“Lebanon Debate”
With the beginning of the peak summer season and the increase in arrivals to Lebanese beaches, there is renewed interest in the environmental situation of seawater, in light of the 2026 annual report issued by the National Council for Scientific Research in cooperation with the National Center for Marine Sciences, which shows a discrepancy between areas that were classified as suitable for swimming and others that still suffer from varying levels of pollution.
In this context, MP Najat Aoun Saliba, a member of the Parliamentary Environment Committee, explained in an interview with “Lebanon Debate” that “the report indicates that 68% of Lebanese beaches are safe or suitable for swimming, and this classification is based on bacterial tests, that is, on testing the presence of sewage water that may flow into the sea in places where people swim, and these tests are usually conducted by the ship ‘Qana’ that tours various Lebanese beaches.”
She points out that “it is not possible to be satisfied with only bacterial tests or E. coli tests, which indicate the presence of sewage in the sea, with the aim of being completely reassured that the water is suitable for swimming, as there may be other chemicals present in the sea and it is not known whether they have been subjected to the necessary tests.”
On the other hand, she pointed out that “there are reports or a geographical survey conducted by the Lebanese army to survey encroachments on marine property, a survey dating back to the year 2024, and since that time this report has been requested from successive Ministers of Works, starting with Minister Ali Hamiyah and ending with the current minister, but to this day the report has not been delivered on the pretext that the study or survey has not yet been fully completed.”
She confirms that “encroachments on marine property have not decreased, but rather have increased significantly, noting that these encroachments, including construction, filling, and others, directly affect the pollutants that are thrown into the sea, so E. coli testing is important but not sufficient.”
He also notes that environmental tests, whether for the sea or the air, are always affected by climate change, as wind movement may contribute to mixing and distributing pollutants, which leads to a change in pollution rates from one region to another. There may be pollution in a specific area at a specific time, but it does not remain constant, but may move to other areas the next day, so you wonder about the number of samples on which the report is based, as relying on samples that are limited in time and space makes the results related only to the time and place in which they were conducted.”
She stresses “the importance of demonstrating the existence of beaches suitable for swimming, but at the same time the necessity of not giving citizens an excessive feeling of reassurance, given the continued dumping of sewage into the sea, in addition to the movement of water and sea currents that lead to constantly changing places of pollution, which makes the state of the sea change from one week to another or even from one day to another.”
As for the 19% of sites that are not suitable for swimming, she points out that “it is not possible to place much reliance on these numbers, given that environmental data change from time to time and from one region to another,” pointing out that to effectively address this pollution, we must go to its primary sources.
She explains that “the refining stations that were established along the Lebanese coast at a cost estimated at about one billion dollars have not been operated as required to date, which means diverting the sewage sewage that was supposed to pass through these stations directly into the sea, and thus the pollution continues despite the presence of infrastructure designated for treatment.”
Saliba addresses the issue of swimming pools and tourist facilities that were classified in the report as suitable for swimming, asking whether the water drainage mechanism in them has been verified, and whether they are equipped with treatment systems that prevent the discharge of polluted water into the sea, stressing “the necessity of oversight from the Ministries of Tourism and Environment before granting licenses, to ensure that these facilities adhere to environmental standards and do not turn into additional sources of pollution, in addition to the absence of actual control over domestic water discharge.” “And industrial construction, whether bathrooms, kitchens, or anything else, exacerbates the size of the environmental problem and leads to continued pollution of the sea.”
She considers that “it is necessary to stop all sources of pollution, whether resulting from untreated sewage, or those associated with tourist facilities, or even some industrial factories that are said to discharge their waste directly into the sea without adequate treatment.”
In this context, she points out that “information has been received about a number of factories in different regions, including Chekka, Kafr Hazir, crushers, and cement factories, where water is used to wash materials and is discharged into the sea without adequate filters or treatment, noting that these examples remain partial compared to the size of the larger problem, which, in her words, requires a comprehensive review of all pollution files.”
Saliba concludes by stressing that “what is required is a radical treatment that starts from stopping the sources of pollution directly, instead of being satisfied with superficial or partial treatment, because the real solution starts from the source before any other measure.”
