And this pollution that no longer trades

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After a last week rather devoted to excitement, the outbursts are multiplying on social networks, with photos in support, of volunteers who clean the beaches. The action is obviously to be welcomed. They work for the public good, where the state has resigned.

However, this waste is only the tip of the iceberg that the population refuses to see.

One can also doubt the effectiveness of the thing. Where these associations work are already beaches that were cleaned last year. Better or worse, where they clean up are beaches where property developers refuse to do so unlike other seaside resorts. It is not by cleaning 16, 17, 18 times or even more that we solve a consequence of a problem but by attacking the very root of the problem .

These types of pollution are not visible and therefore cause less talk. The population was delighted to no longer see their garbage on the streets in 2015. Public opinion was caught up in the beach pollution scandal following the first storm in January 2018. It is now a question of confronting it with the daily reality which remains invisible for the majority.

Our population has 250 cases of cancer per 10,000 inhabitants against a regional average of 180 cases. This difference demonstrates that there is an environmental factor that comes into play and that it must be eliminated.

What about pesticide pollution?

Let’s go over that. Removing visible pollution is something that serves to forget the other types of pollution we are dealing with and which make Lebanon one of the countries whose population has one of the highest rates per inhabitant. A survey carried out a few years ago had already mentioned the pollution of our food products with pesticides in particular .

“40% of crops on average contain pesticide residues, but this varies by region: 39% of crops in Akkar are contaminated, 17% in Chouf, 26% in Iklim-al-Kharroub, 50% in areas close to Beirut, and 58% in South Lebanon.

In addition, the rate of contamination also varies from one crop to another: 40% of strawberries contain pesticide residues, 32% of oranges, 30% of tomatoes, 49% of cucumbers, 14% of lemons, 33% plums, and 100% zucchini [ .”

In 2016, then-environment and health ministers Akram Chehayed and Waël abou Faour admitted that 45 carcinogenic-type pesticides were used in Lebanon .

Wastewater, the main source of pollution

The second type of pollution that the Lebanese face is that of groundwater. It is even the main pollution for which the Lebanese are exposed. Most Lebanese regions do not have sewage treatment plants. The other important factor of groundwater pollution is of either agricultural origin, with the use of fertilizers, or industrial.

Either they exist only on papers, or they are built but they are not connected to the public sewer network, and in a few rare cases, they are built and operate. Most sewage in Lebanon – 85% in 2013 – is therefore directly discharged into rivers, rivers and even the sea. These pollutants therefore affect our land and sea food chains just as much and remain invisible to most of us.

One of the most striking examples is at the very gates of Beirut, namely Nahr Beirut transformed into a veritable open sewer. Some of the best-known beaches, such as those of Byblos, are crossed by sewers, the promoters of these beaches covering these sewers with sand so that customers do not notice it.

Various projects are underway, financed by foreign institutions, in particular European countries, or the IMF or the World Bank . It remains that equipping all of the Lebanese regions with a wastewater treatment unit is estimated at 400 million dollars.

Air pollution, the refrain of our traffic jams and the lack of our industries

Day after day, we can see a kind of fog above Beirut. This pollution is caused by road traffic on the one hand and by certain factories such as the Zouk Mosbeh power plant or even neighborhood generators which are obviously not equipped with the necessary filters.

Thus, particulate air pollution was 40% higher in road traffic time in Lebanon according to a study published by Najat Saliba , a researcher at AUB. These airborne particles can enter the body through the lungs, circulate in the bloodstream and cause heart disease, lung cancer, asthma and lower respiratory tract infections.

A new type of pollution: dioxins from our garbage

Open-air waste incineration at a landfill in Majadel, southern Lebanon. © 2017 Human Rights Watch

The last type of pollution whose magnitude has recently been discovered is that linked to the waste crisis, namely the fact that wild dumps are deliberately set on fire, causing significant and uncontrolled releases of dioxins. HRW published a report on the matter in December 2017 which seems to be quite disturbing.

The Ministry of Environment and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) provided Human Rights Watch with a map of 617 uncontrolled municipal solid waste landfills, 150 of which incinerate at least once a week. The vast majority of the inhabitants of the incriminated localities questioned within the framework of this report reported effects on their health which they attribute to the incineration and inhalation of fumes from the combustion of waste in the open air, in particular respiratory problems such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cough, throat irritation and asthma.

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