Cyprus has one of the worst fresh water shortage than other regional countries, including Lebanon, Israel and Syria. The problem is so bad that reservoirs have gone dry and trees are dying.
Importing water into Cyprus is an idea that has been tried in the past. Doing so via a pipeline has been under consideration in the northern Turkish occupied half; which entered into an agreement to import water from Turkey via an undersea pipeline.
Now the southern portion of the Island, known as the Republic of Cyprus, is seriously considering importing water into their side of the island as well. Nikos Kougialis Minister for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, in a meeting with Mr. Gebran Bassil, Lebanese Minister of Energy and Water pursued the idea of importing Lebanese water into Cyprus by either ship or pipeline.
The resulting conclusion to their meeting was to form a committee to study the practical and economic feasibility of importing the water into Cyprus by either conveyance.
Although Lebanon has many more water resources than Cyprus, it has its own water issues that
need more governmental attention to resolve. These issues include a Greenpeace investigation made 2012 that found serious Lebanese coastal contamination caused by solid waste problems, waste water problems and industrial emissions.
This is not surprising as it was reported earlier that Lebanese garbage trucks are dumping straight into the sea. Also, raw sewage from the mainland is seeping into the sea as well. (See photo above)
This type of environmental damage has obviously caused considerable pollution to Lebanon’s ground water resources; which might make Cyprus want to think again before entering into an agreement to import fresh water from that country.
Read more articles on water issues in Cyprus, Lebanon and the region:
Lebanon: Greenpeace Investigation Reveals Toxic coast Pollution
Water Problems of Cyprus Worse than Those of Israel, Syria and Lebanon
Turkey to Pipe Fresh Water to Northern Cyprus Undersea – A World First
Hala, absolutly right. Now if you add solar/wind power with a decentralised and affordable approach to desalination technologies I am 100% sure, desalination is a much more environmental and certanly less costly solution. Overall however, both countries should really focus more on water management incl. waste water recycling to harvest their “waste” water or what we call it secondary ressources. Oliver
as a Lebanese, I think both cyprus and Lebanon need to look into desalinization technology