South Lebanon Water Establishment: Stormwater Drainage Outside Our Jurisdiction but We Are Ready to Cooperate

The "South Lebanon Water Establishment" issued a statement explaining to the public the causes and consequences of rainwater accumulation in several neighborhoods of the city of Sidon and its surroundings last Saturday, clarifying the following:

First: The construction, maintenance, and cleaning of flood and stormwater drainage channels are neither within the jurisdiction nor the responsibilities of the Establishment, as they existed even before the Establishment was founded. Its tasks in the sanitation sector are limited to sewage networks, lines, and stations, which are dedicated to transporting and treating wastewater.

Second: Sewage lines, including the main line connected to the Siniq station, are designed to accommodate only sewage water, not floods or rainwater. The arrival of large quantities of these waters leads to damage and operational shutdowns. The direct cause is that "entities and institutions" previously linked stormwater drainage channels to sewage drains over many years. This is a chronic and difficult problem in the sanitation sector that no single entity can solve alone; it requires the combined efforts of all stakeholders.

Third: The Establishment's teams opened the Qamleh channel for drainage and removed "obstacles" and bags used to block the sea drain as usual, specifically three weeks ago.

Fourth: The Establishment affirmed its full readiness to cooperate and coordinate with all relevant parties to reach radical and sustainable solutions to this problem, protecting the city and its people and preventing recurrence.

Fifth: The Establishment has handled this file seriously from the beginning and implemented several projects in Sidon and its suburbs in this context, most notably:
1. The project separating rainwater from sewage in the city of Sidon: Implemented by the Establishment in cooperation with UNICEF and the German Development Bank (KfW). It includes rehabilitating the Qamleh channel for winter drainage, including casting support walls, executing concrete structures, and removing encroachments on the channel.
2. The project to rehabilitate the main sewage collector line in the Ain al-Dalb watercourse: This line discharges into the Siniq – Sidon station. Works included replacing damaged 400mm diameter concrete sewage lines that were leaking into the riverbed, in addition to constructing new manholes. This was executed under the sewage network rehabilitation project in cooperation with UNICEF.
3. Emergency maintenance works and replacement of old networks and distribution lines: Completed by the Establishment in parallel with works to separate sewage channels and drains from rainwater channels and drains. These were carried out by the Establishment's works and maintenance teams in two shifts, day and night, so as not to hinder citizens' work and movement.

The Establishment renewed its "readiness to place its technical expertise and capabilities at the disposal of any joint effort addressing this dilemma at its roots, out of concern for citizen safety and the continuity of public services."