Updated National Water Sector Strategy (NWSS) 2020 - Volume I

REPUBLIC OF LEBANON MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND WATER NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 Volume I Executive summary Volume II WATER SECTOR GOVERNANCE VOLUME III Water resources management Volume IV Water sector current situation Volume V Proposed projects Volume VI Drawings MAY 2020 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2020 I - i FOREWORD The present volume is part of the National Water Sector Strategy Update – 2020, which includes the following volumes: VOLUME I : EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (this volume) VOLUME II : WATER SECTOR GOVERNANCE Section II A Strategy pillar – SDG 6 Section II B Current legal and Institutional frameworks Section II C Human Resources of the WEs Section II D Water tariff analysis Section II E Strategic action - Recommendations VOLUME III : WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT Section III A Available water resources - Impact pf climate change Section III B Surface water resources management Section III C Groundwater resources management Section III D Guidelines for monitoring water quality Section III E Wastewater and sludge management Section III F Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment Annexes VOLUME IV : WATER SECTOR CURRENT SITUATION Section IV A Tapped water resources and wastewater facilities Section IV B Demand criteria, assumptions and water balance Section IV C Appendices to Volume IV VOLUME V : PROPOSED PROJECTS Section V A Criteria for projects and priorities selection Section V B Proposed Projects Section V C Appendices to Proposed Projects VOLUME VI : DRAWINGS NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2020 I - ii PREAMBLE The Ministry of Energy and Water prepared and adopted the Lebanese National Water Sector Strategy (NWSS) in 2010 which, in turn, was endorsed by the Government of Lebanon in 2012 (Resolution No.2, Date 09/03/2012). Since then, the Ministry has been implementing plans and projects identified in the strategy and, in parallel, the CDR and the Water Establishments have prepared regional water resources allocation plans, and national and regional groundwater resources studies for the catchment, treatment and distribution of water to all areas of Lebanon. In addition, regional plans for the collection and treatment of wastewater were prepared. Seven years through, time has come to review what has been realized from the original roadmap and update the Water & Wastewater strategies of 2012 by revisiting the water allocation and supply plans, wastewater collection and treatment plans, water storage / dams master plans, and irrigation plans. OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY The national water sector strategy of 2012 has put an end to a phase and started a new phase for developing a wide and comprehensive vision and confirming the general principles of the national water policies on the short, medium and long terms. The updated strategy maintains the main strategic principles of the water policies adopted by the Government of Lebanon in 2012, but reassesses the then set priorities in light of today’s actual context. This update also merges the National Water and Wastewater strategies of 2012 into one consolidated strategy that we shall call “Updated National Water Sector Strategy 2020”, taking into account studies and projects completed between 2012 and 2019 in both fields. The objective of the Consultancy is to merge the National Water and Wastewater strategies of 2012 into one consolidated strategy, and will take into account studies and projects that were completed between 2012 and 2019 in both fields. DATA COLLECTION The first phase of the consultancy services is the Data Collection. All available data and necessary information were collected from the relevant stakeholders such as MoEW, the four Water Establishments, the Litani River Authority, the CDR, relevant Ministries such as MoE and MoA, the Council of the South, Donors involved in the water sector, UN Agencies, local and international NGOs, and else. This information covers all what is available to date about  Water governance and tariffs of the four WEs.  Available updated data about rainfall, population count and growth, water needs  Available water resources and water balance by sector, for each WE NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2020 I - iii  Status of the production, treatment, conveying and distribution systems for drinking and irrigation water  Status of the collection, conveying, and treatment of sewage  Implemented and planned projects,  Status of large scale projects in progress such as dams, hill lakes, treatment plants, big water conveyors, …  Conducted hydrogeological and hydrological studies and other relevant studies,  Available regional water, wastewater, and irrigation master plans, It needs to be pointed out that at the present stage the collected data is not comprehensive and some information such as the construction dates and the conditions of the existing infrastructure (and else) is scarcely available. However, it gives an overall picture of the present status of the subjects covered under this report. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2020 I - iv Table of contents I 1 COMPREHENSIVE VISION AND OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................... 1 I 1.1 TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE AND INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF THE WATER SECTOR ................................................. 1 I 1.2 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................................ 2 I 1.3 PILLARS OF THE UPDATED NWSS ................................................................................................................... 3 I 1.3.1 Integrated Water Resources Management ................................................................................... 3 I 1.3.2 Users as key actors for implementing sustainable services ........................................................... 4 I 2 WATER GOVERNANCE: LEGAL, INSTITUTIONAL & FINANCIAL ANALYSIS ................................................. 8 I 3 WATER DEMAND CRITERIA AND ASSUMPTIONS FOR WATER SUPPLY AND IRRIGATION ....................... 31 I 3.1 GENERAL ................................................................................................................................................. 31 I 3.2 POPULATION AND GROWTH FACTOR ............................................................................................................. 31 I 3.3 POTABLE WATER DEMAND PER CAPITA .......................................................................................................... 32 I 3.4 METHODOLOGY AND CRITERIA USED FOR IRRIGATION WATER NEEDS ASSESSMENT ................................................. 33 I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS .......................................................................................................................... 39 I 4.1 GENERAL ................................................................................................................................................. 39 I 4.2 DAMS ..................................................................................................................................................... 39 I 4.3 WATER SUPPLY PROJECTS ........................................................................................................................... 43 I 4.4 WASTEWATER PROJECTS ............................................................................................................................ 44 I 4.5 IRRIGATION PROJECTS ................................................................................................................................ 44 I 4.5.1 Irrigation projects under SLWE jurisdiction ................................................................................. 44 I 4.5.2 Irrigation projects under NLWE jurisdiction ................................................................................ 45 I 4.5.3 Irrigation projects under BMLWE jurisdiction ............................................................................. 46 I 4.5.4 Irrigation projects under BWE jurisdiction .................................................................................. 46 I 4.5.5 Rationale for Project Selection .................................................................................................... 47 I 4.5.6 Irrigable land ............................................................................................................................... 47 I 4.5.7 Water requirements for irrigation ............................................................................................... 48 I 4.5.8 Prioritized Projects and Cost Estimate ......................................................................................... 49 I 5 ENVIRONMENTAL RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................. 51 I 5.1 GENERAL ................................................................................................................................................. 51 I 5.2 SEA METHODOLOGY & LEGAL STEPS .............................................................................................................. 51 I 5.3 SEA SCOPE .............................................................................................................................................. 53 I 6 WASTEWATER EFFLUENT AND SLUDGE MANAGEMENT AND REUSE .................................................... 54 I 6.1 GENERAL ................................................................................................................................................. 54 I 6.2 WASTEWATER REUSE ................................................................................................................................. 54 I 6.2.1 Relevant National standards and guidelines ............................................................................... 54 I 6.2.2 Relevant International guidelines and standards ........................................................................ 54 I 6.3 SLUDGE REUSE .......................................................................................................................................... 55 I 6.3.1 Relevant national standards and guidelines ............................................................................... 55 I 6.3.2 Relevant international standards and guidelines ........................................................................ 56 I 6.4 RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................................. 56 I 6.5 MONITORING SYSTEM ................................................................................................................................ 57 I 6.5.1 Performance Monitoring for Treated Wastewater Discharged into Surface Waters .................. 57 I 6.5.2 Performance Monitoring for Treated Wastewater Reuse ........................................................... 57 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2020 I - v I 6.5.3 Monitoring Characteristics of Processed Sludge ......................................................................... 57 I 7 SURFACE WATER MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT .......................................................................... 58 I 8 GROUNDWATER RESOURCES MONITORING MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT ............................... 62 I 8.1 GENERAL ................................................................................................................................................. 62 I 8.2 STRATEGIC RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GROUNDWATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT .................................................. 63 I 9 DECISIONS TO BE TAKEN BY THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS .................................................................... 67 I 10 SUMMARIES OF COST ESTIMATES ................................................................................................... 68 I 10.1 WATER GOVERNANCE ............................................................................................................................ 68 I 10.2 GROUNDWATER STUDIES COST ESTIMATE .................................................................................................. 75 I 10.3 CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS COSTS ESTIMATES .............................................................................................. 76 I 10.4 COST OF WATER AND WASTEWATER WORKS PER CAPITA ............................................................................... 78 List of Figures Figure I 1 Resource and service management chain ............................................................................... 2 Figure I 2The six strategic components ................................................................................................... 6 Figure I 3 Staffing status of the 4 WE’s ................................................................................................... 9 Figure I 4 General overview of WE’s staff ............................................................................................. 11 Figure I 5 Overview of WE staff qualifications ...................................................................................... 11 Figure I 6 Staff allocation per main Department ................................................................................... 12 Figure I 7 WE involvement according to current practice..................................................................... 14 Figure I 8 WE involvement according to Law 221 and the NWSS ......................................................... 16 Figure I 9 Proposed overall structure of the sector-monitoring framework ........................................ 17 Figure I 10 Population supplied v/s overall population ........................................................................ 18 Figure I 11 Estimated collection rate (2018) ......................................................................................... 20 Figure I 12 Existing irrigation schemes in lebanon ................................................................................ 36 Figure I 13 Recommended studies, networks expansion and IHIS implementation timescale ............ 60 Figure I 14 Time Scale of the Recommended studies for the preparation of the drought mitigation plan and rainwater harvesting program ....................................................................................................... 61 Figure I 15 Detailed Activities to be performed .................................................................................... 65 Figure I 16 Detailed Activities to be performed (continued) ................................................................ 66 List of Tables Table I 1 Summary of the Strategic Components ................................................................................... 7 Table I 2 Percentage of WEs permanent staff by categories ................................................................ 12 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2020 I - vi Table I 3 Overview of the WE’s ............................................................................................................. 18 Table I 4 Annual water tariff for a 1 m³/day subscription ..................................................................... 19 Table I 5 Status of Water meters in WE’ ............................................................................................... 19 Table I 6 Yearly sewage fee (LBP) .......................................................................................................... 20 Table I 7 Typical baseline scenario for financial recovery of WE's ........................................................ 22 Table I 8 Results of the typical scenario if applied to WE’s over 8 years period ................................... 23 Table I 9 Priority and short term Action Plan ........................................................................................ 25 Table I 10- Priority Action Plan for Financial Sustainability .................................................................. 29 Table I 11 Status of currently considered dams. ................................................................................... 39 Table I 12 List of selected dams in the NWSS 2020 .............................................................................. 42 Table I 13 Irrigated areas in Lebanon .................................................................................................... 48 Table I 14 Irrigation water needs .......................................................................................................... 48 Table I 15 Irrigation projects Cost Estimates......................................................................................... 50 Table I 16 SEA Process Components .................................................................................................... 51 Table I 17 Summary of required Water Governance studies ................................................................ 68 Table I 18 Cost Estimate of Legal and Regulatory Framework Reform Studies .................................... 72 Table I 19 Cost estimates for meteorological, hydrometric studies ..................................................... 73 Table I 20 Groundwater Management Studies Cost Estimate .............................................................. 75 Table I 21 Consolidated projects cost estimates, by WE ...................................................................... 76 Table I 22 Consolidated projects cost estimates, by Sector .................................................................. 77 Table I 23 Ratio of projects cost per capita ........................................................................................... 