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the
water resources
Two resources are distinguished:
-The surface
water resources,
-The
underground water resources.
- The surface water resources:
They
are represented by 15 rivers
all born
from karstic
springs.The remainder
of the
hydrological network is characterized by the presence of numerous dry
valleys because surface limestone layers are important.
Physical
Characteristics:
The
majority of these rivers
have tiny basins ; they spring up on the western slope of the
"Mount Lebanon"
mountain and flow toward the littoral .
The Bekaa valley is drained by two rivers flowing in opposite direction:
-The Litani,150 km length, flows from the north to the south entirely in the
lebanese
territory.It offers huge possibilities for irrigation,
The Hasbani springs up in Lebanon and flows south toward
Palestine; it offers
large possibilities for irrigation,
-The Oronte flows in the opposite direction; it runs partially in Lebanon,
reaching
then Syria and Turkey.
On the level
of water conservation and storage, only one dam, the Dam of Qaraoun has been
built on the river Litani for
electricity production and irrigation purposes; its capacity is
220 millions cubic meters. Some artificial lakes
have also been built in the high mountain by
the Government and by
private people.
In the year
2000, the Ministry of Energy and Water has established a decadal plan for the
construction of a set
of dams on the whole national territory in the purpose of
facing up the
water shortage
forecast by the lebanese experts by the year 2015.
- The underground water resources:
The underground water resources are mainly related with the
development of a very important karstic network in the jurassic and
cretaceous limestone layers. Lebanon is strewed with numerous karstic
springs,some of which are exploited since thousand of years: springs of
Baalbeck, Salomon Fountains at Ras el Aïn south of Tyre, and around which
magnificent civilizations flourished in the antiquity.
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