Topic: Ensuring Access to Potable Water
Country: Lebanon
Delegate Name: Isabelle Berry
School: Forest Hills Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Lebanon position papers GLIMUN 2016 committees
The multitude of issues arising from the simple lack of access to potable water on the global scale is striking. Individuals without water lose the focus or ability to perform other tasks, and societies lose the energy to create more holistic cultures. Proper sanitation, pollution management and prevention, and efficient transportation or sourcing of water plague both developed and underdeveloped nations. Approximately 85% of the world’s population lives in the driest half of the planet, which means easy access to water is a common problem. The UN agrees that everyone has the right to clean and safe drinking water, therefore Lebanon, and all other nations, need to work towards improving the global thirst.
Lebanon is currently dealing with poor water management and distribution among the drastic influx of Syrian refugees. With three years of below average rainfall, we are expecting droughts coupled with water companies that fall too short in meeting the needs of the people. MP Mohammad Qabbani, head of Parliament’s Public Works, Transport, Energy and Water Committee said, “There will be a water shortage this summer, but it will be gradual”. The Lebanon Water and Wastewater Sector Support Project (2009-2015) has been working to fix some of these issues by partnering with our four water establishments and the Ministry of Energy and Water. The Lebanon Water Project (2015-2016) presently seeks to further the improvements in infrastructure made by the LWWSS by promoting environmental, financial, and social sustainability.
Due to the past results and Lebanon’s current experiences, we believe the best solution to ensuring access to potable water lies in government prioritization. Properly managed infrastructure will be more reliable and of service to citizens than privately-owned water companies. Large corporations that seek to take advantage of citizens for their own benefit should be treated as a short-term solution or last resort to bringing water to communities. Public water treatments plants need to be built, and more programs need to be dedicated to reorganizing the strategies of water distribution. Lebanon would like to see these principles employed at home and on the international scale.