78 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2020 I - vii LIST OF ACRONYMS Bm³ Billion cubic meter BMLWE Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Establishment BWE Bekaa Water Establishment CDR Council for Development and Reconstruction CM Customer Management EIB European Investment Bank EU European Union HR Human resources IFRS International Financial Reporting Standards IWMI International Water Management Institute l/c/d Liters per capita per day l/sec Liters per second LBP Lebanese Pound m³/d Cubic meter per day m³/h Cubic meter per hour masl Meters above sea level MCM Million cubic meter MENA Middle East and North Africa region Mm³ Million cubic meter MoA Ministry of Agriculture MoE Ministry of Environment MoEW Ministry of Energy and Water NGO Non-Governmental Organization NLWE North Lebanon Water Establishment NRW Non Revenue Water (unaccounted for water) NWSS National Water Sector Strategy ONL Office National du Litani NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2020 I - viii SLWE South Lebanon Water Establishment UFW Unaccounted for Water UN United Nations WE Water Establishment WEs Water Establishments WES Water Establishments NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 1 Comprehensive vision and objectives May 2020 I - 1 I 1 COMPREHENSIVE VISION AND OBJECTIVES I 1.1 TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE AND INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF THE WATER SECTOR The updated NWSS is aligned with the national water sector strategy of 2012. It takes into account adoption of the Water Code (law 77/2018) and its structuring principles, which are in turn in line with the water sector structure as defined by Law 221/2000 and its amendments. Developed in the context of the new Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular Goal 6, which aims to ensure access to water and sanitation for all, the updated NWSS is based on the following targets: 6.1 By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all; 6.2 By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations; 6.3 By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally; 6.4 By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity; 6.5 By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate; 6.6 By 2030, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes. In order to meet these ambitious objectives, the structuring vision of the strategy is based on strengthening integrated water resources management. Integrated Water Resources Management is a process that promotes the coordinated development and management of water, in order to maximise economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems and the environment. It takes into account the large water cycle and the interdependence between all water uses. It is thus a cross-sector policy approach designed to replace the traditional fragmented sector-based approach to water resources and management that has led to poor services and unsustainable resource use. This integrated water resources management-based strategic approach requires a paradigm shift. For years, sector development has focused on an infrastructure-based approach. This approach has led to:  Sector monitoring that focuses on infrastructure rather than on users' access to services and service quality;  Significant gaps between the infrastructure developed and actual and sustainable access to the service; NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 1 Comprehensive vision and objectives May 2020 I - 2  No anticipation of the facilities' operating and maintenance costs in the design and construction phase;  Little consideration being paid to the technical and financial capacities of the service operator when designing the facilities. Planning sustainable access to integrated water resources management means that infrastructure must be re-positioned as part of a more comprehensive system and not as an objective in itself. This requires taking the three links that make up the resource and service management chain into account: Figure I 1 Resource and service management chain I 1.2 OBJECTIVES The general objective of this strategy, which plans the next 15 years of the water sector up to 2035, is to structure and develop sustainable water services in order to improve people's living conditions. The achievement of the strategy's overall objective is based on the following specific objectives:  Build an operational and sustainable legal and institutional framework to ensure a proper management of the water sector allowing the development of sustainable and efficient services.  Develop financing tools for the sector to set-up financial mechanisms allowing the sustainability and the financial balance of the services.  Involve all actors in the service chain and establish sustainable mechanisms for collaboration and coordination to improve the sector monitoring and transparency. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 1 Comprehensive vision and objectives May 2020 I - 3 I 1.3 PILLARS OF THE UPDATED NWSS I 1.3.1 Integrated Water Resources Management Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is the main background framework of the strategy. IWRM has several implementation principles that are included as core principles of the Water Code (law 77/2018) and its anticipated revision. These principles are:  The principle of equity Equitable treatment of all categories of the population, including the right of access to water and sanitation for all;  The principle of subsidiarity Which aims to encourage resource mobilisation and user participation at the lowest possible level, to develop skills to enable greater decentralisation of decision-making, to discourage centralised structures or monopolies from retaining full responsibility for the management of the country's water resources;  The principle of information According to which everyone has the right to be informed of the state of water resources and to participate in consultations and procedures prior to decisions being taken that are likely to have adverse effects on these resources;  The principle of planning and participation Which aims to increase the involvement of users and partners in all water resources planning and management processes, while at the same time achieving transparency in decision-making and better implementation of joint decisions;  The principle of sustainable development According to which water resources management must meet the environmental needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs;  The principle of water management at river basin level Which is being used in some countries instead of administrative units as the framework for planning and management/protection of water resources, coherently integrating all components of the natural water cycle and all its uses, including upstream/downstream relationships. In Lebanon's case, water management at river basin level will be applied at a technical level, but shall not replace the current administrative and institutional framework within which the Lebanese water sector is functioning.  The principle of cooperation According to which public authorities, international institutions, development partners, civil society and users contribute in an organised way to the management and protection of water resources; NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 1 Comprehensive vision and objectives May 2020 I - 4  The precautionary principle Which refers to preventive measures taken to avoid or reduce any risk of water resources pollution or any threat to water resources when planning or carrying out activities that may have an impact on this natural environment and the communities that depend on it;  The polluter-pays principle According to which the polluter should be charged for expenses relating not only to action taken to combat water pollution but also to preventive measures taken by the public authorities;  The user-pays principle Which includes a set of defined rules that allow water consumption to be priced according to qualitative and quantitative uses;  The principle of responsibility Which determines how society, individuals, and operators/WE's must assume their rights and duties with regard to water resources. This responsibility must be exercised by ensuring that current and future uses do not cause damage to the resource. I 1.3.2 Users as key actors for implementing sustainable services IWRM overlaps with the human rights-based approach to development and the combination of the two approaches, linked to the SDGs, tends to place the user at the heart of the strategy. Furthermore, the Water Code recognises "the principles of water law", namely sustainable water management and the right to water and sanitation. It is therefore necessary to ensure water conservation and water distribution to the entire population and all production sectors. This implies defining a strategy that is not based on objectives expressed in terms of the number of facilities to be built, but on objectives related to sustainable access to the water services for users. On the one hand, this starts with user consumption and, on the other, it involves making these users responsible and identifying them as key actors in the functioning of the service. The implementation of the strategy will therefore be based on a consumption-based approach in order to:  Ensure access to the water service across socio-economic groups and different types of user throughout the country without geographical imbalance;  Ensure equity in the distribution of water services;  Send price signals to users about the relationship between water use and water scarcity. And, as a knock-on effect:  Improve facilities maintenance;  Ensure transparency of the utilities' operations;  Ensure better monitoring and management of service quality and the regulation of these services. The incentive nature of the system seeks to make as much of the population as possible aware that the service provided by WE's is more appropriate to their needs. To implement such system, effective NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 1 Comprehensive vision and objectives May 2020 I - 5 communication mechanisms will need to be set up to provide information to the population concerned. Thus, IEC (Information, Education, Communication) will be an essential component for implementing this strategy. IEC actions are not only necessary for applying the principle of beneficiary empowerment, but also for building ownership of the strategy principles by each of the actors and for improving the distribution of roles. In particular, each actor will:  Need to be properly informed of their position in the sector's organisation;  Need to be aware of the positioning of the other actors, in particular the users and the local contracting authority;  Contribute to providing information and training to other actors in order to help them to fully play their role, and to acquire the necessary capacities. The information related to the strategy will thus target all communities in order to raise their awareness of the essential role the strategy allocates to users. It will also target other sector actors (NGOs, for example) in order to clarify the new positions to be adopted as a result of the sector reform. Such a positioning implies also a reorganisation of the pricing system which requires compliance with several principles. On the consumer side, it requires that the polluter-pays, user-pays and beneficiary responsibility principles be respected. On the provider side, this system requires compliance with the principles of transparency and accountability. Ultimately, the implementation of this system will establish a better balance between water supply and water consumption within a regulated and monitored framework. Through developing the social equity principle, it will be possible to implement the two other core principles of IWRM, which are economic efficiency and environmental sustainability. Developing consumption power will help re establish a virtuous circle for water services: first, the access to, quality and efficiency of the service will be improved; and second, profitability for both users and providers will ensure the service's sustainability. In other words, this system seeks to reconcile efficiency and equity. The principles of user pays, polluter pays, and the role of the WE's are all identified in the Water Code. Six (6) strategic components have been identified to achieve a sustainable and integrated management of the water sector. They constitute the strategic components that structure the Updated Water Sector Strategy as summarized in the figure below. Details are given in the table that follows. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 1 Comprehensive vision and objectives May 2020 I - 6 Figure I 2The six strategic components NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 1 Comprehensive vision and objectives May 2020 I - 7 Table I 1 Summary of the Strategic Components Strategic Component Specific Objectives Sector Governance A.1 Implement the legal and regulatory framework reform (Water Code) A.2 Rationalize the tutelage framework with a view for clear dispatching between operational and regulatory activities A.3 Develop proper mechanisms for performance monitoring Financial and Commercial B.1 Conduct a customer and user census B.2 Implement consumption-based tariffs for the water service B.3 Revise the tariff structure for sanitation services B.4 Revise the tariff structure for irrigation Reporting and Monitoring C.1 Enhance sector monitoring C.2 Enhance sector transparency C.3 Enhance sector coordination C.4 Enhance communication with users Capacity-Building D.1 Strengthen the MoEW monitoring capacities D.2 Streamline and structure WE internal organization and management O&M of Facilities and Services E.1 Improve operating cost control E.2 Enhance private sector involvement E.3 Adopt a shared wastewater management framework Service Coverage F.1 Enhance water service coverage F.2 Enhance wastewater service coverage F.3 Structure the irrigation service NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 8 I 2 WATER GOVERNANCE: LEGAL, INSTITUTIONAL & FINANCIAL ANALYSIS In Lebanon, water supply falls under the jurisdiction of 4 public Water Establishments (WE’s) (North Lebanon, Beqaa, Beirut mount Lebanon, South Lebanon) each enjoying a certain degree of autonomy under the tutelage of the Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW). Water sector governance is faced with a very challenging situation that affects the various areas of the sector management. In general, the performance of the four WE’s does not match the admitted standards for public utilities, with water shortages facing customers in several areas including the modern downtown Beirut. The financial situation is also difficult and alarming in some cases where MoEW is requested to provide an equilibrium subsidy. This is accompanied with a lack of transparency, unreliable accounting books, and poor management of financial and technical data. Such instability in reporting varies from one WE to the other. To address the sector’s challenging situation, it is crucial (i) to build an operational and sustainable institutional framework to ensure a proper management of the water sector allowing the development of sustainable and efficient services, (ii) to develop financing tools for the sector to set-up financial mechanisms allowing the sustainability and the financial balance of the services and (iii) to involve all actors in the service chain and establish sustainable mechanisms for collaboration and coordination to improve the sector monitoring and transparency. Challenges of the water sector and recommended actions are summarized here below. Challenge 1: Status of Human Resources at WE’s and MoEW a. MoEW is understaffed and lacks qualified management and technical staff able to supervise properly the activity of WE's and to ensure the overall sector management. b. Understaffing is also a recurrent issue at all WE's that is often highlighted as the key factor behind the WE's lack of operational capacity and their low levels of service. c. There are large gaps between the number of staff specified in the WE's and MoEW's organizational decrees and the number of positions occupied. d. An average of 26% of the positions defined in the decrees are filled by permanent staff within the four WE's (20% for NLWE, 37% for BMLWE, 23% for BWE, and 12% for SLWE). By adding the temporary staff that are recruited to fill some critical positions, the sum of permanent and temporary staff combined covers only 50% of the planned positions (49% in NLWE, 51% in SLWE, and 52% in BWE). NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 9 Figure I 3 Staffing status of the 4 WE’s e. The above numbers do not include the number of staff working for the WE's' subcontractors (under Ghob Talab projects); including them could narrow the staffing gap and reduce the apparent need for mass recruitment within the WE's. f. The number of staff does not reflect the performance of WE: it is important to analyze the qualification of existing staff to better understand possibilities of improving performance of existing staff or the necessity to recruit more qualified personal. g. Employees are assigned several tasks that do not correspond to their initial training or specialization, including management functions to employees that do not have the required profiles, thus creating a poor working environment that directly affects efficiency and performance. h. The current recruitment of temporary staff poses challenges around the sustainability of their position and highlights the difference in financial status as compared to permanent staff. i. According to law 221/2000, WE's have the mandate of managing the wastewater and irrigation systems, but their current organizational charts do not include these services which means that, not only are they already understaffed for delivering water supply services but they also have to provide two other challenging services. j. They need to outsource some of their tasks to private operators, but lack an efficient and effective contracting framework and internal technical skills to properly supervise private operators. k. Funding agencies (donors and NGO's) provide temporary technical assistance to build MoEW's and the WE's capacities on specific tasks, but these agencies do not implicate themselves in financing permanent staff or any type of employment at the level of MoEW and the WE's. Actions to overcome Challenge 1: The capacity-building of the water institutions is fundamental to the future of the sector. There is no point in planning activities or investments if the sector does not have the human and technical resources required to implement them. It is a cross-cutting challenge that should be addressed by several priority initiatives: NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 10 a. To fill the staffing gaps within the different WE's departments and within MoEW, an authorization to recruit permanent staff is required. The no-recruitment policy means that the initial thinking behind the water institutions' organizational decrees needs to be reviewed. b. If MoEW and the WE's are given the opportunity to recruit permanent staff in the short term, they will conduct an in-depth analysis of the skills of their permanent staff and prioritize recruitment according to the identified crucial and essential gaps and needs. It will also inform the work required to structure technical assistance and capacity-building actions, and identify legal or regulatory measures to enable the WE's to improve service operation. c. Analysis of indicators such as i) staff categories (knowing that categories 1 to 3 have management responsibilities, and categories 4 and 5 are task execution teams), ii) the main profiles, positions and tasks of permanent and temporary staff, and iii) qualifications and position of engineers, will enable a general analysis of MoEW and the WE's' situation and help define strategic orientations for their development and for service management improvements. d. The objective is not to achieve the staff volumes set out in the organizational decrees but to review these decrees, which are outdated and no longer aligned to the water institutions' mission or to the opportunities for developing service management in the coming years. e. Currently, the WE's are delegating the management of specific services to the private sector (through Ghob Talab projects) and redirecting their focus on contract management, but this also requires staff that specialize in managing performance-based contracts and that have the technical skills to supervise and monitor private operators. f. The recruitment of engineers and staff with business management degrees is crucial in order to develop a customer service oriented strategy and to improve service management. g. It would be more efficient to include less detail in the organizational decrees brought forward for adoption by the Council of Ministers, but instead set out the main orientations to give the water establishments the ability to develop their organization charts in line with their evolving needs. h. The Litani River Authority's organization chart has never been formalized by a Council of Ministers decree. However, this allows the LRA to adapt its structure to new projects or new tasks without causing any major obstacles. This approach provides greater flexibility and should be used to inform the review of the WE organizational decrees. i. A cell within the Ministry of Energy and Water and more particularly within the Minister's Office should be created to follow up on the implementation of all the strategy recommendations and action plans in the field of water governance, water and wastewater tarrification, and the administrative reforms. This cell would be composed of one legal and institutional expert, one water and wastewater expert, a dams' expert, an irrigation expert, one financial analyst, and one public administration expert. