2011 Abstract Volume - World Water Week

Safeguarding the Drinking Water Supply of the Citiesof Beirut and Damascus by Water Resources Protectionin Karstic EnvironmentsAuthor:Keywords:Dr. Armin Margane, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Reso, Germany et al.groundwater, wastewater, karst, land use planning, water resources managementIntroduction/Problem IdentificationThe water supply of the capitals of Lebanon and Syria, Beirut and Damascus, depend to a large degreeon springs that emerge from nearby limestone aquifers, which are highly karstified. These springs arealready or face a high risk to become polluted, mainly by wastewater.Four projects, funded by German development cooperation (BMZ), aim to reduce the pollution riskfor Jeita spring in Lebanon and Figeh spring in Syria. In both cases the respective technical cooperationprojects work, on the German side, hand in hand with financial cooperation projects to achievethe best possible protection of drinking water resources. The technical cooperation projects provideadvice to the financial cooperation projects especially in geoscientific aspects related to the site selectionfor WWTPs, collector lines, effluent discharge locations, wastewater reuse, and concerningenvironmental impact assessments (EIAs) for the wastewater facilities to be established by the financialcooperation projects.Analysis/Results and Implications for Policy and/or ResearchSafeguarding the drinking water supply for today and tomorrowWastewater in the groundwater recharge areas of the water resources for Beirut and Damascus is untilnow mostly discharged into the environment without any treatment. Due to the rapid and uncontrolledexpansion of residential areas in the groundwater recharge areas bacteriological contamination ofdrinking water sources has become widespread. Currently there are several decentralised wastewatertreatment plants in planning.However, under the given difficult conditions in Lebanon and Syria (lacking institutional capacityfor operating wastewater treatment plants, limited availability of electrical power supply, steep slopes,active tectonic movements, highly karstic underground) the planning of such wastewater facilities isa challenge. The Jeita and Kashkoush springs in Lebanon discharge on average around 200 Mm³/aand provides around 75% of the water supply for the Greater Beirut area.In Syria, Figeh is the largest spring with an average discharge of around 200 Mm 3 /a and accounts forapproximately 60% of the water supply of Damascus.Due to the low storage capacity and quick drainage of the karstic aquifer systems, discharge in bothcases varies considerably during the year between 30 m³/s during the high flow period and 1 m³/s inthe low flow period. Due to the large seasonal variation of discharge, both springs cannot meet thedemand of the cities towards the dry season.Securing a safe and sustainable water supply poses a major challenge that can only be met with acomprehensive strategy to optimise water usage and reduce contamination risks. The financial (FC,implemented by KfW) and technical cooperation (TC, implemented by BGR) projects therefore28 Workshop 1: Cities in a 3-D Landscape Perspective – Hidden Risks