Lebanon's National Water Strategy 2024 – 2035.

This National Water Sector Strategy is a sectoral document aiming to set Lebanon’s water sector on a sustainable growth path. It entails practical, transparent, and clear initiatives to reform the sector. Building on past initiatives, this strategy directly addresses critical issues such as water shortages, contamination, and the effects of climate change. The plan is built around the following 4 pillars (1) boost water security, which involves increasing the nation's water storage capabilities and improving overall water quality enhancing water reserves and ensuring better water quality; (2) improve public water services, expanding access to clean water and reliable wastewater services for more citizens; (3) ensure sustainable utilities to make water utilities financially viable, more energy-efficient, and modernized through digital tools; (4) strengthen governance and leadership through the necessary reforms, basing decisions on solid data, and effective management within the water sector. The ultimate goal is to establish a resilient and sustainably managed water sector in Lebanon. For this strategy to succeed by 2035, Lebanon will need concerted efforts from all stakeholders, consistent political will, and aligned support from donor countries to ensure long-term water resilience and effective management.
The document details the specific objectives for each sector that are to be achieved between 2024 and 2035: (1) Pillar 1: by 2035 (i) national water storage capacities are increased to 838 million cubic meters; (ii) a data management and monitoring system is fully operational at the Ministry; (iii) compliance with water quality improvement and pollution prevention measures as identified in the Water Act is fully achieved; (iv) proper water allocation allows an increase in available hydropower production capacity from 282 MW to 325 MW. (2) Pillar 2: by 2035 (i) 90% of the population has regular and sufficient access to publicly provided water services (currently, the drinking water network covers 80% of users with intermittent supply); (ii) 60% of the population’s wastewater is collected and treated through publicly managed systems (currently, the wastewater network covers 60% of users and only 8% of generated volumes are treated to secondary levels); (iii) irrigation efficiency is increased from 60% to 75%, and irrigable lands are increased from 100,000 ha to 138,000 ha. (3) Pillar 3: by 2028 (i) operating costs of water and wastewater services are recovered through adjustment of tariff, increased collection (80%) and subscription (75%), and reduced cost of production; (ii) the Water Sector Transformation Program has started financing the transformation of the sector; (iii) by 2030, 15% of the annual turnover of Water Establishments is mobilized for investment in further development of the service; by 2035 (iv) Non-Revenue Water (NRW) is reduced by 25 percentage points (from the currently estimated national average of 50%); (v) cost of energy is reduced by 30% through adoption of energy-efficient techniques and sustainable practices, including promoting renewable energy sources in the water sector associated with improved water storage infrastructure; (vi) digital transformation of the Water Establishments has been fully achieved. (4) Pillar 4: (i) by 2030, sector reforms related to governance, performance management, and monitoring & evaluation are fully implemented at the Ministry of Energy and Water; (ii) by 2035, digital solutions and advanced technologies for data-driven decision-making at the Ministry of Energy and Water are fully implemented.