Temporal Changes in the Lebanese Litani River: Hydrological Assessment and Recommended Actions to Handle with the Human and Global Change Impacts
Ecosystem services
Provisioning services: freshwater for drinking , cleaning and irrigation, natural medicines, electricity (The Litani River authority works on the production of renewable energy, non-polluting and amounting to 190 MW. It constitutes 5% to 10% of overall production) , food (fish).
Regulating services: water regulation (Storage and retention of water flowing in Qaraoun Lake) , water purification (remove harmful pollutants), waste treatment.
Cultural services: knowledge systems, educational values, inspiration, social relations, sense of place, cultural heritage values, recreation and ecotourism (The upper Litani basin includes two significant archaeological sites, Baalbek and Anjar, and holds potential for its rugged and spectacular landscape).
Supporting services: water quality regulation.
Indicators to assess the socio-economic impacts of climate change
Exposure: precipitation.
Sensitivity: topography, distribution and density of population, water use.
Vulnerability Assessment Indicators
Precipitation. Rivers discharge. Water consumption per capita. Water consumption in agriculture and industry.
Projected water demand of domestic supply in MCM/year (MENBO, 2007)
Year 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030
Bekaa 34.26 38.82 43.17 45.18 46.78
South 24.63 27.20 29.49 30.21 30.62
total 58.89 66.02 72.66 75.39 77.39 Projected water demand of industrial supply in MCM/year (MENBO, 2007)
Year 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030
Bekaa 3.61 4.05 4.57 5.14 5.74
South 1.49 1.67 1.87 2.10 2.35
Total 5.10 5.72 6.43 7.24 8.08 Water demand for agriculture purposes
159 MCM from surface water (MENBO, 2007). Irrigated areas which fall within the Litani watershed use mainly basin water for irrigation. No major diversions exist which carry the water to Litani River basin. However, good part of the Litani water is diverted to other watersheds making possible for irrigation projects outside the Litani Watershed.
Der El-Ahmar • Upper Litani River basin • Altitude: 1280 m
Zahle • Middle Litani River basin • Altitude: 952 m
Sour • Lower Litani River basin • Altitude:10 m Berdaouni station on El-Berdaouni river
Khrayzat station after El-Khrayzat spring
Qasmiyeh station on El-Qasmiyeh river
Precipitation Data
1000.00
800.00
600.00 Der El-Ahmar 400.00
Linear (Der El-Ahmar) Rainfall inRainfall mm 200.00
0.00
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
1000.00
800.00
600.00 zahle 400.00 Linear (zahle) Rainfall inRainfall mm 200.00
0.00 Precipitation Data
1000
800
600 Sour 400 Linear (Sour) Rainfall inRainfall mm 200
0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 AVERAGE OF ANNUAL TREND IN THESE 3 STATIONS
20% 3.5%
4.5%
9.36%
300.00 1994 450.00 1995 1995 400.00 1996 1996 250.00 350.00 1997 1997 1998 200.00 1998 300.00 1999 1999 250.00 2000 150.00 2000 200.00 2001 2001 2002 100.00 2002 150.00 2003 2003 100.00 2004 50.00 2004 50.00 2005 2005 2006
0.00 0.00
2006 2007
2007 2008
July
May June
2008 April 2009
March
August January
2009 October
February 2010
December November 2010 September 2011
350.00 1998 1999 300.00 2000 2001 250.00 2002 2003 200.00 2004 150.00 2005 2006 100.00 2007 2008 50.00 2009 0.00 2010 2011 2012 RIVER’S DISCHARGE
120.000
) 100.000
3 80.000 60.000 Berdaouni
40.000 Discharge (MmDischarge 20.000 linear (Berdaouni) 0.000
16.000
14.000
) 3 12.000 10.000 8.000 6.000 Khrayzat 4.000 Discharge (MmDischarge 2.000
0.000 Linear
(Khrayzat)
74 08 62 64 66 68 70 72 79 81 83 85 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 10
------
73 07 61 63 65 67 69 71 78 80 82 84 91 93 95 97 99 01 03 05 09 RIVER’S DISCHARGE
1600.000
1400.000
)
3 1200.000 1000.000 800.000 600.000 Qasmiye
Discharge (MmDischarge 400.000 Linear 200.000 (Qasmiye) 0.000 AVERAGE OF THE RIVER’S DISCHARGE IN THESE 3 STATIONS
12.5% 45%
78.72%
45.40% 2.000 25.000 00-01 00-01 1.800
01-02 01-02 ) 3 20.000 1.600
02-03 02-03 )
3 1.400 03-04 03-04 15.000 1.200 04-05 04-05 1.000 05-06 10.000 05-06 0.800 06-07 06-07 0.600 5.000 07-08 river's discharge river's (Mm 07-08 0.400 08-09
08-09 discharge river's (Mm 0.200 0.000 09-10 09-10 0.000 10-11 10-11
450.000 00-01 400.000 01-02
02-03 )
3 350.000 300.000 03-04 04-05 250.000 05-06 200.000 06-07 150.000 07-08
river's discharge river's (Mm 100.000 08-09 50.000 09-10 0.000 10-11 Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Fév. Mars Avril Mais Juin Juil. Aôut