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 11 Figure I 4 General overview of WE’s staff Figure I 5 Overview of WE staff qualifications NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 12 Figure I 6 Staff allocation per main Department Table I 2 Percentage of WEs permanent staff by categories Percentage of permanent staff Category NLWE BMLWE BWE SLWE 1 and 2 11 % 5 % 2 % 4 % 3 and 4 84 % 94 % 96 % 85 % Challenge 2: The legal framework The current legal framework is composed of 4 main legal documents: i) the Ottoman decision number 320/1920, ii) decision number 144/S/1920, iii) the sector's organizing law 221/2000 and its amendments, and iv) the Water Code law 77/2018 and its amendment currently being under revision. The main features of these decisions and laws are as follows: 1. On the institutional level, law 221 of 29 May 2000 and its amendments had identified and specified the prerogatives of the MoEW and the WEs. 2. On the legal level, the legal provisions of the Arrêtés laws 144/1925 and 320/1926 and of the Water Code promulgated by law 77 dated 13 April 2018 target the harmonization of the management of the water sector and take into account the international principles in this field. The Water Code of 2018 was ratified without taking into account the revisions made by the sub parliamentary committee. The revised version was completed in May 2020; it is therefore crucial to have the revised Code ratified soon to allow for its executive decrees to be drafted. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 13 Actions to overcome Challenge 2:  Law 77/2018 is currently on the agenda of the parliamentary commission of Public Works, Energy and Water, and is expected to be ratified by the Parliament in summer 2020.  It is a top priority to implement the reforms identified in the Water Code by preparing and adopting the decrees stated in it. Specific studies will need to be conducted for some decrees (such as the tariffs and fees regime), while others may be developed immediately after the Parliament's adoption of the latest version of the Water Code.  It is of high importance to draft the executive decrees to make the law implementable and clear.  The implementation of the Water Code requires several decrees to be adopted or reviewed, such as:  Decree on vested rights over water;  Composition and organisation of the National Water Council;  Preparation of planning in the water sector;  Operations subject to authorisations;  Tariffs and fees regime;  Public water service delegation types and arrangements;  Public utility services in flood-risk areas;  Prevention of water deficits;  Reuse of treated wastewater. Challenge 3: Tutelage, Administrative Supervision, Monitoring & Reporting in the Water Sector  The current tutelage framework is highly administrative, involves close supervision by the Ministry of Energy and Water over the water establishments and does not focus on monitoring their performance, leading the tutelage to suffer from a loss of purpose and effectiveness. On the one hand, the MoEW spends lot of time validating procedures that are almost part of the WE day-to day management, and on the other, WE's are constrained and restricted in their ability to develop their water establishment or manage their day-to-day affairs.  MoEW and the WE's have very limited capacities for producing technical reviews of projects or for monitoring actions across the entire sector and across the country, as there is no specific body dedicated to conduct this activity. As a consequence, the current sector data is incomplete and full of discrepancies and does not enable systematic monitoring.  The sector transparency is hampered by the lack reliable data communicated to users; this results in lack of trust from users in the water institutions (especially the WE's that are the service providers), and partly explains the low recovery rate of water bills.  The sector also suffers from lack of communication and coordination between its institutions leading to a dilution of responsibilities in the different segments of the services management.  For instance, large infrastructure projects are financed by donors through the Council for the Development and the Reconstruction, which contracts the private sector to carry out the work. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 14 WE's, who are the ultimate service providers, have little involvement in the project preparations and management. As a consequence, there is little consideration paid to the technical and financial capacities of the service operator (WE) when designing the facilities. In reality, the infrastructure project implementation framework is more as set out in the diagram below: Figure I 7 WE involvement according to current practice The donors provide technical assistance to the WE's and the Ministry of Energy and Water, who delegates the monitoring of works to the CDR that has a very large sphere of influence. WE's have very little influence and there is poor cooperation between the WE's and the CDR. Municipalities also appear to have an influence over project implementation, mostly because they are the main point of contact for users and are able to block projects should they wish. There is poor cooperation between the WE's and municipalities, and between the municipalities and the CDR. There is also poor communication between the WE's and the users (as described in previous chapters). Actions to overcome Challenge 3:  The creation of a monitoring department within the MoEW is a top priority. It is strategic to enhance the administrative supervision framework of MoEW by restructuring the Ministry's supervisory functions, focusing them on the WE's' performance monitoring. This framework development has to be carried out progressively through specific support provided to the MoEW and the WE. A specific legal assessment has to be carried out to specify the appropriate procedure to creating such a department. This would greatly improve transparency and coordination within the sector's institutions and enhance communication with users. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 15  The WE's organisational and operating decrees should be reviewed and directed towards defining guidelines for their internal organisation, restructuring specific procedures and progressively developing a framework for the WE's performance monitoring.  To reach these objectives, several actions should be undertaken as follows: a. Set up a unit to coordinate and supervise the implementation of the updated NWSS b. Set up a unit in charge of performance monitoring within the MoEW administrative supervision department, composed of internal administrative supervision department staff and trained on performance monitoring through a specific long-term technical assistance (TA) that will support the ministry and the WE with developing a shared WE performance monitoring framework. c. Standardize the structure of reports and audits. The TA will support the Ministry and the WE in structuring three types of reports:  Annual activity reports: Including the financial and business reports already prepared by the WE but which need to be standardised to enable the Ministry to cross-reference data and results.  Monthly activity reports: These are new and will be introduced with the aim of developing a culture of reporting and transparency on key activity and performance indicators.  Annual external audit and evaluation of WE: WE's should appoint an auditor at the end of the first year of the strategy, and that the monitoring and supervision TA will review the first reports and ToRs and will work to improve and standardize the initial framework. The annual WE external evaluation is a new provision that will be added to the administrative supervision decrees. The aim of this evaluation will be to review the activities implemented, identify bottlenecks and blockages, and produce recommendations for improving services and internal operating methods. d. Progressively develop a framework for performance monitoring within each WE. With the support of the dedicated technical assistance, MoEW and WE will progressively develop a shared framework for WE performance monitoring. The first step will involve assessing the monitoring capacities of each WE in order to define basic key performance indicators to be monitored, and to set targets for developing improved indicators within an achievable timeframe. Indicators will be reviewed and progressively developed after four years, in order to be able to set contractual KPI and establish performance-based contracts between the MoEW and the WE's.  To enhance transparency and proper communication, it is important to establish a unified database to include all sector monitoring data and ensure it is regularly updated (including the WE KPI): This database shall include all specific sector data on water resources, water quality, water uses, management of water, wastewater and irrigation services (as part of the WE KPI to collect and harmonize within this unified database managed by the Ministry), status of infrastructure projects and on financing tools of the sector.  Setting up an annual sector review involving the main local and international stakeholders and partners is a key element of transparency. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 16  Regular reporting (annual report, financial report, commercial report) will ensure a transparent flow of information between WE and MoEW through  Communication with users is a key element for service sustainability through assessing existing tools and communication strategies at MoEW and WE, while coordinating with other programs aiming to support the WE and MoEW in their communication with users.  A strong and clear coordination platform will be developed to improve the coordination between the CDR, MoEW and the WE's for all projects related to the water sector involving any of these institutions. This would avoid duplication of works and reduce the cost of investments and of O&M of the projects at hand.  The structuring and enhancement of the private sector involvement is a priority of this strategy and will start by reviewing existing contracts with private operators and developing a new contracting framework and performance-based contracts. Figure I 8 WE involvement according to Law 221 and the NWSS According to Law 221 and the National Water Sector Strategy, WE’s should play a central role in project planning and management, alongside MoEW & CDR. Under this arrangement, the donors finance the CDR and the Ministry, with the Ministry then providing guidance to both the WE’s and the CDR. The WE’s and CDR should be responsible for ensuring the infrastructure functions correctly by monitoring the private sector and by working with municipalities and communicating with users. The below graph shows the relationship that should be developed between stakeholders in order to achieve the reforms proposed in this strategy and in the Water Code. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 17 Figure I 9 Proposed overall structure of the sector-monitoring framework Challenge 4: The sector's financial and commercial framework  In the Financial field, the key issues refer to the absence of International Financial Reporting Standards for all WE’s together with an annual audit of the financial statements and ledgers by an international independent audit firm. Such a gap obstructs the transparency of financial statements and the ability of MoEW to properly monitor the utilities and fairly compare the WE's performances.  The current service pricing system is not adapted to the needs of the water establishments to ensure a financial balance and achieve basic performance in the service delivery across all sectors mandated by WE's (water, wastewater and irrigation).  The gauge system is inaccurate and produces side effects both on the technical side (no measurement of Non-Revenue Water and over consumption) and on the financial side (efforts made for keeping control of NRW is not financially rewarded). The gauge system and the associated flat rate billing system do not allow to spot the over consumption of water. Such systems lead to wasting of water and draining of the financial resources of the WE's. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 18 Table I 3 Overview of the WE’s NLWE BWE BMLWE SLWE Est. population of the service area 1 716 000 750 000 2 907 000 1 200 000 Nbr of villages 457 250 533 385 Nbr of subscribers/subscribed households (2018) 124 793 86 761 592 835 176000 Est. population supplied (est. 4.5 persons per HH) 561 569 390 425 2 667 758 792 000 Est. population tapping the water from unknown origin 1 154 432 (67 %) 359 576 (48 %) 239 243 (8 % ) 408 000 (34 %) Nbr of actual employees 637 403 782 236 Nbr of autonomous sub-systems 8 11 6 7 Est. length of the networks (km) 1 839 4 384 9 000 5 000 Est. Unaccounted for water (%) (1) 46 % 48 % 30 - 40 % 55 % Nbr of water meters 56 266 38 400 185 960 N/A Volume produced (Million m³/Y) 106 68 171 113 Est. collection rate 63 % 32 % 79 % 51 % Nbr of WWTP under the WE’s jurisdiction(2) 29 13 20 27 Note : (1) Unaccounted for water % as per verbal communication from the WE’s. (2) This is the total nbr of WWTP in service or currently under construction, that are located under the jurisdiction of the WE, and operated either directly by the WE, or by CDR, or other. Figure I 10 Population supplied v/s overall population NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 19  WE's have installed water meters in order to start implementing consumption-based tariffs but many are not read and the staff need training and support for the water meters' management.  Tariff level and tariff settings are set differently by each WE with high discrepancies among the 4 WE's. Such differences should be justified based on the operating models of the WE's (gravity supply v.s water pumping, treatment v.s. spring water), but they are not. In addition, the billing computation corresponding to water meters differs from one WE to the other. Table I 4 Annual water tariff for a 1 m³/day subscription Table I 5 Status of Water meters in WE’  On the Commercial side, customers' databases (for the drinking water services) are not comprehensive and WE's deal with a large gap between the number of official customers (listed in the databases) and the actual population tapping from the network. The current situation demonstrates that lot of households/dwellings are supplied from unknown origins and this refers to private wells or multiple connections, or even wrong allocation within the database down to illegal connections. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 20 Figure I 11 Estimated collection rate (2018)  Users' databases for the wastewater management services have not been developed yet. Users of the services need to be identified and registered in specific databases as in some regions not all users of wastewater services (households connected to sewage networks and ultimately to treatment plants) are subscribers to the water service of water establishments. Table I 6 Yearly sewage fee (LBP) According to the Water Code, a wastewater fee must be paid by non-connected houses to the sewage network as a sort of “pollution tax” for damaging the environment. Today the WE’s are charging the fees shown in the above table but this fee is not sufficient to cover the O&M of wastewater systems. Such fee has to be elaborated soon to become proportional to the water actual consumption. The pollution tax for non-subscribers would be a low tax when a properly designed septic tank exists and high when such a system does not exist. Actions to overcome Challenge 4: Improving collection rates and financial performances of the WE's, restructuring the general billing system and the water-meter readings are crucial and require the following specific actions: 1. The top priority is to bridge the gap between the number of official customers as existing in the various customer databases and the actual population tapping from the network. The main recommendation is to conduct a customer census campaign (each WE in its jurisdiction) to detect and attract potential new customers and include them in the customer database and NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 21 billing system. Expected output is to increase revenues of the WE's with no real additional operating cost and to reduce the commercial losses. A comparison with EDL's customer database could be a starting point for such a clean-up. 2. Working on increasing the number of subscriptions and the collection rates through an intensive communication plan at national level. Financial reforms and changes in the water tariff, in addition to increasing the collection rates, should be accompanied with a communication campaign, reaching out to local citizens, informing them about the importance of paying their dues for the sustainability of the WE's services, encouraging those who are not subscribed to legalize their status, motivating them to save on water and to installing water meters. 3. To complement the second step, and to encourage citizens further, a financial plan needs to be set by the WE's to have arrears, subscriptions and fees settled in periodic instalments. 4. Introducing wastewater fee proportionally to the water consumed and defining a specific wastewater fee for households that are not subscribing to the WE's are very important steps required today especially that WE's will take over all operational WWTP's in 2020 or 2021. 5. Eventually, a new category of customers targeting big consumers (Industrials, Hotels, others to be identified) should be gradually introduced with specific tariff level. Possibly introduce blocks of tariffs with specific rate; the rationale being that first block of tariff is low and increasing gradually with increased consumption. 6. Not only should revenues increase, but also expenses should decrease as well as the cost of water production and wastewater treatment.  To decrease the cost of water supply, removal of illegal connections, reduction of technical losses and optimization of the cost of production are required. For this reason, work should be done with involved ministries and institutions and the Government's approval on this action plan is crucial in order to effectively enforce the law; in parallel implementation of district meters and eventually household water meters to reduce technical losses and minimize costs should start immediately.  To decrease the cost of wastewater treatment, the minimum requirements for that purpose were estimated. At the same time, the types of contracts with private operators should be upgraded to PBC to optimize performance and cost of service. Note that an assessment of all existing WWTP's is being conducted to identify the gaps obstructing their full performance, the actions required and the estimated cost of their rehabilitation/upgrading. If these reforms can be achieved, the immediate increase of tariff might be avoided for the time being especially that Lebanon is passing through a dire economic and financial situation. Taking BMLWE as an example, it shows that their collection rate reaches 70%, allowing them to invest in Dam construction and other big water supply projects, which implies that the real problem at the WE's is more a rate of collection and high UFW than an inadequate tariff. The above action points are priority and major elements towards a sustainable management and to achieving financial stability. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 22 Sustainability of service delivery and proper management of the water sector is a medium term process expected not to take less than 3 years. The adoption of the updated NWSS, the ratification of the revised Water Code (law number 192/2020), the technical assistance programs financed and supervised by different Donors, the most imminent of which being the AFD/EU program and USAID’s WSC program (starting in 2021/2022), and with the willingness and involvement of the WE's, progress towards a sustainable management of services will surely happen. For the wastewater management, users of the services need to be identified and registered in specific databases. It is essential to be able to cross-reference the database of subscribers to the WE's with the database of users of wastewater services. A specific system of pricing and collection of the sanitation fee will have to be applied to those who are not yet WE's subscribers. In parallel, a nationwide awareness raising communication campaign should be conducted and Key Performance Indicators set for proper monitoring of progress. At that point, it will be possible to have a solid water metering system across the country, a socially fair and financially adequate tariff to include water and wastewater services, and an optimized volume of non-revenue water adequate. Then, the objective will be to introduce water meters on a large scale targeting 100% of households by the end of 2035. Any increase in the Water tariff, the application of a Wastewater tariff, or a change in the tariff structure should be economically justified and would require the enforcement of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) concept and the introduction of an annual audit carried out by an independent firm of international reputation. Table I 7 Typical baseline scenario for financial recovery of WE's Scenarios 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Subscribers increase rate 1% 30% 20% 10% 5% 4% 3% 3% Volume billed increase rate 1% 20% 20% 10% 10% 5% 4% 4% Average tariff increase rate 0% 30% 20% 10% 5% 5% 5% 5% Collection rate increase rate 1% 5% 15% 10% 10% Operating cost increase rate 1% 2% 2% 1% 1% The above table is a theoretical but possible scenario of the targets that should be set by the WE’s to reach a positive balance. This scenario tackles the increase in subscriptions, reduce non- revenue water (through the customer census and district metering) and the increase of the tariff accordingly. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 23 Table I 8 Results of the typical scenario if applied to WE’s over 8 years period WE Est. Additional customers in % over 8 years Increase of the tariff in % over 8 years Collection rate In % From - To SLWE 99% 109% 52% - 77% NLWE 111% 76% 58% - 85% BWE 171% 117% 39% - 67% BMLWE 125% 93% 61% - 90% All these targets are illustrative only and the final packaging might be different, including keeping moderate tariff level but increasing the number of metered connections and collection rate. Challenge 5: Operation and maintenance of facilities and services The operation and maintenance of facilities and services are key factors for developing the sector and strengthening the sustainability of services. Three main axes form the basis for the proper and sustainable management of facilities and provision of services:  The high operating cost control: The high energy bill is the main burden on the operating cost of facilities  The private sector involvement WE already have contracts with private operators for facilities operation but they lack an efficient and effective contracting framework and internal technical skills to supervise properly private operators.  The fragmented wastewater management framework This is a challenge on its own and a high priority for the sector sustainability. All main stakeholders agree on the institutional framework that is based on the responsibility of WE for managing wastewater system. However, the effective framework for wastewater management is not clear and needs to be refined. Several actors may be involved in wastewater management (WE's, municipalities, and private operators) but the process of identifying modalities of involvement and the financing method still needs to be defined. Actions to overcome Challenge 5:  Developing a specific strategy to control the energy costs of the facilities  Defining guidelines to ensure that design of facilities is adapted to the capacity to cover operating costs and provide proper maintenance.  Structuring and enhancement of the private sector involvement by reviewing existing contracts with private operators and developing a new contracting framework and performance-based contracts  Identifying the activities to be outsourced and the outsourcing arrangements to be adopted  Expanding the use of performance-based contracts when recruiting private operators NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 24  Adopting a shared wastewater management framework: A specific study should be carried out to:  Analyse the current wastewater facilities management arrangements and wastewater financing tools (fee added to the water bill, municipal tax, etc.),  Conduct a full cycle analysis for each wastewater system currently operational,  Set benchmarks from successful frameworks used in Lebanon and abroad,  Coordinate with WE, MoEW, CDR, donors and partners to conduct joint discussions,  Propose scenarios and an overall framework for wastewater facilities management and propose financial arrangements for O&M (in coordination with the tariff study that will be carried out in the framework of the water metering development). It shall be noted that the financial stability of WE's is strongly impacted by the current crisis:  The collection rate of the water bill has drastically dropped since November 2019;  The WE's have to deal with serious financial and administrative obstacles to the purchase of consumables that are necessary for operating facilities (fuel oil, chlorine, etc.);  If the crisis persists throughout the year 2020, WE's will no longer be able to cover the wages of permanent staff. Table l 9 below represents the detailed Priority and Short Term Action Plan, the associated activities for the reform of the Water Sector and the timeline for implementation. This Action Plan extends over a period of 5 years, and will be implemented with the help of technical assistance programs financed by Donors of the Water Sector, starting with AFD's (Agence Française de Développement) Long Term Technical Assistance programme over a period of 4 years as of September 2020. Table I 10 identifies the list of required priority and complementary actions for financial sustainability to cover all the aspects of the water sector's reform activities. The budgets estimates of these complementary studies together with other studies, and other plans such as the surface and groundwater management that should be conducted simultaneously with the priority and short term Action Plan in order to implement reforms and abide by the requirements of the legal, institutional and infrastructures frameworks of this updated NWSS 2020 are listed in Sub Section I 10.1. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 25 Table I 9 Priority and short term Action Plan NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 26 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 27 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 28 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 29 Table I 10- Priority Action Plan for Financial Sustainability Priority Estimated duration Rationale, objectives & comments Customer Database Management Conduct an experimental Customer census in 2 test areas in parallel, one rural and one urban High 3 months (depending on the size of the zone to be explored) There is a gap to bridge between the estimated population and the number of connections officially recorded in the customer data base. Such gap is also obvious when making a comparison between the water sector (WE’s) and the energy sector (EDL), the latest being well above the first one. As a conclusion, there is a great deal of chance that many customers are tapping the water from the network for free. The objective is to establish and test a methodology for systematic customer census, including i) comparison with EDL customer database, ii) liaising with WE’s for transforming illegal / unknown customers into legal ones immediately and iii) set the billing cycle for the areas and facilitate the settlement of arrears of the account receivables. Such exercise will give valuable indications for a national systematic customer census. Conduct a National customer census in the 4 WE’s High 2 years Based on the results of the customer census in test areas, carry out a systematic national customer census. The phasing of this survey should be thoroughly defined. Such counting is to be accompanied with a refurbishment of the connection works. This requires appointing contractors to fix connections according to standards on the spot and install individual water meters for all new customers. Streamline the water-meter readings and billing procedures Medium 4 months In Lebanon, a lot of meters are not read and the billing system of water meters is different from one WE to the other. Therefore, the idea is to appoint a consultant to streamline the tariffication system for water and wastewater and conduct training on this particular issue. The objective is to produce a standard tariff grid for the 4 WE’s but not a standard unique tariff level. Financial and Accounting Systems Appoint a chartered accountant firm to introduce IFRS accounting standards common to the 4 WE’s. High 3 years Such technical assistance will help introduce the IFRS and possibly to select a unique accounting software package compatible with the customer management software of each WE. Appoint an Auditing firm to certify the WE’s annual financial statements Medium To be appointed on an annual basis Once financial statements become in line with IFRS, auditors should be appointed to conduct the annual auditing of the financial books. Water Metering Systems Enhancing the Water Metering System across the country High 6 years The objective is to build a system able to measure the water flow at the various stages (production, transport and distribution) with a view for targeting 100% of the connections metered by year 2026. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 2 Water Governance: Legal, Institutional & Financial Analysis May 2020 I - 30 Priority Estimated duration Rationale, objectives & comments Metering at Production level High 1 year Establish a plan for installing production water meters in all the catchments and water sources (springs, wells, boreholes, water treatments plants). Introduce a close monitoring system of the water abstracted from the various sources. District metering 2 Years Establish a plan for installing district meters in the water networks of the 4 WE’s and monitor the situation as well as the functioning of the system. Introduce leak detection campaigns. Metering at the Customer level 6 years In parallel with the customer census, generalize the water meters and progressively drop the gauge system which is technically obsolete and financially counterproductive. Reporting Mechanisms Produce a standard annual report covering the technical, financial, commercial, personnel and organizational aspects High 6 months Appoint a consultant to design the standard annual report of the WE’s. Disseminate and socialize the report among the management of the WE’s. Such exercise is a buildup process which should be progressively introduced while taking into consideration progress made by the WE’s in the various field (Customer management, finance, accounting, technical etc.) Such standard document is to be produced upon request of the Minister and shall be revised by the WE’s board. Key performance Indicators (KPI) High 1 year Introduce progressively the key performance indicators as a must for proper management of the utility and a formal requirement of the line minister. The Information Technology System Address the IT problems of the various WE’s and High 3 months Appoint a consultant for the provision of:  Analyzing the current situation of the 4 WE’s  Assess the possibility / feasibility of a unique centralized system.  Define the main specifications and functionalities  Prepare a cost estimate. Install a common central integrated data center at the level of the MoEW with free access for the WE’s and the ministry High 1 year A central database system should be installed at MoEW to form the hub of all the data and an area for information sharing. This database should be updated on a daily basis in strong coordination with the WE’s (data such as implemented projects, water quality monitoring and analysis, wastewater analysis, existing projects, proposed projects and master plans…) NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 3 Water demand criteria and assumptions for water supply and irrigation May 2020 I - 31 I 3 WATER DEMAND CRITERIA AND ASSUMPTIONS FOR WATER SUPPLY AND IRRIGATION I 3.1 GENERAL Updating the NWSS aims at identifying the projects that should be implemented to fill the gap between what has been implemented and what remains to be executed to cover the needs of the population in terms of drinking water, wastewater, and water for irrigation. The strategy is targets the projected needs in year 2035. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the future number of populations and needs per capita at an acceptable level of accuracy in order to identify relevant solutions and propose cost effective projects. As reliable statistics on the population count and projection are not available in Lebanon to date, the criteria given in this section are based on the previous experience of all the Consultants who contributed to this strategy. Those figures may not be the exact values of water demand, but they can be considered close enough to form a solid basis for the purpose of this strategy. I 3.2 POPULATION AND GROWTH FACTOR The current figures number for year 2020 are given in the water balance tables of APPENDIX IV.3, under Section IV C of the volume IV, and they are extracted from recent studies collected from various sources. As the population varies from winter to summer (mainly in rural areas), the figures given are for summer season where available. It is not possible to establish a population growth factor based on reliable data about population count because this data is not available. Therefore, the growth factor has to be estimated based on past experience, common practice and scattered field surveys. The NWSS 2012 has estimated the growth factor at 1.75 %, which is a relatively high figure. Recent field surveys1 covering a number of municipalities have shown that the demographic growth factor is much lower than that estimated in the NWSS 2012. Moreover, in a number of rural municipalities, the growth factor appeared to be negative. This may be due to the fact that those surveyed areas are getting close to saturation or affected by emigration or some kind of "rural exodus". It is therefore realistic to consider a slightly lower factor for urban and rural areas. For the period 2020-2035, we shall consider the following Growth Factors for all of Lebanon except SLWE as follows:  In rural areas: 1.5% (slightly lower than what was considered in 2012)  In urban areas: 0.75% (one-point difference between 2020 and 2012 assumptions)  For the districts under the jurisdiction of SLWE, ongoing studies, supported by field investigations and surveys, have shown a tendency for the population to "return to their lands", probably due to 1 Bcharreh district; ELARD 2016 – Baadda Aley district; BTD 2018 – Kesrwan district; BTD 2019 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 3 Water demand criteria and assumptions for water supply and irrigation May 2020 I - 32 the stable socio-political conjecture. Therefore, a flat growth factor of 2% is used so that needs and gaps are coherent and consistent between the studies conducted by SLWE and the updated NWSS. I 3.3 POTABLE WATER DEMAND PER CAPITA WE's are installing more and more household water meters, but the areas covered are not large enough to be representative and the meters are not read on a regular basis. Therefore, there is a lack of large scale data on measured water consumption. Therefore, as long as water consumption is not metered and billed correctly, the strategy cannot be designed to meet the "water demand", but rather the realistic "water need". Ultimately, WE's aim to generalize water metering, to abolish illegal connections, and to reduce all types of Non-Revenue Water. Therefore, the water consumption in 2035 will certainly decrease. The water consumption figures adopted in the NWSS of 2012 having values of 180 l/c/d in urban and 160 l/c/d in rural zones are revised in this update. Therefore, we set the strategic target for 2035 as follows: Drinking water demand per capita in 2035 shall be:  Domestic consumption: 125 l/cap/day  Non-Domestic = 20 % of the domestic 25 l/cap/day 150 l/cap/day  Physical losses = 20 % of the total needs 50 l/cap/day Total needs 200 l/cap/day Wastewater flow per capita is calculated based on the following assumptions:  Produced wastewater flow = 80 % of the needs (excluding physical losses) = 120 l/cap/day  Infiltration = 10 % Assumptions governing the value of Domestic water consumption It is important to note that several important factors affect water consumption: 1. Quality of water: good quality water encourages water use. 2. Cost of water: high water cost will limit water consumption. 3. Water pressure: high water pressure will raise water consumption. 4. Weather conditions: hot and dry conditions favour water consumption. 5. Living standard: people with high living standards will consume at least two times more than those living in poor areas. 6. Size of town or city: theoretically, the daily per capita water consumption in a small village is less than that in a larger village or town, due to the higher incidence of gathering centres and other facilities with high water requirements. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 3 Water demand criteria and assumptions for water supply and irrigation May 2020 I - 33 7. Type of water connections: the average consumption per capita per day in households supplied through water gauges is 15% higher than that in households supplied through water meters (Nassar, 1993). This shows that water consumption is flexible and that pricing can be used as a very important factor to control water consumption (Frayha, 1992). The of water demand per household and per capita used in this strategy was reached according to the below criteria obtained from field surveys. BTD conducted a household survey on a number of housing units in an attempt to determine households' unit consumption by evaluating water quantities used during activities like showers, washing, flushing systems, laundry, dishwashing, cooking and drinking, house cleaning, plants watering, etc.. The average weekly water consumption per household was as follows:  Showers 1305 liters  Washing 609 liters  Flushing systems 1586.4 liters  Laundry 360 liters  Dishwashing 420 liters  Cooking and drinking 162.4 liters  House cleaning 240 liters.  Plants watering 300 liters TOTAL 4983 liters/week/household That is equivalent to 123 liters/day/capita, rounded to 125 liters/day/capita as was used for the purpose of this update. By a similar exercise, non-domestic water was evaluated in different types of buildings, and a value of 20% was considered sufficient to account for additional types of water consumption. I 3.4 METHODOLOGY AND CRITERIA USED FOR IRRIGATION WATER NEEDS ASSESSMENT The aim of this section is to give a clear picture of the water balance and irrigation infrastructure of each irrigation scheme. This results in setting prioritized projects and the corresponding investment plan until year 2035. Estimated Water Supply To calculate water balances, an estimation of water availability is crucial. The assessment of the irrigation water supply for each scheme entails the following activities:  Assessment of conventional water resources: rivers, minor springs exploited at one or few plots level, major springs captured and utilized by the Water Establishments and usually conveyed by public network, private and public wells used for irrigation or drilled in agricultural lands; NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 3 Water demand criteria and assumptions for water supply and irrigation May 2020 I - 34  Assessment of unconventional water availability: from wastewater treated effluents (existing and planned WWTPs);  Assessment of rain water harvesting in Hill Lake Systems;  Assessment of existing water network used for irrigation purposes; and  Assessment of the storage volumes in the existing and planned dams. This activity faces several limiting factors:  The majority of the springs are neither gauged nor measured;  Lots of private wells are unlicensed and the data about them and water exploited from them are absent and could not be estimated;  The same goes for rivers that are mostly ungauged within or near some schemes, or their measurement records are either old or unreliable;  Data on well discharges are also very scarce because all private wells and most public wells are not monitored: The discharge data are seldom found and when available they include only few readings. In order to mitigate these limitations, some practices were used such as:  The discharges of some of the springs would be estimated based on previous studies available for the area;  The yield of the wells could be estimated based on the tapped formation and their discharges from pumps and fittings data when available. Estimated Irrigation Requirements The general overview of the country existing irrigation schemes (Figure I 12 below) leads to the following observations:  Most of the observed traditional irrigation schemes suffer from a water shortage as proven or explained by the following:  Ancestral conflicts among farmers on water use and rights has often been reported.  Competition between domestic use and irrigation use is a common trend in many villages and locations.  Permanently irrigated areas are often less than arable areas within the same scheme; dry farming does not seem to be deliberately adopted.  Intensive drilling of water wells within many schemes is a common practice to mitigate water deficit whenever geological and economic situation allow.  Cropping pattern intensification is not always possible and therefore not practiced in many schemes.  Reported lower crops yields than standards in some cases is due to water shortage and drought.  Aged and partly damaged irrigation infrastructure is a common observation among most traditional irrigation schemes. The existing irrigation infrastructure conditions is responsible of NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 3 Water demand criteria and assumptions for water supply and irrigation May 2020 I - 35 important water losses and reduce drastically water efficiency. Construction and/or rehabilitation works is required at many levels.  At the level of water intake structures (catchment works at spring levels and/or diversion dams or hydraulic structures at rivers or water courses level).  At the level of main conveying structures such as primary channels or conveyors and distribution control devices (slide gates, valves…).  At the level of secondary network.  At farm level and tertiary distribution network.  Irrigation water is mostly contaminated with raw sewage water in most irrigation schemes located downstream urban agglomerations. Some areas are solely dependent on raw sewage water, especially during dry season.  Development of modern irrigations schemes is observed in many newly reclaimed areas and often compensates irrigated area shrinkage within traditional schemes due to uncontrolled urban development over agricultural and fertile areas. These new developed areas are mainly dependent either on pumped water from existing close irrigation schemes or from newly developed water resource such as:  Rain and snow melting harvesting by constructing storage Hill lakes and ponds.  Underground water exploitation by drilling (deep) wells. In most of these newly developed areas modern irrigation equipment and practices are adopted optimizing water use and crop production. These modern schemes represent relatively success story examples and concretize promising prospects for the entire irrigation sector in Lebanon. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 3 Water demand criteria and assumptions for water supply and irrigation May 2020 I - 36 Figure I 12 Existing irrigation schemes in Lebanon NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 3 Water demand criteria and assumptions for water supply and irrigation May 2020 I - 37 The following methodology was adopted to estimate the water demand for each irrigated scheme: 1. Estimation of the total agricultural area for each scheme and the main agricultural types; 2. Estimation of the irrigated areas per scheme using the intensification index of the agricultural land calculated from the MoA Agricultural Census of 2010 as the ratio between the irrigated area and the cultivated land by type (seasonal and permanent); 3. Characterization of seasonal and permanent crops obtained from the MoA Agricultural Census of 2010 based on the FAO classifications; 4. Definition of a cropping pattern for each Mouhafaza based on the data such as:  Crop Coefficient: The crop coefficient was calculated and entered according to the growth stage of the crop. This intimal crop coefficient was adopted from the FAO 56 Irrigation and Drainage paper (Allen et al., 1998);  Effective Rainfall: The precipitation data were obtained from ClimWat software for the available weather stations all over Lebanon. These data were used to calculate the effective rainfall for each weather station;  Reference Evapotranspiration (ETo): The Nimah, 2007 ETo tables were adopted for the crop water needs calculations. ETo data were calculated using the Penman-Monteith equation;  Crop Development Stage: The crop development stages (number of days) for each crop were obtained and used from the FAO studies;  Crop Plantation Date: The plantation date for each type of crop in each Mouhafaza was expected based on previous surveys done by the Consultant. 5. Estimation of the water need for each type of crop in all Mouhafazas by elevation ranges; 6. Application of the water needs for latest agricultural areas of the existing schemes using the data of the Remote Sensing Center of the CNRS in 2017. 7. Re-categorization of the seasonal and permanent crops, based on crop types; 8. Delineation of the perimeters of the irrigated areas by irrigation type (gravity, sprinkler or drip). Irrigation Water Balance The water balance is thus the difference between supply and demand. It should be noted that:  A severe water deficit indicates the need for providing new water resources;  A limited water deficit could be mitigated by network upgrade;  A remarkable surplus due to a positive water balance indicates the need for water storage. Negative values that appear in the water balance for the schemes indicate that either there are no sufficient data about public resources or that irrigation is assured through wells, private in general and illegal in many cases. Although this practice is compulsory to feed the need, it puts lot of stress on the NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 3 Water demand criteria and assumptions for water supply and irrigation May 2020 I - 38 Groundwater aquifers and cause depletions and salt-water intrusion for costal ones in the absence of good water management and sufficient storage of surface water. Recommendations Consequently, the target of this strategy is to address the following (the proposed projects - see Volume V - are selected accordingly):  Develop water resources by increasing water harvesting through promoting hill lakes and dams  Rehabilitate and modernize existing irrigation infrastructure to reduce water losses and improve water efficiency by upgrading water catchment and deviation structures, and by repairing concrete broken structures and converting earthen channels into concrete one.  Open channel systems to be eventually converted into pressurized piped system. This conversion will enhance modernization of on-farm irrigation systems.  Accelerate wastewater treatment strategies up to Irrigation acceptable standards and in conjunction with crops selection criteria.  Perform detailed study for each existing irrigation scheme in order to assess the existing condition, and identify all necessary actions needed to upgrade and modernize the selected scheme. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 39 I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS I 4.1 GENERAL The strategy reviewed all the water, wastewater and irrigation needs across Lebanon; it reviewed existing operational systems and identified gaps that should be filled to cover the needs of all the citizens across the territory. These gaps were then translated into projects in all three sectors, and these projects prioritized by order of urgency and impact. Three levels of priority were used over the period of the strategy extending between 2020 and 2035; priority 1 being from 2020 to 2025; priority 2 from 2026 to 2030; and priority 3 from 2031 to 2035. This strategy provides an update on the status of the Dams identified in the Lebanon's Surface Water Storage Strategy of 2011. It should be noted that due to the fine-tuning of the daily per capita demand in the updated strategy of 2020, and because the water balance was calculated at the level of every water source or village or group of localities, many of the water balances resulted in positive figures when projected till the year 2035. I 4.2 DAMS Some of the dams identified in the 2011 strategy were scheduled beyond 2035. However, following feasibility or design studies, some of these were found geotechnically not feasible. In other cases, the selected sites for dam's construction are not available any more due to the expansion of private construction. Therefore, some of the dams foreseen in the 2011 strategy are now dismissed. Table I 11shows the list on dams currently considered and their status. Table I 11 Status of currently considered dams. Caza Project status in 2020 BMLWE DAMS Janneh Dam Jbeil Under Construction Chabrouh Dam Kesserwan In Use Ballout lake Metn In Use Bisri Dam Jezzine Under Construction Boqaata Dam Kesserwan Under Construction Qaysamani Dam Baabda In Use Aazounieh Dam Aley Tendered & budget secured since 2013; Expropriation should be completed. Damour Dam Chouf Priority 2; after year 2026 Maaser El Chouf Dam Chouf Financially not feasible ($/m3> 26) NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 40 Table I 11 Status of currently considered dams. Caza Project status in 2020 Laklouk Lake Jbeil Priority 1; design and funds should be secured soon because the lake will be used for Irrigation El Manzoul Dam Metn Financially not feasible because of high expropriation cost Ratiba Lake Jbeil Priority 1; design and funds should be secured soon because the lake is used for Irrigation NLWE DAMS Kouachra Lake Akkar Constructed (downstream irrigation system needs completion) Bared Dam Akkar Priority 1; design and funds should be secured soon so that the dam is ready when the supply is needed in 2030 Adline Noura Tahta Akkar Priority 3; Tender Documents have to be reviewed in view of the water master plan of Akkar Mseilha Dam Batroun Constructed but not yet in use Balaa Dam Batroun Under Construction Rahwe Dam Batroun Priority 2; after year 2026 Qarkaf Dam Akkar Technically not feasible Dar Boochtar Dam Koura Priority 2; after year 2026 Iaal Dam Zgharta Technically not feasible; the site has been constructed by locals Brissa Dam Danniyeh Constructed; needs concrete lining for which the funds are secured and works should start soon Ouadi Chich - El Arz Bcharreh Financially not feasible ($/m3> 26) Atolbe Lake Akkar Technically not feasible; the optimal site of the dam has been constructed by locals Hadath el Jebbeh Bcharreh Priority 3; after year 2030 Kammoua Lake Akkar Priority 2; after year 2026 and/or when land ownership problems are resolved BWE DAMS Aassi Dam (Phase 1) Hermel Priority 1; design and funds should be secured soon because the dam is used for Irrigation Aassi Dam (Phase 2) Hermel Priority 2; after year 2026 Ouadi Sbat Dam Hermel Site for potential surface storage facility if the need arises but has not been seriously considered so far. Barhacha Lake Zahle Technically not feasible Yammouneh Lake Baalbeck In Use Younine Dam Baalbeck Priority 3; after year 2030 for irrigation purposes Massa Dam Zahle Priority 3; after year 2030 for irrigation purposes NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 41 Table I 11 Status of currently considered dams. Caza Project status in 2020 Rachaya - Ain Arab Lake Rachaya Site for potential surface storage facility if the need arises but has not been seriously considered so far. Qaraoun Dam WE’st Bekaa In Use SLWE DAMS Ibl es Saqi Dam Marjayoun Priority 2; after year 2026 for irrigation purposes Kfarsir or Choumariyeh Dam Nabatiyeh Priority 2; after year 2026 for irrigation purposes Khardaly Dam Nabatiyeh Priority 3; after year 2030 for irrigation purposes Ansar Dam Saida These are sites for potential surface storage facilities if the need arises, but none has been seriously considered so far Ain Baal Dam Sour Khiam Dam Marjayoun Chohour Dam Sour Barich Dam Sour Nabaa el Tasse - Jarjou Nabatiyeh Lebaa Lake Jezzine Kounine Dam Bint Jbeil Jinsnaya Dam Jezzine Aita el Chaab Dam Bint Jbeil Balatet el Jamejem Dam Saida Kfarwa Lake Nabatiyeh Aazbieh Lake Jezzine Jbaa Lake Nabatiyeh Salaa Lake Hasbaya Kfarhouna Lake Jezzine Surface storage is still a strategic priority for resource exploitation within the updated National Water Sector Strategy of 2020. Construction of storage facilities are encouraged to be the first resort to compensate for water supply needs, as long as they are financially, technically and environmentally feasible. Exploiting groundwater resources is kept for areas where surface storage is not possible or insufficient to cover the growing needs; but most importantly, groundwater resources should be regarded as strategic reserve to the next generations that will witness harsher effects of climate change and reduced surface runoffs. Yet, it shall be noted that the development of any type of resources shall be accompanied or better, preceded, by an effective reduction in Non-Revenue Water, resulting from technical losses in the NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 42 transmission and distribution networks, or from illicit connections to those networks or any other cause. The installation of District Meters allows tracking of defaults along the water systems, implies immediate action where these are detected, optimizes the cost of production, increases the volumes and the hours of water supply to the customers. It is at this stage that installation of water meters at household level becomes realistic and efficient. The final list of dams that have been selected is the following: Table I 12 List of selected dams in the NWSS 2020 Governorate Dam Name Capacity Purpose Nature of Works Cost (M USD) Priority 1 Akkar Bared Dam 37 Mcm Water Supply Dam, WTP, Transmission Lines and Reservoirs 196 Beqaa Assi 1 – Derivation Dam Irrigation - 52 Mount Lebanon Azzounieh Dam 4 Mcm Water Supply Dam, WTP and Transmission Lines 65 Priority 2 North Lebanon Dar Baachtar Dam 7 Mcm Water Supply + Irrigation Dam and Major Transmission Lines 50 South Lebanon Ibl El Saki Dam 50 Mcm Water Supply + Irrigation Dam, Transmission Lines and Reservoirs 145 South Lebanon Choumariye Dam 28 Mcm Water Supply + Irrigation Dam, Reservoirs, WTP and Transmission Lines 128 Mount Lebanon Damour Dam 42 Mcm Water Supply + Irrigation Dam, WTP, Transmission Lines and Reservoirs 200 Beqaa Assi 2 Dam 37 Mcm Irrigation Dam, Power Generation and Lift Lines 150 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 43 Table I 12 List of selected dams in the NWSS 2020 Governorate Dam Name Capacity Purpose Nature of Works Cost (M USD) Priority 3 Akkar Noura El Tahta Dam 35 Mcm Water Supply + Irrigation Dam and WTP 150 Beqaa Younine Dam 5.8 Mcm Irrigation Dam and Major Irrigation Lines 70 Beqaa Massa Dam 8 Mcm Irrigation Dam and Major Irrigation Lines 37 South Lebanon Khardale Dam 128 Mcm Water Supply + Irrigation Dam, Reservoirs, WTP and Transmission Lines 180 Mount Lebanon Maasser El Chouf 2.2 Mcm Water Supply Dam + WTP 53 I 4.3 WATER SUPPLY PROJECTS The main objective of the proposed projects is to secure the required water resources to cover the needs, with priority to regions with the most severe water scarcity; and to ensure adequate transmission, storage and distribution. Projects are selected and prioritized according to the following criteria:  Priority 1 Development and expansion of water resources to cover potable water needs, i.e. in water systems having a negative water balance in 2020 Provide adequate water storage capacities, i.e. in villages that currently have very small reservoirs compared to the required storage or in those that have very old reservoirs Provide adequate main transmission lines by increasing the capacity of existing ones or replacing very old ones Construction of distribution networks, mainly in villages that currently don't have a distribution network or in those that have very old one (i.e. > 30 years old) Monitoring main transmission and distribution lines through the installation of water meters, in order to better control and isolate leakages.  Priorities 2 and 3: Extension of existing distribution networks Expansion of existing water storage capacities Development and expansion of water resources to address future negative water balances, along with the construction of any related works (i.e. transmission lines, pumping stations and reservoirs). The cost of proposed projects is given in Sub-Section I 10.3 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 44 I 4.4 WASTEWATER PROJECTS The main objective of the proposed wastewater projects is to protect the environment and the health of the citizens by eradicating or at last minimizing the discharge of untreated wastewater into the environment or in waterbodies. The projects were selected and prioritized according to the following:  Priority 1 Implementation of new WWTPs and sewer networks in densely populated areas Expansion and upgrade of major existing WWTPs if their treatment capacity isn't enough to treat the influent wastewater (in 2020).  Priority 2: Implementation of new WWTPs and sewer networks in less densely populated areas Expansion and upgrade of existing WWTPs if their treatment capacity isn't enough to treat the influent wastewater flows in the near future.  Priority 3: Implementation of small wastewater treatment units in isolated villages/areas The total cost of the wastewater projects by priority is given in Sub-Section I 10.3 I 4.5 IRRIGATION PROJECTS I 4.5.1 Irrigation projects under SLWE jurisdiction Prioritization of the projects was elaborated as follows:  Priority 1 For projects that are included in the Litani River Authority strategy plan. These are:  1st phase of conveyor 800 Irrigation Distribution Networks Project (465 km). The first phase of this project is composed of the transmission system and Related reservoirs is presently under construction.  Saida-Jezzine Project - Replacement of 45 km of irrigation networks in the existing project.  Priority 2 Priority 2 projects include:  Second phase of Conveyor 800 - Irrigation Distribution networks (1335 km).  Rehabilitation of existing local irrigation schemes in Bint Jbeil, Rashaya, Jezzine, Nabatiyeh, Saida, Sour districts.  Construction of 9 hill lakes. The projects are located outside the areas served by the main irrigation projects in order to provide additional water quantities. The locations of the hill lakes were determined in a conceptual manner. A feasibility study should be conducted for the final definition of these projects. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 45  Priority 3 Priority 3 projects include:  Phase II of Khardaleh Dam consisting of the construction of related irrigation distribution networks (1300 km).  Construction of Phase II of Ibl es Saqi dam scheme consisting of the construction of related distribution networks (380 km).  Rehabilitation and modernization of existing small-scale projects in 39 localities. The projects are located outside the areas served by the main irrigation projects (141 km). The total proposed area to be irrigated based on the three priorities of projects is around 41,500 ha without taking into consideration the local schemes which constitutes around 80% of the agricultural lands. The cost estimate of the different projects was conducted based on the level of details of each of the projects' studies. The total cost of the implementation of the irrigation projects in South Lebanon is as follows (excluding dams):  Priority 1 86,550,000 USD (irrigation networks)  Priority 2 416,380,000 USD (Hill lakes and irrigation networks).  Priority 3 299,700,000 USD (irrigation networks). 802,630,000 USD The total cost of projects is given in Table I 15 below. I 4.5.2 Irrigation projects under NLWE jurisdiction The results of the water balance estimation for Aakkar and North Lebanon schemes show that the estimated water supply from rivers, springs and few identified wells is 328 Mm³ ; the total crop demand is around 216 Mm3. The resulting water balance is a surplus of 128 Mm3. Although the analysis concluded that the water balance is positive, this area is characterized by an overexploitation of groundwater, which caused a drop in its groundwater table. This implies that the water management practices are poor with the uncontrolled pumping. Moreover, the surplus should be stored in the dams mainly recommended by the NWSS 2012, for water supply during peak demand periods and to cut-off the illegal supply from wells.  Priority 1 Rehabilitation of existing irrigation networks in Akkar 19,970,000 USD Rehabilitation of existing irrigation networks in remaining areas 9,150,000 USD Construction of 4 hill lakes with their associated irrigation networks 33,370,000 USD 62,340,000 USD NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 46  Priority 2 Construction of 11 hill lakes with their associated irrigation networks 110,720,000 USD Irrigation networks related to Dar Baachtar dam 11,200,000 USD 121,920,000 USD  Priority 3 Rehabilitation of existing irrigation networks in 5 schemes 47,265,000 USD Construction of irrigation networks associated to Noura Tahta dam 56,000,000 USD Hill lakes and related irrigation networks 22,900,000 USD 125,765,000 USD The cost of projects is given in Table I 15 below. I 4.5.3 Irrigation projects under BMLWE jurisdiction The results of the water balance estimation for Mount Lebanon schemes show that the estimated water supply from rivers, springs and several wells is 241 Mm3; the total crop demand is around 58 Mm3. The resulting water balance is a surplus of 172 Mm3. This water surplus is an indication of the importance of storing water in the dams mainly recommended by the NWSS 2012, for water supply during dry season. The total cost of the projects in the jurisdiction of BMLWE is (see Table I 15 below):  Priority 1 For irrigation networks in 2 schemes 1,020,000 USD  Priority 2 For irrigation networks in 1 scheme 1,150,000 USD For 8 hill lakes with their associated irrigation networks. 33,500,000 USD 34,650,000 USD  Priority 3 For 10 irrigation networks schemes 5,220,000 USD I 4.5.4 Irrigation projects under BWE jurisdiction The results of the water balance estimation for Beqaa and Baalbek-Hermel schemes show that the estimated water supply springs and several wells is 187 Mm3; the total crop demand is around 521 Mm3. The resulting water balance is a deficit of 345 Mm³. This water deficit could be attributed to the fact that this area relies heavily on well extraction. Unfortunately, most of these wells are unlicensed and non-monitored with flow meters. To add on it, the agricultural area is remarkable compared to the other mandates (BWE: 70,911 ha, NLWE: 33,555 ha and BMLWE: 7,251 ha). NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 47 The total cost of the projects in the jurisdiction of BWE is:  Priority 1 For improvement of existing irrigation networks in 22 schemes 25,437,000 USD For new irrigation networks in Qaa and Hermel - Aassi dam 1 (phase 1) 84,272,000 USD 109,709,000 USD  Priority 2 For 7 hill lakes with their associated irrigation networks 55,200,000 USD For construction of new irrigation networks - Aassi dam 1 (phase 2) 83,000,000 USD 138,200,000 USD  Priority 3 For irrigation networks in 4 schemes 4,524,000 USD I 4.5.5 Rationale for Project Selection After estimating the water budgets of all schemes, several technical interventions could be concluded:  Increasing canal conveyance efficiency by the rehabilitation of poorly maintained concrete canals and converting earthen canals into concrete;  Optimizing the existing resources through water quality and quantity monitoring;  Promoting the reuse of TSE for irrigation;  Construction of Hill Lakes for rainwater harvesting;  Construction of dams previously recommended by the NWSS of 2012;  Promoting the use of drip irrigation and changing cropping patterns towards less water demanding crops. These projects should be implemented hand in hand with strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies to mitigate any environmental hazard. I 4.5.6 Irrigable land Based on the inventory of the irrigation schemes across the country, presently irrigated land area is around 105,000 ha. Irrigation development in the future is conditioned by:  Implementing new projects  Securing new water resources (storage structures & water wells). The construction of the proposed projects would allow for the irrigation of an additional 38,000 ha at the country level. Details are given in Table I 13 below NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 48 Table I 13 Irrigated areas in Lebanon I 4.5.7 Water requirements for irrigation Under the presently prevailing irrigation conditions, considering network losses and the irrigation practices, the irrigation efficiency is around 50 to 60%. The average irrigation water requirement for a representative ha at the country level is around 8,400 m³/ha /year as shown in Table I 14 Table I 14 Irrigation water needs Presently irrigated area (ha) Adopted requirements (m3/ha/year) Mm3/year NLWE 28,600 7,500 (Most of the area is coastal) 214.5 BMLWE 5,835 6,500 (Most of the irrigated area is at high altitude) 37.9 BWE 66,115 9,000 (Most of the irrigated area is inland /dry weather) 595.0 SLWE 4,210 7,500 (Most of the irrigated area is coastal) 30.9 Total 104,760  8,400 Average irrigation water requirement for one representative ha at country level 878.3 Presently irrigated area Proposed irrigation projects Total (ha) (ha) (ha) NLWE (18 schemes) Noura el Tahta & Dar Baachtar dam 4 200 Hill lakes 730 28 600 4 930 33 530 BMLWE (15 schemes) 5 835 Hill lakes 540 6 375 BWE (36 schemes) Aassi dams 6 000 Massa dam 1 600 Younine dam 1 200 66 115 8 800 74 915 SLWE Qasmieh Ras El Ain 3 200 Conveyor 800 13 250 Saida Jezzine 430 Khardale dam 1 300 Small local projects 580 Choumaryeh dam 4 000 4 210 Ibl es Saki dam 3 800 Hill lakes 1 235 23 585 27 795 Total 104 760 37 855 142 615 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 49 Future irrigation water requirements Assessment of future irrigation water requirements is based on the following assumption:  Irrigated areas would reach in 2035 around 138,000 ha.  Irrigation efficiency will be improved and will be upgraded from 60% to 75% by rehabilitating or constructing concrete or piped & conveyance structures and catchment structures and by modernizing on-farm irrigation practices (micro-irrigation). Consequently, irrigation water requirement for 1 representative ha will drop from 8,400 m3/ha/year to 6,720 m3/ha/year (based on 5040m3/ha/year as a net water requirement, i.e. without water losses, then 5040/0.75=6720m3/ha/year would be the gross water demand per ha per year when overall system efficiency will reach 75%). Based on the above, the present irrigation water requirement at the country level is 878.3 Mm³ and would reach 930 Mm³ in 2035, should the proposed project be implemented. On the other hand, Agricultural National Census (MoA) 2010 reveals that only 65% of the irrigated areas are permanently irrigated whereas 35% of the remaining are partially irrigated. Moreover, only 50% of the irrigated area are covered by natural surface water whereas the rest is covered by "expensive" underground water and/or hill lakes stored water. The above observations lead us to conclude the existence of a serious gap between irrigation water demand and the irrigation water "real" use. Therefore, it is estimated that only some 75% of the present Irrigation water requirement (660 Mm3) are presently sustained by available water for irrigation and reflect the Irrigation water consumption figure across the country. Out of these 660 Mm3 it is estimated that some 330 Mm3 are covered by surface water. I 4.5.8 Prioritized Projects and Cost Estimate The recommended projects per scheme were organized over four levels of priority throughout the implementation timeframe of this strategy:  Priority 1 Network upgrade (rehabilitation and/or improvement) for schemes with a negative water balance,  Priority 2 Hill Lake system construction for schemes with a negative balance, in addition to other projects with a direct impact on the schemes.  Priority 3 Upgrade and /or expansion of the network for schemes with a positive water balance. Construction of dams to serve adjoined schemes. Table I 15 below summarizes the needed investment plan by priority for each WE NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 4 PROPOSED PROJECTS May 2020 I - 50 Table I 15 Irrigation projects Cost Estimates Estimated Capital Investment Including Design and Supervision (M USD) Netwoks Hill lakes Total Priority 1 NLWE 29 120 33 370 62 490 BMLWE 1 020 - 1 020 BWE 109 709 - 109 709 SLWE 86 550 - 86 550 226 399 33 370 259 769 Priority 2 NLWE 11 200 110 720 121 920 BMLWE 1 150 33 500 34 650 BWE 83 000 55 200 138 200 SLWE 296 680 119 700 416 380 392 030 319 120 711 150 Priority 3 NLWE 103 265 22 900 126 165 BMLWE 5 220 - 5 220 BWE 4 524 - 4 524 SLWE 299 700 - 299 700 412 709 22 900 435 609 Grand Total 1 031 138 375 390 1 406 528 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 5 Environmental recommendations May 2020 I - 51 I 5 ENVIRONMENTAL RECOMMENDATIONS I 5.1 GENERAL A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) shall be developed for the draft Updated National Water Sector Strategy (NWSS) and submitted to the Ministry of Environment (MoE) for approval. The SEA report shall comply with the Decree 8213/2012 requirements and its Annex 3 regarding the information to be included in the SEA report. The SEA shall be used as a decision-making tool for issuing the final version of the updated NWSS and shall facilitate the preparation of the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for specific components by providing an important amount of information to the EIA preparer, especially with respect to baseline conditions, environmental impacts, possible mitigation and monitoring measures. The SEA report of NWSS 2012 was issued in 2015, and it was a comprehensive study financed back then by the World Bank. Today, the World Bank is ready to finance the update of that SEA and adapt it to the context of MoEW’s updated NWSS, while aiming at issuing it within the shortest delays. Following the completion of this updated SEA, it will be possible for the Council of Ministers to approve and issue the updated NWSS officially through a decision. I 5.2 SEA METHODOLOGY & LEGAL STEPS The legal text defines the scope of the SEA, the different phases, review procedures, screening methodology, validity of the PPP (Policy, Plan, Program), and the content of the scoping and final reports. Table I 16 shows the various stages of a SEA along with the requirements of each stage. Table I 16 SEA Process Components SEA Stage Description Screening  To determine whether the proposed strategic action (plan or program) requires SEA Scoping  To delineate the zone of influence of the proposed plan or program (geographical coverage, time span, sector of activity and social groups)  To establish the range of issues and level of detail to be included in the assessment  To decide on the significant impacts to be considered  To determine data collection requirements Stakeholder involvement  To inform and ascertain the opinion of all those who are likely to be affected by the proposed plan or program  To determine what tradeoffs are acceptable  To identify implementation needs and mechanisms NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 5 Environmental recommendations May 2020 I - 52 Table I 16 SEA Process Components SEA Stage Description Analysis of Alternatives  To identify, analyze, and compare the impacts of the different shortlisted alternative options  To evaluate the technical and financial feasibility of alternative options  To determine the consistency of the components with pre-set objectives and priorities  To evaluate the compatibility with current legal, institutional, and planning frameworks.  To determine the “most suitable strategic option” and means of implementation Performing the assessment  To identify, analyze, and compare the impacts of the most suitable strategic option selected  To propose a relevant Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for reducing or eliminating negative impacts and enhancing environmental opportunities Submission of SEA report  To document the methodology and findings of the SEA Peer review and integration of SEA findings  To ensure that the assessment has proceeded in a scientific and objective manner  To verify that all significant impacts have been considered  To determine whether the “most suitable strategic option” has been proposed  To determine the feasibility and suitability of the EMP  To review, amend or reformulate the proposed plan or program Decision making  To decide whether to adopt, amend or reject the proposed plan or program Monitoring and quality assurance  To evaluate performance with respect to set objectives  To monitor implementation and assess the continued suitability of the EMP  To assess the efficiency of the SEA process in “greening” public decisions NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 5 Environmental recommendations May 2020 I - 53 I 5.3 SEA SCOPE In summary, the updated SEA report shall include the following:  Assessment of baseline data on the physical, hydrogeological, environmental, and socio-economic conditions of the project area,  Identification of environmentally significant areas in the project sites,  Assessment of the best alternative(s) or option(s) for the project in terms of socio-economic, health, financial, and environmental aspects,  Identification of potential impacts of the project and assessment of their significance,  Description of mitigation measures to minimize impacts, and  Elaboration of an environmental management plan including a monitoring program for the whole project. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 6 Wastewater effluent and sludge management and reuse May 2020 I - 54 I 6 WASTEWATER EFFLUENT AND SLUDGE MANAGEMENT AND REUSE I 6.1 GENERAL Huge quantities of treated wastewater and biosolids (sludge) are produced every day all over the world, which exert a strong pressure on the environment. An important question that is raised is "what to do with them?". An effort is put by the scientific community to eliminate the concept of "waste" and to replace it with the concept of "recycling of resources", by means of effective management. In many countries, quality standards have been developed governing the discharge and/or reuse of wastewater and sludge. To date, Lebanon lacks legislation and/or standards related to:  Soils and sediments standards;  Guidelines for the disposal and reuse of sewage sludge; and  Guidelines for effluent/wastewater reuse. I 6.2 WASTEWATER REUSE I 6.2.1 Relevant National standards and guidelines Wastewater Discharge: The standards for discharge into receiving water bodies are presented in MoE Decision no. 8/1, which updates similar standards set by Decision 52/1. Wastewater Reuse: In Lebanon, there is no legal basis for reuse of wastewater. There are no regulations, guidelines and standards for the reuse of treated wastewater for different purposes. Two propositions for Lebanese Guidelines on Sewage Sludge Use in Agriculture and for Lebanese Wastewater Reuse Guidelines have been prepared by FAO in 2010. However, these have not been officially enforced yet. I 6.2.2 Relevant International guidelines and standards Wastewater Treatment and Reuse for Irrigation The EU Council Directive 91/271/EEC (Directive on Urban Wastewater Treatment) was adopted on 21 May 1991. Its objective is to protect the environment from the adverse effects of urban waste water discharges and discharges from certain industrial sectors. The Directive provides no specifications for treated effluents reuse. Nevertheless, many European countries have adopted respective criteria for the reuse of the treated wastewater. The criteria for Greece and for the neighbouring Cyprus are presented in the document. A careful consideration is needed whenever the effluent is reused in agriculture. The treatment requirements must address the local agricultural practices, potential public exposure, and environmental impact. US EPA guidelines for water reuse make this distinction and the corresponding specifications are described in the document. However, the US EPA standards do not include the NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 6 Wastewater effluent and sludge management and reuse May 2020 I - 55 required limits for the disease-causing nematode eggs, which are persistent. The WHO standards address these requirements as presented in the document. Wastewater Treatment and Reuse for Groundwater Recharge Various sources of water are available for groundwater recharge but, in recent years, the use of nonconventional water resources such as recycled municipal wastewater, has received increasing attention. Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) objectives for groundwater relate to chemical status and quantitative status, which are required to meet good status and avoid deterioration in status. The reuse of treated wastewater for recharge of aquifers can contribute to WFD objectives, as long as the water is of sufficient quality. Groundwater Directive 2006/118/EC (GWD) establishes further provisions for the protection of groundwater against pollution, including more detailed criteria to assess the chemical status of groundwater bodies and identification of significant and sustained upward trends, along with specific measures to prevent or limit inputs of pollutants to groundwater. Industrial Reuse Based on EPA - Guidelines for Water Reuse (2012), pulp and paper facilities, textile facilities, and other facilities using reclaimed water for cooling tower purposes, have been the primary industrial users of reclaimed water. Standards, presented further in the document, are for cooling towers and boiler water makeup. I 6.3 SLUDGE REUSE I 6.3.1 Relevant national standards and guidelines In Lebanon, there are no regulations, guidelines and standards for the reuse of sludge for different purposes. Two propositions for Lebanese Guidelines on Sewage Sludge Use in Agriculture and for Lebanese Wastewater Reuse Guidelines have been prepared by FAO in 2010. However, these have not been officially enforced yet. The Master Plan for sludge recovery or disposal - CDR 2003 states that among the various sludge disposal and treatment options studied for different stations, the reuse of sludge in the agricultural areas is the preferred alternative. The analyzed reuse and disposal alternatives are as follows:  Sludge Reuse Alternative  Stabilization and reuse by spreading in agricultural areas (stabilized sludge);  Composting and reuse;  Co-composting with domestic solid waste and reuse;  Drying, granulation and reuse NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 6 Wastewater effluent and sludge management and reuse May 2020 I - 56  Sludge Non-Reuse Alternative  Incineration, and  Controlled disposal in domestic landfills. In addition, the 2003 CDR study proposed an action plan for the study disposal as presented later in the document. I 6.3.2 Relevant international standards and guidelines Across EU, guidelines and requirements for the management and reuse or disposal of sewage sludge are related directly or indirectly with a set of legislation, mainly including the following Directives:  Directive 2008/98/EC, Waste Framework Directive;  Directive 1999/31/EC on the Landfill of Waste;  Directive 86/278/EEC on Sewage Sludge application on land;  Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from Renewable Sources. I 6.4 RECOMMENDATIONS The proposed recommendations take the following into consideration:  Quality and quantity of fresh water sources need to be managed sustainably. In this perspective domestic water sources (aquifers, springs, wells, or surface-water) will be protected against contamination by wastewater, and conditions for water-based recreation (swimming, boating, and fishing) will be enhanced by improvements in water quality and control of marine disposal.  Mitigation of health and environmental risks, requires that common norms and standards for the reuse of treated wastewater and sludge in Lebanon be elaborated.  Water conservation by reuse, aquifer recharge, or industrial reuse of treated effluent should be practiced where it is cost-effective and water resources are otherwise inadequate. Irrigation of agricultural lands by wastewater should be promoted provided water quality is monitored and health standards are maintained.  Water and sludge demand management: Wastewater and sludge reuse should be oriented to demand driven planning by focusing on projects that are committed to reuse.  Lebanon should develop a platform for disseminating knowledge gained from existing wastewater treatment facilities in the region. Knowledge sharing would lead to improved availability of information on the economic and financial benefits, the volumes of treated and reused wastewater, benefits to the water economy, and cost recovery of water reuse systems.  A clear-cut sludge treatment technology and thereupon based disposal/reuse strategy should be considered an indispensable, integral part of any WWTP project.  Investigate and analyze the existing potential for sludge reuse.  Promote:  Measures to minimize sludge volume, such as anaerobic sludge digesters, and solar sludge drying. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 6 Wastewater effluent and sludge management and reuse May 2020 I - 57  Measures to generate and utilize biogas for power generation.  Regional co-operation in sludge management should be assisted, since economy of scale can help in bringing down sludge disposal/reuse cost. I 6.5 MONITORING SYSTEM The proper implementation of a comprehensive environmental management and monitoring plan will ensure that the proposed wastewater treatment plants meet regulatory and operational performance (technical) criteria. I 6.5.1 Performance Monitoring for Treated Wastewater Discharged into Surface Waters The recommended process performance parameters suggested in a draft law by the Lebanese Ministry of Environment (MoE) were presented in the document. I 6.5.2 Performance Monitoring for Treated Wastewater Reuse Based on the proposition for Lebanese wastewater reuse guidelines (FAO 2010), the frequency of sampling at the wastewater treatment units is set, taking into consideration the following issues:  The requirements of the European legislation (e.g. Directive 91/271/EEC)  The necessity of achieving treated effluent with such a quality that ensures its safe reuse for irrigation purposes. I 6.5.3 Monitoring Characteristics of Processed Sludge Based on the proposition for Lebanese guidelines on sewage sludge use in agriculture (FAO 2010), the analyses of the sludge must be done regularly, to the minimum frequencies shown in the document. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 7 Surface water monitoring and management May 2020 I - 58 I 7 SURFACE WATER MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT The monitoring and the Management of the surface waters consists of:  Carrying out a data collection and an assessment of the Lebanese meteorological information networks.  Suggesting guidelines for the implementation of an Integrated Hydrological Information System (IHIS) within the Ministry of Energy and Water. The first task details the findings of the revision and assessment of the existing meteorological and hydrological information networks; it includes a detailed list of all public 136 meteorological stations and 138 hydrometric stations, located on all catchments, rivers, springs and channels across Lebanon showing their locations and eventually their specifications and operational situation. The assessment identifies the actual gaps of the existing networks, mainly the proper coverage of hydrogeological aquifers and mountainous areas and suggests a methodology for the installation of new stations based on WMO recommendations and Lebanese climatic and landform characteristics. The second task suggests, based on the findings of the first, a set of studies and action plans to carry out the meteorological and hydrological networks expansions and the design and implementation of the IHIS. Lebanon has not yet established an IHIS which shall provide public and private stakeholders an access to reliable information and management services to build this management approach. An IHIS shall allow all information providers to manage, publish, and share their data, products and services, and allow all users to develop value-added services and new products. An IHIS design for Lebanon is suggested based on the combination between LMS's climatic zoning approach, LRA's catchment scale distribution approach and completed by LARI's agrometeorological network for agricultural areas. This ensures that each catchment microclimates are well covered (coastal areas, plains, lowlands and mountains), rivers specific hydrological regimes are taken into consideration (snow influence, spring contribution, etc.) and land-cover characteristics are covered by LARI's network for evapotranspiration estimation. This integrated network could be achieved without any institutional merge or tasks overlap but requires an elaborate inter-institutional coordination within a central IHIS unit located at MoEW. The strategy for the implementation of this IHIS focuses on supporting Lebanon's decision regarding global agendas, such as the United Nations SDGs, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS), etc. An Implementation Coordination Team of the IHIS shall be formed to elaborate and maintain a strategic plan for developing the IHIS over the next period. The proposed studies for IHIS implementation are: 1. Assessment studies for the meteorological and hydrometric networks including an assessment of the Institutional framework and working teams (skills, knowledge, expertise, trainings, etc…), an assessment of the data management centre and quality of measurements, etc… 2. Update and analysis of the National Land Use Master Plan and Geodatabase (NLUMP) in order to include the latest and most precise maps describing the Lebanese landscape, geology, NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 7 Surface water monitoring and management May 2020 I - 59 hydrogeology, land use, morphology, water and land resources with the contribution of both public and private sectors especially academic and research institutions. 3. Lebanese data rescue project to preserve all data at risk of being lost duet to deterioration of the medium and digitizing current and past data into computer compatible form for easy access as most of climatic data are still on paper. 4. Design studies of the IHIS implementation upon the achievement of all assessment studies of existing meteorological and hydrological networks and based on the resulting comprehensive analysis report of the NLUMP. The proposed studies are:  Institutional and capacity building of all administrations involved in the IHIS;  Design of the LMS, LRA, LARI and MoEW meteorological and LRA hydrometric networks;  Design of data management centre including server specifications, data collection, dissemination and archiving protocol,  Benefit - cost analysis of the implementation of the IHIS;  Preparations of terms of reference for IHIS implementation;  Integrated water resources management for 20 major Lebanese rivers using WEAP software;  Flood risk management plans for 20 major Lebanese rivers. This study includes the following:  Topographical and urban surveys of the river and its floodplain  Hydrological Study  Hydraulic Study and Flood Mapping  Risk Analysis  Social Environmental Assessment SEA / Habitat assessment  Flood Risk Management Plan including a conceptual and legal framework, a program of measures, early warning protocol, organizational framework. The implementation timescale shall take into consideration the budgets and divide it into several phases either by gradually expanding the basic network to reach a complete network or by fully equipping one catchment at a time and then moving on to another catchment. We propose in the chart below the timescale of the four phases:  Recommended studies  Networks expansion  IHIS implementation  Integrated water resources management for 20 major Lebanese rivers.  Flood Risk Management Plan NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 7 Surface water monitoring and management May 2020 I - 60 Figure I 13 Recommended studies, networks expansion and IHIS implementation timescale In addition, the implementation of two additional studies (the study related to the preparation of a drought mitigation plan and the study related to the rainwater harvesting program) would be implemented according to the below timescale. The Drought Mitigation plan would be a national scale drought mitigation plan. It would include the following tasks:  Define the conceptual and legal framework, methodology,  Data collection including historical drought events  Establish indicators and thresholds for drought classification  Develop a program of measures, mitigations and recommendations for a nation scale strategy  Establish drought early warning protocol  Establish organizational framework for the production, implementation and update of the drought mitigation plan. The rainwater harvesting program would be a national scale rainwater harvesting strategy and program. It would include the following tasks:  Define the conceptual and legal framework, methodology  Data collection  Hydrological assessment of the rainwater harvesting potential  Determination of the harvesting methods and potential implementation sites  Development of an implementation strategy and program. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 7 Surface water monitoring and management May 2020 I - 61 Figure I 14 Time Scale of the Recommended studies for the preparation of the drought mitigation plan and rainwater harvesting program NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 8 Groundwater resources monitoring management and development May 2020 I - 62 I 8 GROUNDWATER RESOURCES MONITORING MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT I 8.1 GENERAL Water scarcity has been a redundant problem in Lebanon for the past decades due to the mismanagement of water resources which has been causing the disparity between supply and demand. The difficulty of balancing between supply and demand requires the need for a sustainable Water Resources Management (WRM), especially with the growing population. The World Bank defines WRM as the "process of planning, developing, and managing water resources in terms of both water quantity and quality, across all water uses". It includes the institutions, infrastructure, incentives and information systems that support and guide water management. Groundwater resources constitute 53.4% of all water resources in Lebanon (IFI, 2014). For a sustainable use of water resources, an improved and forward-thinking groundwater management is necessary. Therefore, valid and accurate information on groundwater quantity and quality, its renewability and the hydrogeological structure of the underground are necessary (BGR, n.d.). The two most prominent factors affecting groundwater availability are population growth and climate change. A study done by the UNDP in 2014 confirmed the relationship between population size and groundwater availability. It showed that stressed aquifers are located in urban areas (such as Beirut, Tyre and Tripoli), and in areas where the demand for irrigation is high (such as in the Bekaa plain and Akkar plain). Lebanon is currently going through a critical phase in managing its natural resources. Particularly in the water sector, the socio-economic evolution of the population from one side and the Syrian refugees' crisis on the other, greatly add to the stress on available resources and will exacerbate the expected 10-20% decrease in precipitation volumes by 2040, related to climate change (SNC - MoE 2011). The resulting issues from the assessment of the present situation in groundwater management revealed the following:  Mismanagement or decentralization of groundwater data due to the large number of participants resulting in data loss and data inconsistency between the different establishments and the MoEW.  Reliability of the collected groundwater data is uncertain due to data redundancy and inaccuracy.  Existing groundwater data exchange procedures are not based on a uniform format.  Insufficient staff to cover all the duties of the geology and underground water service in the MoEW.  Damaged or insufficient meteorological and hydrometric stations spread on the groundwater and river basins.  Overexploitation of groundwater resulting in seawater intrusion in the coastal aquifers.  Huge number of unlicensed private wells.  Wastewater mismanagement leading to groundwater contamination.  No studies of springs protection zones NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 8 Groundwater resources monitoring management and development May 2020 I - 63  Absence of monitoring systems for groundwater quantity and quality.  Absence of detailed wells and springs inventory.  No control of groundwater extracted from wells for drinking and irrigation purposes. If the above-mentioned constraints are not taken care of in the near future, the situation will get worse leading to a water crisis. Therefore, it is crucial to start adapting a sustainable groundwater resources management. The current situation of groundwater extraction can be described as follows:  In coastal and urban areas, the number of existing drilled water wells is extremely high putting the tapped aquifers under stress and consequently preventing a full material replenishment. This uncontrolled situation has led to the draining of the groundwater resources and to their contamination by seawater intrusion.  In the remaining areas, most of the groundwater aquifers are being overexploited by private wells which are extracting large volumes of water without any restrictions nor monitoring made by the Ministry of Energy and Water.  The uncontrolled number of private wells and the uncontrolled extraction of groundwater from these wells decreased dramatically the flows discharged by many springs, which water is primarily used for domestic supply and irrigation.  No detailed groundwater balance studies have been made on the identified aquifers since 1970.  No monitoring on the extracted water volumes from public and private wells is made.  No monitoring of the fluctuations of the water levels in the wells is being made.  No monitoring of the quality of the extracted water from the wells is being made. There is therefore a big necessity to sustain a serious groundwater resources management. I 8.2 STRATEGIC RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GROUNDWATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT The increased fluctuations in precipitation and extreme weather events will directly affect the availability of groundwater and our dependency on it. For example, during long periods of droughts, rivers and springs will become almost dry to the point where people will increasingly rely on wells to secure their water needs, resulting in a higher risk of aquifers depletion or contamination by seawater intrusion. In other cases, such as flooding events, the rate of surface run-off will be very high resulting in a lower infiltration rate which leads to a lower recharge rate and eventually a higher risk of aquifers depletion. There is therefore a necessity to build up a strategy which target is to enforce the management capacities of the MoEW by:  Recruiting a specialized staff in the fields of geology, hydrogeology and water resources;  Implementing simultaneously with the recruitment of staff a Project Management Unit (PMU) to assist the Ministry and the newly recruited staff;  Refreshing and completing the detailed geologic mapping of Lebanon at scale of 1/20,000; NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 8 Groundwater resources monitoring management and development May 2020 I - 64  Assess the sea-water intrusion in the major coastal aquifers. The study is on-going and will be completed in June 2021.  Refreshing the 2014 UNDP water resources study by performing in stages hydrogeological studies and producing hydrogeological reports on the identified hydrogeological basins in the North, Central, South, North Bekaa valley, South Bekaa valley and Eastern Lebanon mountain chain area;  Drilling deep reconnaissance water wells to detect the presence of new potential aquifers in some specific areas and proceed with their water testing;  Proceeding with the second phase of the rehabilitation of the springs catchment structures;  Enhancing the Artificial Recharge of some selected aquifers;  The Ministry of Energy and Water performed a feasibility study of 22 selected sites in the 2014 UNDP study and selected out of them 4 sites (Berdawni, Damour, Abou Ali and Zahrani) to start their implementation with a preference to start with Berdawni project as a pilot project.  Enhancing the vulnerability studies in relation with the springs and the definition of their protection perimeters;  Refresh the water budgeting of all aquifers progressively;  Perform progressively the modelling of the karstic, saline and porous aquifers. The detailed activities (studies, investigations and works) to be performed, their sequence in time and their cost estimate are shown on Figure I 15 below. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 8 Groundwater resources monitoring management and development May 2020 I - 65 Figure I 15 Detailed Activities to be performed NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 8 Groundwater resources monitoring management and development May 2020 I - 66 Figure I 16 Detailed Activities to be performed (continued) 1* 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Hydrogeological Mapping 16.1 Production of hydrogeologic maps at a scale of 1/50,000 and hydrogeologic report on the identified hydrogeologic basins/aquifers of Beirut and Mount Lebanon area 16.2 Production of hydrogeologic maps at a scale of 1/50,000 and hydrogeologic report on the identified hydrogeologic basins/aquifers of the North Lebanon 16.3 Production of hydrogeologic maps at a scale of 1/50,000 and hydrogeologic report on the identified hydrogeologic basins/aquifers of the South Lebanon 16.4 Production of hydrogeologic maps at a scale of 1/50,000 and hydrogeologic report on the identified hydrogeologic basins/aquifers of the Northern and Southern Beqaas areas 16.5 Production of hydrogeologic maps at a scale of 1/50,000 and hydrogeologic report on the identified hydrogeologic basins/aquifers of the Eastern Lebanon 17 Aquifer Artificial Recharge 17.1 Proceed with the preparation of the detailed design of the AAR pilot project facilities in Berdaouni (A10 site) 17.2 Implement the construction works of the Berdaouni AAR facilities 17.3 Follow up the AAR of the Berdaouni aquifer 17.4 Detailed design of the AAR facilities of Damour 17.5 Construction of the AAR facilities of Damour 17.6 Follow up of the AAR of Damour Aquifer 17.7 Proceed with the detailed design of the AAR facilities of Mejdlaya - Abou Ali site 17.8 Implement the construction works of Mejdlaya - Abou Ali AAR site 17.9 Follow up the AAR of the Mejdlaya - Abou Ali site 17.10 Proceed with the preparation of the feasibility study for the AAR of the Lower Cenomanian Limestones aquifer of Hadath-Hazmieh 17.11 Detailed design of AAR facilities of the Hadath-Hazmieh Lower Cenomanian limestones aquifer 17.12 Implement the construction works of the AAR of Hadath Hazmieh 17.13 Follow up of the AAR constructed site of Hadath Hazmieh 17.14 Proceed with the preparation of the feasibility study for the AAR of the Daichouniye Jurassic limestones (J4) aquifer 17.15 Detailed design of the AAR facilities of the Jurassic (J4) limestones aquifer (Daichouniye) 17.16 Construction of the AAR Daichouniye site facilities 17.17 Follow up of the AAR constructed site of Daichouniye 17.18 Feasibility study of the AAR of Akkar plain alluvial aquifer 17.19 Detailed design study of the AAR of Akkar plain alluvial aquifer 17.20 Construction of the AAR facilities of Akkar plain alluvial aquifer 17.21 Follow up of the AAR constructed site of Akkar plain alluvial aquifer 18 Drilling testing reconnaissance and exploratory wells: 18.1 In Hadath-Hazmieh (3 wells) 18.2 In Damour (3 wells) 18.3 In Daichouniye (2 wells) 18.4 In Akkar plain (5 wells 18.5 In Brak (Zahrani) (1 well) 19 Refresh the water budget studies of the identified aquifers 20 Perform groundwater vulnerability mapping and delineation of protection zones 1 and 2 for springs (Q > 100 l/sec) 21 Perform groundwater vulnerability mapping and delineation of protection zones 1 and 2 for springs with 10 < Q < 100 l/sec 22 Modeling of fractured and karst aquifer systems 23 Modeling of aquifer systems: porous, permeable, saline water intrusion * 1 = year 2020 Time in years Activities and ProjectsNo. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 9 Decisions to be taken by the council of ministers May 2020 I - 67 I 9 DECISIONS TO BE TAKEN BY THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS 1. Approve that organizational charts/decrees of the Water Establishments be modified and made general to leave with some flexibility for filling their gaps in staffing the way they find appropriate 2. Emphasize on the importance of and Speed up the ratification of the updated version of the Water Code by the Parliament 3. Appeal for funding from the international community to the water sector, to complete ongoing projects, upgrade existing infrastructure to operate at their full capacity, and provide capacity building and technical assistance programs. 4. Approve some type of recruitment within the WE's. Ideally, recruitment through the Council of Civil Service for permanent employees, or else recruitment of temporary staff through Ghob Talab projects or through individual contracts financed by the WE, with the aim of making them permanent when the situation allows or the policy of no recruitment changes. 5. Nominate a committee composed of a Water Resources Expert, a Groundwater Resources Expert, Legal and Institutional Expert, Environmental Expert, Irrigation Expert and a Dam Expert, headed by the Minister of Energy and Water to follow up the implementation of the Strategy recommendations. 6. Encourage people who are illegally connected, or refuse to subscribe or to pay, to become legal and allow the WE’s along with MoEW and MoIM and security forces to enforce the law as deemed appropriate. 7. Approve the addition of a flat Wastewater tariff of no less than 100,000 LBP to allow WE’s to cover O&M of Wastewater systems at least partially, until the tariff restructuring study is done through the AFD Technical Assistance project. NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 10 Summaries of cost estimates May 2020 I - 68 I 10 SUMMARIES OF COST ESTIMATES I 10.1 WATER GOVERNANCE Table I 17 Summary of required Water Governance studies Financial, Commercial, Reporting & Monitoring, Capacity Building, Operation and Maintenance Studies NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 10 Summaries of cost estimates May 2020 I - 69 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 10 Summaries of cost estimates May 2020 I - 70 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 10 Summaries of cost estimates May 2020 I - 71 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 10 Summaries of cost estimates May 2020 I - 72 Table I 18 Cost Estimate of Legal and Regulatory Framework Reform Studies Name of study Duration (months) Cost (USD) Study to prepare, adopt and promulgate the implementation decrees as foreseen in law 77 dated 16 April 2018 8 50,000 Study to draft and revised water establishment organization bylaws, support approval process and follow up their enactment 4 45,000 Study to draft the new code of irrigation 6 50,000 Study to draft the decrees allowing the Ministry of Energy and Water to audit the efficiency of the Water Establishments on basis of their performances and define these performances 2 20,000 Study to draft a legal text related to the competence of the Tutelage 2 20,000 Total 185,000 NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 10 Summaries of cost estimates May 2020 I - 73 Table I 19 Cost estimates for meteorological, hydrometric studies Priority Project Description Estimated cost code (USD) MH A. Meteorological and Hydrometric network expansions and improvements 1 MH-A.1 790,000 1 MH-A.2 200,000 1 MH-A.3 100,000 1 MH-A.4 250,000 1 MH-A.5 426,400 1 MH-A.6 4,300,000 Total 6,066,400 Out of which : Priority 1 6,066,400 Priority 2 Priority 3 MH-B. Integrated Hydrological Information System 1 MH-B.1 Required studies for IHIS implementation: 250,000 625,000 675,000 425,000 100,000 200,000 500,000 800,000 1 500,000 4,075,000 1 MH-B.2 240,000 500,000 1,000,000 300,000 300,000 1 500,000 2,840,000 Hydrological Study (25,000$ x 20) Hydraulic Study and Flood Mapping (50,000$ x 20) Flood risk management plan including a conceptual and legal framework, a program of measures, early warning protocol, organizational framework… (25,000$ x 20) Risk Analysis (15,000$ x 20) Social Environmental Assessment SEA/Habitat Assessment (15,000$ x 20) * Assessment studies (1 x 250,000$) * Update and Analysis of the NLUMP and annexed geodatabase (1 x 625,000$) * Lebanese Data Rescue Project (1 x 675,000$) * Design studies for the IHIS implementation (1 x 425,000) * Integrated water resources management studies (Catchment scale study for 20 Lebanese major rivers that watersheds exceed 100 km2. Revision of existing studies (20 x 5,000$) Data collection (20 x 10,000$) Data analysis and compilation (20 x 25,000$) WEAP modeling (20 x 40,000$) Report (20 x 25,000$) Flood Risk Management Plan Topographical and urban surveys of river and floodplains (12,000$ x 20) LMS + LRA Meteorological Network Expansion Coastal Catchments: 9 Uncovered Catchments (+5 stations) 6 Semi-covered Catchments (+3 stations) Snow monitoring stations (+1 station per catchment above 2000m) LMS + LRA Meteorological Network Expansion Interior Catchments: 1 Uncovered Catchments (+5 stations) 3 Semi-covered Catchments (+3 stations) Snow monitoring stations (+1 station per catchment above 2000m) LARI Meteorological Network Expansion Maintenance instruments for 10 stations MoEW Meteorological Network Expansion Natural reserves and Forests LRA Hydrometric Network Improvement: Improvement of hydrometric stations as per LWP assessment report LRA Hydrometric Network Expansion: Complementary hydrometric monitoring stations for stream connections coverage Complementary hydrometric monitoring stations for hydrogeology coverage Main springs ADCP Installation Groundwater well monitoring NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 10 Summaries of cost estimates May 2020 I - 74 Priority Project Description Estimated cost code (USD) 1 140,000 1 125,000 Total 7,180,000 Out of which : Priority 1 7,180,000 Priority 2 Priority 3 1 MH-C.1 2,000,000 1 III-C. A.3 288,000 1 III-C. A.4 1 80,000 Total 2,368,000 Out of which : Priority 1 2,368,000 Priority 2 Priority 3 Drought Mitigation Plan IHIS implementation Development of an implementation strategy and program (50,000$) Define the conceptual and legal framework, methodology (20,000$) Data collection including historical drought events (10,000$) Establish indicators and thresholds for drought classification (25,000$) Develop a program of measures, mitigations and recommendations for a nation scale strategy (50,000$) Establish drought early warning protocol (25,000$) Establish organizational framework for the production, implementation and update of the drought mitigation plan (10,000$). Rainwater harvesting program Define the conceptual and legal framework, methodology (20,000$) Data collection (10,000$) Hydrological assessment of the rainwater harvesting potential (20,000$) Determination of the harvesting methods and potential implementation sites (25,000$) IHIS Operation for 24 months Establish a WEAP Unit within the Ministry of Energy and Water WEAP Entreprise license Purchase (2 years, multi projects) (10,000$) Hardware purchase (20,000$) Establish a WEAP Unit including trainings and courses (50,000$) NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 10 Summaries of cost estimates May 2020 I - 75 I 10.2 GROUNDWATER STUDIES COST ESTIMATE Table I 20 Groundwater Management Studies Cost Estimate Priority Project Description Estimated cost code (USD) RS-A Implementation of a Project Management Unit for a 5 years period 1 RS-A.1 6,700,000 1 RS-A.2 325,000 1 RS-A.3 1,060,000 1 RS-A.4 420,000 Total Implementation of PMU 8,505,000 Out of which : Priority 1 8,505,000 Priority 2 Priority 3 RS-C General Geological and Hydrogeological Studies 1 RS-C.1 9,500,000 3 RS-C.2 2,000,000 3 RS-C.3 1,600,000 3 RS-C.4 3,000,000 3 RS-C.5 3,000,000 Total Geology and hydrogeology mapping and studies 19,100,000 Out of which : Priority 1 9,500,000 Priority 2 Priority 3 9,600,000 RS-D Drilling and testing exploratory wells 1 RS-D.1 2,500,000 1 RS-D.2 500,000 1 RS-D.3 1,050,000 2 RS-D.4 1,500,000 2 RS-D.5 600,000 Total Drilling and testing exploratory wells 6,150,000 Out of which : Priority 1 4,050,000 Priority 2 2,100,000 Priority 3 In Daichouniye - 2 wells Modeling of major karst aquifers hydrogeological basins Modeling of major porous, saline aquifer systems In Akkar plain - 5 wells In Brak (Zahrani) - 1 well In Damour - 3 wells In Hadath-Hazmieh - 3 wells Groundwater vulnerability mapping for springs Q > 10 l/s Mobilisation of experts Purchase of cars, IT equipment, flow monitoring equipment, flow meters, manual dipmeters, misc working tools and required software Travel and transportation expenses Office expenses Geology ang hydrogeology mapping and studies Refreshment of water budget studies of major hydrogeological basins NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 10 Summaries of cost estimates May 2020 I - 76 I 10.3 CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS COSTS ESTIMATES Table I 21 Consolidated projects cost estimates, by WE (in M USD, VAT and expropriation excluded) NLWE BWE SLWE BMLWE Total Priority 1 projects Water 341.11 96.08 421.33 420.70 1 279.22 Wastewater 268.78 214.35 366.90 569.20 1 419.23 Irrigation 29.02 109.58 86.55 1.01 226.15 Dams 196.00 52.00 - 65.00 313.00 Hill Lakes 33.37 - - - 33.37 Aquifer Artificial Recharge (*) 3.65 Meteorological and Hydrometric networks (*) 15.61 General Studies and Investigations (**) 35.78 Total 868.28 472.01 874.78 1 055.91 3 326.01 Priority 2 projects Water - 50.27 12.60 122.64 185.51 Wastewater 2.85 268.10 76.99 205.20 553.14 Irrigation 11.20 83.00 408.86 1.15 504.21 Dams 50.00 150.00 273.00 200.00 673.00 Hill Lakes 110.72 55.20 119.70 33.50 319.12 Aquifer Artificial Recharge (*) 11.60 Meteorological and Hydrometric networks (*) General Studies and Investigations (**) 2.50 Total 174.77 606.57 891.15 562.49 2 249.07 Priority 3 projects Water - 1.56 - 22.95 24.51 Wastewater - 47.46 79.28 105.00 231.74 Irrigation 103.25 4.51 299.70 5.17 412.63 Dams 150.00 107.06 480.00 53.00 790.06 Hill Lakes 22.90 - - - 22.90 Aquifer Artificial Recharge (*) 16.50 Meteorological and Hydrometric networks (*) General Studies and Investigations (**) 11.15 Total 276.15 160.59 858.98 186.12 1 509.49 Total Projects 1 319.20 1 239.17 2 624.91 1 804.51 7 084.56 15% Contingencies 197.88 185.87 393.74 270.68 1 062.68 Grang Total 1 517.07 1 425.04 3 018.64 2 075.18 8 147.25 * Including studies and implementation ** Including General geological studies + PMU and Governance NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 10 Summaries of cost estimates May 2020 I - 77 Table I 22 Consolidated projects cost estimates, by Sector (in M USD, VAT and expropriation excluded) Water Wastewater irrigation Dams Hill lakes Total Priority 1 projects NLWE 341.11 268.78 29.02 196.00 33.37 868.28 BWE 96.08 214.35 109.58 52.00 - 472.01 SLWE 421.33 366.90 86.55 - - 874.78 BMLWE 420.70 569.20 1.01 65.00 - 1 055.91 Aquifer Artificial Recharge (*) 3.65 Meteorological and Hydrometric networks (*) 15.61 General Studies and Investigations (**) 35.78 Total 1 279.22 1 419.23 226.15 313.00 33.37 3 326.01 Priority 2 projects NLWE - 2.85 11.20 50.00 110.72 174.77 BWE 50.27 268.10 83.00 150.00 55.20 606.57 SLWE 12.60 76.99 408.86 273.00 119.70 891.15 BMLWE 122.64 205.20 1.15 200.00 33.50 562.49 Aquifer Artificial Recharge (*) 11.60 Meteorological and Hydrometric networks (*) General Studies and Investigations (**) 2.50 Total 185.51 553.14 504.21 673.00 319.12 2 249.07 Priority 3 projects NLWE - - 103.25 150.00 22.90 276.15 BWE 1.56 47.46 4.51 107.06 - 160.59 SLWE - 79.28 299.70 480.00 - 858.98 BMLWE 22.95 105.00 5.17 53.00 - 186.12 Aquifer Artificial Recharge (*) 16.50 Meteorological and Hydrometric networks (*) General Studies and Investigations (**) 11.15 Total 24.51 231.74 412.63 790.06 22.90 1 509.49 Total Projects 1 489.24 2 204.11 1 142.98 1 776.06 375.39 7 084.56 15% Contingencies 223.39 330.62 171.45 266.41 56.31 1 062.68 Grang Total 1 712.62 2 534.73 1 314.42 2 042.47 2 042.47 8 147.25 * Including studies and implementation ** Including General geological studies + PMU and Governance NATIONAL WATER SECTOR STRATEGY UPDATE - 2020 VOLUME I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I 10 Summaries of cost estimates May 2020 I - 78 I 10.4 COST OF WATER AND WASTEWATER WORKS PER CAPITA Table I 23 Ratio of projects cost per capita Project Cost Population Ratio Project Cost Population Ratio M USD capita USD / cap M USD capita USD / cap NORTH LEBANON WATER ESTABLISHMENT BEIRUT & MOUNT LEBANON WATER EST. Drinking water projects Drinking water projects NL-W A. District of Batroun 23.14 93 578 247 BML-W A. District of Beirut 133.60 643 059 208 NL-W B. District of Halba 72.49 377 776 192 BML-W B. District of Jbeil 64.00 218 128 293 NL-W C. District of Koura 29.84 171 508 174 BML-W C. District of Baabda Aley 100.26 1 198 485 84 NL-W D. District of Minieh 32.17 167 742 192 BML-W D. District of Keserwan 48.81 464 480 105 NL-W E. District of Ed Danniyeh 31.93 121 074 264 BML-W E. District of Chouf 127.42 409 006 312 NL-W F. District of Zgharta 47.39 139 251 340 BML-W F. District of Meten 92.20 1 064 429 87 NL-W G. District of Tripoli 30.80 483 451 64 Average 142 NL-W H. District of Qobayate 73.36 179 838 408 Wastewater projects Average 197 BML-WW A. District of Beirut 50.00 643 059 78 Wastewater projects BML-WW B. District of Jbeil 140.25 218 128 643 NL-WW A. District of Akkar 111.70 635 838 176 BML-WW C. District of Baabda Aley 289.25 1 198 485 241 NL-WW B. District of Koura 29.73 171 508 173 BML-WW D. District of Keserwan 23.40 464 480 50 NL-WW C. District of Minieh 80.30 167 742 479 BML-WW E. District of Chouf 138.45 409 006 339 NL-WW D. District of Zgharta 41.50 139 251 298 BML-WW F. District of Metn 238.05 1 064 429 224 NL-WW E. District of Batroun 8.40 93 578 90 Average 220 Average 225 SOUTH LEBANON WATER ESTABLISHMENT BEQAA WATER ESTABLISHMENT Drinking water projects Drinking water projects SL-W A. District of Nabatiye 94.80 353 107 268 BQ-W A. District of Baalbeck 60.19 588 872 102 SL-W B. District of Jezzine 31.55 46 964 672 BQ-W B. District of Hermel 38.52 107 820 357 SL-W C. District of Sour 76.87 639 726 120 BQ-W C. District of West Beqaa, Zahleh & Rachaiya 49.21 742 940 66 SL-W D. District of Zahrani 70.50 210 183 335 Average 103 SL-W E. District of Saida 43.90 317 202 138 Wastewater projects SL-W F. District of Bint Jbeil 60.90 301 366 202 BQ-WW A. District of Baalbeck 295.28 588 872 501 SL-W G. District of Marjaayoun & Hasbaya 55.41 136 057 407 BQ-WW B. District of Hermel 116.75 107 820 1 083 Average 216 BQ-WW C. District of Zahleh - West Beqaa 44.00 665 560 66 Wastewater projects BQ-WW D. District of Rachaya 73.88 77 380 955 SL-WW A. District of Nabatiye 78.70 353 107 223 Average 368 SL-WW B. District of Sour 87.35 639 726 137 SL-WW C. District of Bint Jbeil 205.80 301 366 683 SL-WW D. District of Jezzine 15.62 46 964 333 SL-WW E. District of Saida 135.70 317 202 428 Average 315