The National Litani River Authority announced the detection of cholera bacteria in the waters of the Litani River in the upper basin during its periodic examinations of samples from random and pre-specified locations of the Litani River waters.
The Authority indicated that water contaminated with cholera bacteria is the most important reason for its spread, especially since the Litani River, especially in its upper basin, still receives untreated sewage contaminated with various types of bacteria.
On September 9, 2024, the National Litani River Authority took water samples from 7 points in the Litani River in its upper basin to monitor any cholera contamination, and these samples were analyzed in the Authority's laboratory in Khirbet Qanafar.

The results showed that the water was contaminated with cholera bacteria at two points: the sewage collection point in Chtaura and the Litani River point at the Dalhamiya Bridge. It is worth noting that these two points also recorded cholera contamination when the epidemic broke out in 2022.

The Litani River Authority warns of the current situation of the river and requests the cessation of all activities that could exacerbate this situation or lead to a new outbreak of the epidemic, as once the cholera germ reaches the surface water, it will spread and spread to all points, which carries a serious health risk that threatens all the people of the upper Litani River basin.

On September 3, 2024, the head of the Litani River National Authority, Dr. Sami Alawieh, received a delegation of industrial establishments located in the upper basin of the Litani River, headed by the head of the Industrialists' Association in the Bekaa, Mr. Nicola Abu Faisal, where the attendees provided an explanation of the environmental issues related to their establishments.

During this meeting, it was decided to form a joint technical committee between the Litani River National Authority and industrialists in order to determine the treatment principles in light of technical expertise and previous experiences. The Litani River National Authority expressed its readiness to assist all industrialists in improving the treatment of polluted water resulting from their factories and protecting the Litani River from industrial pollution through this joint committee. It also praised the industrialists who are fully prepared to treat water inside their factories and focused on the need to continue treatment and operation of stations to avoid any additional pollution.

On August 5, 2024, and upon the assignment of the sole criminal judge in Zahle, expert Carol Sakhn, along with the technical teams of the National Litani River Authority, revisited 3 industrial establishments, namely Hajjar Food Factory, Chateau Kherbet Qanafar, and Alpha Interfood Factory, to take samples of the treated industrial water in the aforementioned establishments and evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment.

The expert and the technical teams of the Authority also took samples from two hospitals, namely Chtaura Hospital and Rayak Hospital, at their request after they reported that the treatment plants had achieved the required effectiveness.

On 4-7-2024, the sole criminal judge in Zahle, Mohammad Sharaf, issued three judicial rulings against institutions accused by the National Authority of the Litani River for the crime of polluting the Litani River.

Among these institutions is one of the industrial institutions classified as the most dangerous to the Litani River, which is the company Columph of Lebanon LLC, owned by Armand Yaacoub Al-Saght, which specializes in the manufacture of concrete strengthening powder, paint materials and anti-staining materials. The second is the company Youssef Group LLC, owned by Joseph Yaacoub Youssef, which specializes in the Arabization, packaging and wrapping of vegetables and fruits. The third ruling was against an unlicensed plastic factory owned by Antoine Al-Murr.

The three issued rulings convicted the defendants, owners of the aforementioned industrial establishments, and fined them and obligated them to plant pine tree seedlings on the banks of the Litani River and conduct periodic inspections under the supervision of the Ministry of Environment and the National Authority of the Litani River, in addition to closing the unlicensed factory until it obtains the necessary licenses that allow it to continue its work.

- The ruling of the company Columph of Lebanon, owned by Armand Yaacoub, was outraged.

- The ruling of Youssef Group Company, owned by Joseph Yacoub Youssef

- The ruling of Antoine Adib Al-Murr

After the expansion of fishing activities of polluted fish from Lake Qaraoun by displaced Lebanese Syrians and their disposal in markets and restaurants, the National Authority of the Litani River sent a letter to His Excellency the Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Judge Bassam Mawlawi, requesting that the competent authorities be assigned to implement the decision to ban fishing in Lake Qaraoun and to prevent the movement of fishing boats in the lake, due to the risks this poses to public health and the safety of the Qaraoun Dam. It also sent another letter requesting the organization and control of the movement of tourist and recreational boats within Lake Qaraoun and the control of the conditions of this navigation in accordance with the requirements of the public interest and in a manner that protects public and strategic facilities and in a manner that protects public health.

- Letter addressed to the Minister of Interior and Municipalities Bassam Mawlawi regarding the fishing of polluted fish from the lake

- The letter addressed to the Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Bassam Mawlawi, regarding the organization and control of the movement of tourist and recreational boats in Lake Qaraoun

The National Litani River Authority sent a series of letters to His Excellency the Minister of Energy and Water, Dr. Walid Fayyad, His Excellency the Minister of Interior, Judge Bassam Mawlawi, His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Firas Abiad, His Excellency the Director General of State Security, Major General Tony Saliba, and to the Governor of the Bekaa, Judge Kamal Abu Jaoudeh, and the Governor of Baalbek-Hermel, Mr. Bashir Khodr, regarding the ban on irrigating crops with the waters of the Litani River and its tributaries in the upper basin of the Litani River and the necessity of ensuring health security, the quality of irrigation water, and food safety within the framework of the pursuit and search for food security. The Authority requested the aforementioned authorities to take measures aimed at generalizing the ban on irrigating all agricultural lands and crops from the Litani River in the upper basin of the Litani River within the scope of the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate and the Bekaa.

Book of the Minister of Energy and Water

Book of the Minister of Interior and Municipalities

Book of the Governor of Baalbek-Hermel

Bekaa Governor's Book

State Security's Book

On May 22, 2024, the maintenance team in the Irrigation Department of Lebaa, under the supervision of the Investment and Maintenance Department, completed maintenance of the main network with an external diameter of 620 mm between the towns of Marah Al-Habas and Lebaa before the double outlet No. 8 - 9/4 at a distance of 120 meters. After testing the network and ensuring that there was no water leakage from it, it was re-fed with irrigation water and supplied again to the areas that had been cut off.

The Egyptian newspaper Al-Mal's included in its No. 4201, published on the 28th of December 2023, an artical entitled "Head of the Environmental Affairs Agency in Al-Thaghr: Sensors monitor the drains of industrial facilities 24/24" 

The installing sensors strategy on the drains facilities discharging its water to fresh and non-fresh water bodies, as well as the Mediterranean Sea, so that industrial drainage, its quality, and the quality of the water falling on the water body to which it is connected are monitored in a way that it does not cause pollution.

Litani river authority indicates that applying this strategy helps control the sources of pollution of the Litani River’s water to a large extent, as it is possible to adopt this system in institutions that have been obligated by the Litani river authority to install refining stations to treat their industrial waste before diverting it to the course of the Litani River or to one of its tributaries.

Water is usually affected by several factors that lead to changing its color and smell. In the summer or when the temperature rises, the color of the water in Lake Qaraoun changes to become green. The most prominent reasons that lead to this are:

Climate change and temperature rate:
The climate in general has an effect on the color of the water, as it varies according to temperature, and ranges from blue to green as it rises. Loss of ecosystem health in lake water may also lead to a shift in color.

Cyanobacteria:
Bacteria that live in water, become more active and float to the surface as temperatures rise. Therefore, the green color increases in the summer as a result of the reproduction of these types of bacteria, which are also called “blue-green algae.”

The technical teams at the Litani River National Authority have begun the winter sewer cleaning work that they carry out annually as the precipitation season approaches, in order to avoid rainwater overwhelming public and private property.