Abstract
Lebanon is known by the availability in water resources whether on surface or among the existing rock for-mations. However, the status-quo does not reflect this availability due to a number of physical factors, as well as the mismanagement of these resources. Hence, the per capita has been reduced by about 50% in the last three decades. There are sixteen exposed rock formations in Lebanon, two of them are major aquifers and they are characterized by highly fractured and karstified carbonate rocks. Recently, challenges for groundwater in Lebanon have been developed. These are the: overexploitation, climate change and the acute geologic setting, which led to decline in rainfall rate, and thus exacerbated water demand. The existing chal-lenges resulted with a number of problems in ground water resources management, namely: quality deterio-ration, impact on springs and groundwater behavior, loss of groundwater o the sea, saltwater intrusion and exacerbated by the lack of data and mismanagement in water sector. In this respect, new technologies can be utilized as a helpful instrument in managing groundwater resources to treat the unfavorable situation. Space techniques and GIS have been recently raised in several topics on water resources management, including, mainly exploration and monitoring. They proved to be capable to extract hydrogeologic information and thus to manipulate this information in creditable approaches of analysis. This study introduced the present status on the Lebanese groundwater resources and the existing challenges and problems. Thus, it extends an appli-cation from Lebanon on the used new approaches for exploring groundwater.
Highlights
Water shortage has become a serious national problem in many regions worldwide and it is in continues exacerbation
Lebanon is known by the availability in water resources whether on surface or among the existing rock formations
Challenges for groundwater in Lebanon have been developed. These are the: overexploitation, climate change and the acute geologic setting, which led to decline in rainfall rate, and exacerbated water demand
Summary
Water shortage has become a serious national problem in many regions worldwide and it is in continues exacerbation. Demand for water has increased with population growth and the change in climatic conditions This is well pronounced in arid and semiarid regions such as the Middle East, which is the utmost influenced region by water shortage and Lebanon is a typical example. With 10400 km surface area, is located between the following geographic coordinates: 33°01′07′′; 34°39′40′′ and 35°07′30′′; 36°37′15′′ (Figure 1) It is described as the “water tower”; it is still suffering of water deficit, and demand for water has become crucial. Other than surface water resources, groundwater in Lebanon is widely exploited and the two major aquifers are subjected to intensive water abstraction and tremendous aspects of contamination.
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