increase due to impossibility. of treating expensive wastewater that flows into valleys, rivers and seas. , with a state of total collapse! It also means an increase in diseases associated with water pollution and rising health care bills in a country where health insurance funds have collapsed and medical costs have risen.
The problem and risks are getting worse and worse as the cost of wastewater treatment has tripled the cost of providing drinking water! And after the collapse it wasn’t before. After the collapse, the drinking water charge is expected to be at least one million Lebanese pounds (assuming this number will soon double to at least one hundred dollars a year), and if we want to treat wastewater , then at least (the same amount of drinking water (calculated in cubic meters per house per day), which means we need a dollar a day (to treat a cubic meter), and that is the charge for in wastewater treatment per household can exceed $ 300 per year.This is if the parties concerned have built treatment facilities and established networks that are connected and operated… and the separation of household waste from the -industry and rainwater!
In addition, the crisis is leading to an excessive increase in activity in the distribution of additional water, in one way or another associated with this sector, in terms of the sale of water in “tanks” or bottled water. , if
In terms of theft and illegal trade, or in terms of quality, in terms of chaos and lack of quality control, due to the high cost of sampling, testing and ensuring their safety. It will also reflect the continuing rise in the price of hazardous bottled minerals and natural water, despite great doubt over its ability to keep it safe from contamination, as discussed above.
These threats, risks and complexity require analysis in all relevant philosophies, sciences, disciplines and strategies. The fresh water we know is connected not only to rainfall and its calculations, nor is it connected to the depth and extent of reservoirs and aquifers, or to natural science, geological and hydrological science. Freshwater generation systems are very complex and are associated with overlapping ecosystems where climate, sun, clouds, wind movement, sea, ocean, land, vegetation and topography play a key and extremely complex role, in which life systems are separated from non-lives. life in a creative way that none of the sciences can explain.
Recognizing these systems as complex (according to the Latin word complexus), which means “what is woven from a group”, that is, a system in which many strongly interconnected and complex elements enter the formation its. This leads to the first rule, which states that correct are not complex questions in which a reductionist or expert view or perspective is correct, but rather a communication technique that connects all data without reduction. This raises the question: what are we going to do with the controversy or controversy associated with this resource?
A new approach is needed, taking into account past experience and its failures, as well as events and their difficulties. Strategies that take into account all data, needs, uses, barriers and contradictions, from controlling population growth and demand, to controlling all uses, to stopping waste, theft and privatization. These contradictions are approached with a complex approach based on a specific number of scenarios, leaving room for surprises, opportunities and evolution over time.
In order to rise to the state of total collapse today, in the water sector and in all sectors, it is necessary that in a moderate approach identify new principles and acute priorities that must not be overcome, as mentioned above, in order to restore the resource. it from an endangered source, and restore it to its original nature as a renewable public resource. Reorganized to support and fund clean water plans for people and general development plans. On this basis, the promised new approach must first of all confirm that water, according to its resources and nature, is a public good that needs to be restored. And that this resource is an integral part of the ecosystems that make it up, and that it should be protected at any cost and for any reason. In addition to re -examining the legal status of water trade and illegal extraction of surface and ground waters… to ensure that the state will be the regulator and the largest beneficiary of water revenues in all its forms. This requires new guidelines for the assessment of so -called “acquired water rights” and a revision of pricing and collection methods, which are subject to the principle of “water is a human right”, its moderate need for it. is determined free of charge. and the government charges security, connection, and maintenance costs, if it imposes a progressive tax. Increase consumption more than necessary, which is estimated at 100 liters per person per day, according to the World Health Organization, and reduce taxes if that rate is not consumed to help reduce unnecessary consumption.
And since this trend will not find its support either on the side of traditional political forces, or from the side of the so -called modern opposition, according to preliminary readings of the proposed election programs will increase to a regular and fair . way, as in the case of quality.
Source: Al Akhbar
