Waters of Lebanon

Beyond a doubt, Lebanon which after many years of brutal civil war hopes for a better and more stable future, still has a lot of problems, but, luckily, water is not one of them. In fact, Lebanon is the only country on the African continent which does not have a desert.

Instead she has many rivers which are responsible for the country’s water supply as well as the use of hydroelectricity. Liani River and Oronted River are the two major waterams of Lebanon. Both originate from springs in the Lebanese mountains and the Liani flows south, then turns west to empty into the Mediterranean. Unusually, the Orontes flows north.

Many tributaries empty into both rivers and the water is the cause for the fertitly of the Beqaa Valley. Lebanon’s only permanent lake is Buhayrat al Qirawn, located some 10km east of Jazzin.

Liani River supplies water to southern Lebanon as well as the rest of the country and a crisis arose when that area of Lebanon was occupied by Israel in 2000. Who controsl the water controls life and, so far, the green valley of Beqaa continues to thrive and the people of Lebanon do not suffer the water shortages and hardship of life many of their neighbors on the African continent have to endure.

And blogaction day is a great opportunity to draw attention to that fact.

Beqaa Valley and Liani River/Lebanon