Water Resources of Lebanon

Water has become a challenging resource that many countries worldwide are concerned with. Thus, water is often linked with health, society development, national income and even international geo-politics. Sometimes, water resources are unavailable, but successful management involves developing approaches and projects to assure water supply. However, there are some countries with available water resources, but unsatisfactory management, and thus complain about water supply becoming a national problem. This situation is prevalent in Lebanon, a country characterized by abundant water resources whether on the surface or sub-surface.

It is a paradox that there is still imbalance in water supply/demand in Lebanon, and water resources are now under stress due to chaotic use. This has been exacerbated by the oscillating climatic conditions, increased population and improper management. Therefore, people receive less than one-third of their water needs, and most water supplied is ofpoor quality. The current status shows a descending trend. Undoubtedly, if the water sector in Lebanon continues this way, we should anticipate unfavourable (and may be severe) consequences.

Many studies have been conducted on water and related disciplines in Lebanon; however, all of them focus on specific themes and sometimes defined regions. Nevertheless, the occurred changes on the influencers (natural and man-made) have not been considered.

This book is the first of its type for Lebanon, and it shows all aspects of water resources with updated measurements and findings obtained by adopting new techniques. It diagnoses in-depth the major elements of water flow/storage mechanism that have never been covered in such a comprehensive manner before. Also, this book introduces and analyses the existing challenges and proposes solutions. It represents a comprehensive investigation of the water resources in Lebanon.

Dr. Amin Shaban is a:

Director of Researcher at the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS-L) &

Professor at the Lebanese University.

Consultant for several international entities (e.g. UN-ESCWA, UNESCO, IHP, ENPI-CBCMES-European Commission, etc.)

He has a Master degree from the American University of Beirut, Ph.D. from Bordeaux-I University, and he has achieved a Fulbright Program in the United States, at Boston University. He is specialized in water resources management including the use of satellite images to study surface and subsurface water bodies, monitoring water systems, groundwater exploration, watershed management, climate change impact on water, as well as the influencers on water supply.

Dr. Shaban is the representative for Lebanon in many international programs, including the International Hydrological Program (IHP) and SDG-6. He is also committed as representative for many national committees. Moreover, heis a membership in different scientific assemblies, such as American Geophysical Union (AGU) and International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS). Dr. Shaban has been given several honorary awards, such as the Award for Career Excellence in Scientific Research and Award of Distinguished Researchers; Award of Best Arab Researcher in Integrated Water Resources Management.

Dr. Shaban has more than 60 Publications in International Journals, as well as published in more than 50 International proceedings, a number of scientific books on water resources, and produced several book chapters and produced many technical studies. Dr. Shaban has been the Principal Investigator for more than 15 research projects and participated in more than 25 projects. He has a teaching experience of more than 15 years, and supervised many Master and Ph.D. dissertations.