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QARAOUN, Lebanon: Water levels at Lebanon’s largest reservoir on the Litani River have fallen to historic lows amid what experts describe as the country’s worst drought on record, threatening agriculture, electricity production, and domestic water supplies.

The Litani River National Authority said inflows to Lake Qaraoun during this year’s wet season did not exceed 45 million cubic meters, a fraction of the 350 million cubic meters annual average.

Last year, the figure stood at 230 million. The water currently available in Lake Qaraoun — around 61 million cubic meters — was unusable due to severe pollution, the authority said.

“There were dry years in 1989, 1990 and 1991, but this year is the driest,” said Sami Alawieh, head of the river authority. “We are facing a water scarcity problem across all Lebanese territories and water basins.”

Drone footage of Lake Qaraoun shows a dramatically receded shoreline, exposing cracked earth and dead vegetation.

Lebanon’s hydroelectric plants tied to the Litani basin have been shut down, Alawieh said, causing financial losses and intensifying electricity rationing by Electricite du Liban.

“We have two factors: the decline in rainfall and the pressure on groundwater,” he said.

A study by the authority found climate warming and shifting weather patterns have contributed to more frequent dry seasons and higher temperatures, exacerbating soil moisture loss and reducing the recharging of groundwater reservoirs.

The state utility has slashed supply in some areas from 20 hours a day to as little as 10.

In the fertile area around Qaraoun village, in the Bekaa Valley, farmers were already feeling the impact.

“I have never seen such drought or scarcity of rain as this year,” said Safa Issa. “We used to get snow up to a meter high. Now, it’s been 10 years since we’ve seen any.”

The strain has been compounded by erratic supply of electricity needed to run irrigation systems.

“You irrigate for three hours, then stop for three,” said Fayez Omais, another local farmer.

Suzy Hoayek, an adviser to the Ministry of Energy and Water in Beirut, said a nationwide awareness campaign to reduce consumption would be launched within 10 days.

“The most important thing is to manage demand,” she said.

BRUSSELS: EU foreign ministers on Tuesday discussed options for action against Israel over the war in Gaza — but looked unlikely to agree on any.
The bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has put forward 10 potential steps after Israel was found to have breached a cooperation deal between the two sides on human rights grounds.
The measures range from suspending the entire accord or curbing trade ties to sanctioning Israeli ministers, imposing an arms embargo and halting visa-free travel.
Despite growing anger over the devastation in Gaza, EU states remain divided over how to tackle Israel and diplomats say there appears to be no critical mass for any move.
“I can’t predict how the discussion will go,” Kallas said, ahead of the foreign ministers’ talks in Brussels.
She said the main focus would likely be on how the EU could leverage improvements to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
That comes after Kallas on Thursday announced a deal with Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, to open more entry points and allow in more food.
Gaza’s two million residents face dire humanitarian conditions as Israel has severely limited aid during its war with Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“We see some positive signs when it comes to border crossings open, we see some positive signs of them reconstructing the electricity lines, providing water, also more trucks of humanitarian aid coming in,” Kallas said Monday.
But she said the situation in Gaza remained “catastrophic.”
“Of course, we need to see more in order to see real improvement for the people on the ground,” she said.
Saar, speaking at a meeting in Brussels on Monday, was confident Israel would avoid further EU action.
“I’m sure not any of them will be adopted by the EU member states,” said the foreign minister. “There’s no justification whatsoever.”
While the EU appears unable to take further moves against Israel, just getting to this stage has been a considerable step.
The bloc only agreed to review the cooperation deal after Israel relaunched military operations in Gaza following the collapse of a ceasefire in March.
Until then deep divisions between countries backing Israel and those more favorable to the Palestinians had hamstrung any move.
In a sign of that, Hungary looked likely to maintain a block on more sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank despite French minister Jean-Noel Barrot making a fresh plea for action.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which led to 1,219 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Of 251 people taken hostage by Hamas, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry says that at least 58,386 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory campaign. The UN considers those figures reliable.