Under Monitoring of Water supply and Sanitation (WS&S) coverage and sector progress, it is proposed to create "National Forum for Water" with the support of country budget to be composed of representatives from key ministries, agencies, WHO, UNICEF, UNDP, World Bank and major donors. The purpose of the forum is to review WS&S sector every 6 months and assess the requirements and issues. It is also proposed to establish an Integrated Water Resources Management including Water protection, water conservation and reuse of treated wastewater. (WHO seeks potential donors for funding 2 pilot projects on wastewater treatment and reuse one in the Central Region and the other one in Northern-Eastern Region in Aarsal, both were identified by WHO consultants who visited Lebanon in 1997 and prepared the project documents.)

Lebanon is experiencing a variety of problems related to fresh water; including deteriorating services and networks and mismanagement and uncontrolled exploitation of ground water resources. Distributing networks are old and in poor condition and leakage and wastage is sometimes very substantial. The majority of households has access to or served by drinking-water networks. The sector is facing many problems; however, metered connections are few, sources are not protected and there is discontinuity of distribution.

In summer 2001 drinking water was contaminated in Tripoli. Full investigation is underway, however, it seems that damaged pipes allowed sewage into the water system.

Objective: