Filenews 23 July 2021
Shortages and the currency crisis in Lebanon could cause the water supply system to collapse next month, Unicef warned today.
"More than four million people, including one million refugees, in Lebanon are very quickly at risk of no longer having access to drinking water," Unicef stressed in a statement.
Maintenance costs estimated in US dollars, lack of funding and the collapse of the electricity system in Lebanon are also affecting water supply, the UN agency has clarified.
"Unicef estimated that most water pumps will gradually stop operating across the country in the next four to six weeks," said Guquie Mokuo, Unicef's representative in Lebanon.
And "the loss of access to water may cause households to make extremely difficult decisions about their basic water, hygiene and cleanliness needs," he added.
Lebanon's collapse, triggered by the economic crisis caused by corruption and mismanagement, quickly spread to all areas of everyday life. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value against the US dollar in the past 18 months.
In most of the country electricity outages reach 23 hours a day, as there are shortages of fuel necessary for the operation of generators. Key medicines have disappeared from pharmacy shelves for months and private hospitals warned yesterday Thursday that their electricity stocks are at risk of "running out in the next few hours."
Source: RES
