There is much talk about the high costs incurred by Lebanese citizens to secure electricity for their homes or workplaces, but rarely is there mention of the cost of securing water—drinking water and daily use for households. However, upon careful calculation, it becomes clear that the cost of water is rapidly approaching that of electricity and has become a real burden on the shoulders of citizens, especially with its persistent shortage in most regions due to the lack of electricity required for water institutions to pump it into the network.
In November 2002, the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Committee adopted General Comment No. 15 regarding the right to water, defining it as the right of every individual "to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable water for personal and domestic use." The right to water stipulates that water supplies for every person must be enough and continuous to cover personal and domestic uses—such as drinking, washing clothes, preparing food, and personal and domestic hygiene—and that the cost of water services must be affordable for all. No individual or group should be deprived of access to safe drinking water due to an inability to pay for it. So, where do we stand in Lebanon regarding these rights guaranteed by the United Nations when the cost of obtaining water has surpassed the capacity of many Lebanese citizens?
**Soaring Water Costs**
Today, due to the continuous failure to deliver water to most Lebanese homes because of the inability to pump it consistently due to constant electricity shortages, citizens are forced to buy water via tankers and, at the same time, purchase drinking water due to the poor quality of the water that reaches their homes. Consequently, the per capita share of water is undoubtedly in continuous decline amid the outrageous costs of obtaining water. Thus, Lebanese citizens have lost yet another fundamental right, which is to access water at an affordable cost.
How much does it cost to obtain drinking water and water for household use in Lebanon? We attempted to quantify the monthly cost of water in Lebanon with specialists and ordinary citizens, given the almost complete absence of "state water." It became clear that a family of four consumes between 4 and 6 gallons of 19-liter drinking water monthly. With the price of a gallon reaching 100,000 Lebanese pounds, and likely to continue rising, the cost of bottled drinking water alone amounts to at least 500,000 Lebanese pounds monthly.
Additionally, gallons used for washing vegetables, cooking, and even for personal hygiene require an estimated 8 to 10 gallons at a cost ranging between 350,000 and 400,000, depending on the quality of water. Drinking water is not the only source of cost; most Lebanese, particularly in Beirut and coastal regions, along with many mountainous areas, buy water almost constantly for home use. Considering that each tank holds at least 2,000 liters, and that the price for a cubic meter ranges between 200,000 and 250,000 Lebanese pounds—which is also likely to rise—the monthly cost for this water could be between 1.5 million and 2 million Lebanese pounds at minimum. This is compounded by the electricity costs for small pumps used to pump the water from underground tanks to rooftops.
**New Tariff Catastrophes**
To these devastating calculations, a new disaster has recently emerged: the official increase in the tariff for cubic meters of water, or “water rate,” as it is popularly known. The tariff has risen from 340,000 to 4.15 million Lebanese pounds annually, which equates to 345,000 monthly per cubic meter, doubling the amount for two cubic meters.
When we sum it all up, the monthly cost of water for a family amounts to about three million Lebanese pounds or slightly less if the family does not need to buy water for daily use constantly, or more in areas experiencing continuous water outages—of which there are many at the moment. With the ongoing rise in the price of the dollar, along with electricity, fuel, and transportation, these figures are subject to further increase (these estimates are based on prices before the current dollar surge).
The water crisis is further exacerbated by the current drought season in Lebanon and the transformation of many underground wells in the Beirut area into saline water sources unsuitable for use. Continuous rain shortages do not bode well for water availability in either summer or winter. Furthermore, returning to the UN Development Program's guideline that costs for water should constitute 3% of family income, the income for Lebanese families in this case should exceed 100 million Lebanese pounds monthly.
Indeed, while the right to water, according to the UN's Human Rights report, does not imply free water, it necessitates that water services are accessible to all and that no one is deprived of access due to an inability to pay. Under certain circumstances, it is required to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation services without charge if a person or household cannot afford it, alongside implementing appropriate pricing policies, such as providing water for free or at low costs—an issue that the Lebanese state wholly ignores.
**Hellish Spiral**
As if these shocking numbers were not enough, Dr. Jalal Halwani, the director of the Environmental and Water Sciences Laboratory at the Lebanese University and an international reviewer for environmental and water matters with international organizations, states that the rising cost of water forces Lebanese families to seek lower-quality and cheaper water sources, whether for bottled water or tanker deliveries, posing a significant threat to their health.
Moreover, the UN report indicates that at any time of the year, half of the hospital beds worldwide are occupied by patients suffering from waterborne diseases. In Lebanon, this is clear with the recent outbreak of cholera. Thus, the Lebanese citizen finds themselves trapped in a hellish cycle between water scarcity exacerbated by power outages and their inability to access reliable water due to its high costs, coupled with their incapacity to obtain necessary healthcare if suffering from illnesses caused by non-potable water consumption. Thus, the cycle of electricity, water, and medication spins around the citizens.
The World Health Organization considers the minimum acceptable amount of water for a person to be 75 liters daily to ensure their basic needs are met and to avoid numerous health concerns. Under this limit, there is a real public health problem. In Europe, governments have imposed access to 150 liters per person. So, between the minimum and ideal thresholds, where does Lebanon stand?
Considering what individuals in Lebanon purchase monthly from various sources of drinking water and “utility” water, the average amount currently received stands at around 85 liters, with potential increases in areas not experiencing water shortages or cuts, while decreasing significantly in poorer regions whose inhabitants cannot afford to buy bottled drinking water. The updated national water strategy for Lebanon in 2020 stipulated individual consumption at 125 liters daily, down from 180 liters per person in 2010, according to Fanack Water, a specialized platform investigating water in Africa and the Middle East. It thus becomes evident that Lebanon currently suffers from a perilous water reality due to the major economic crisis.
A family of four in Lebanon fundamentally needs about 600 liters daily, according to Dr. Halwani; however, with families unable to secure this amount and facing rising bills, this leads them to severely ration their water consumption, a situation that risks public health or even a health catastrophe, as stated by Dr. Halwani. The declining daily consumption rate of water, both for drinking and household use, increases the incidence of diseases and deteriorates public health, as water is insufficient to meet essential needs for personal and food hygiene. This brings us back to the initial point of increased demand for medications and healthcare, at a time when such resources have become inaccessible to the poorer classes.
**Drought Tourism**
The negative implications of the rising cost of water extend beyond households into the tourism and recreational sectors. According to the updated national water strategy for 2020, the tourism sector needs 350 million cubic meters annually—a vast and costly amount of water. Even though this demand has significantly decreased due to reduced tourist activity outside the tourist seasons, this cost borne by restaurants, tourist resorts, beaches, and hotels leads to increased service prices or a decline in the quality of these services if they are unable to raise their prices. Cases of food poisoning observed in Lebanon, especially during summer, are merely a painful reminder of the adverse impact of rising water costs and the resort of some tourist institutions to dubious water sources. This negatively impacts the tourism sector as a whole in Lebanon, stigmatizing it as a location feared by tourists like those in poor and underdeveloped countries. Instead of cooling down Lebanon with its waters from the heat of its woes, the boiling prices of water fuel the hardships even further.
