2023-09-15 21:00:31
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Cancer does not have mercy on the young or the old in the town of “Hawsh Al-Rafiqa”, one of the Lebanese villages in the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. All ages are vulnerable to infection… When thinking regarding the reasons behind the high number of infections with the disease, we can only then examine the problem of the pollution of the Litani River. And study. Pollution of the Litani River is considered an environmental catastrophe affecting Lebanon in general and the residents of the Litani River Basin in particular. The river has turned into a sewage and agricultural canal, becoming a vector of epidemics and diseases.
According to medical statistics, a young man from the town of Housh Al-Rafiqa died this week due to cancer, and a woman was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition with advanced stages of the disease, in addition to many suffering countless injuries.
Housh Al-Rafiqa is an agricultural town. All its crops are irrigated with water from the Litani River or from artesian wells, most likely filled from the river. The town is considered poor, as there are no capitalists in it. It depends primarily on crops irrigated from the Cancer River.
Engineer Zainab Shehadeh, who is part of the team assigned by the Lebanon Water Corporation to operate and manage the sewage plants, pointed out that “most of the infected people in the region cannot withstand the disease for more than two months.”
Shehadeh adds, “In the past, the patient used to fight for more than 5 years, but now death is inevitable for every infected person… We do not know what is the reason behind this increase in infections, and she indicates the possibility that it is due to spoiled medicines, or that the cancer has mutated, or that poverty.” Preventing residents of the region from undergoing regular examinations to detect the disease early and fight it.”
The source of water in the town of Housh Al-Rafiqa is the Beit Shama well, which is currently equipped with solar energy, but the Lebanon Water Corporation has not received it until now, and no one knows whether this water is contaminated or not, knowing that there is a waste burning dump (Beit Beit Shama and Bednayel) less than 1 km from the Beit Shama well, which is considered the primary water source for three villages (Beit Shama – Hosh Al Rafiqa – Al Aqidiya).
In this regard, Zainab Shehadeh said: “I sent a letter to Governor Bashir Khader, but I do not know if he saw it or not, and I tried to communicate with the municipality, but the response came that the water source is far away and does not harm the health of citizens.”
Shehadeh pointed out that “the percentage of infections cannot be determined, in light of the lack of official numbers for the population, but according to my information, the population is regarding 7 thousand people, and the percentage of infected people is inaccurate, especially since the population still considers the disease a “defect” and should not be known. No one has it.”
The sources of pollution of the Litani River and its lake are multiple, the most prominent of which is the diversion of wastewater from 43 towns directly into the Litani River, in addition to factory waste, as 650 factories throw their waste into the basin, which contains carcinogenic chemicals. In addition to the waste of hospitals, restaurants, and poultry and cow farms that dispose of their waste into the river, in addition to the excessive and indiscriminate use of agricultural pesticides and fertilizers, which leads to agricultural leakage laden with nitrates, which directly contribute to raising the rate of nitrogen and heavy metals in the groundwater reservoir, This led to an increase in the rate of nitrates, resulting mainly from agricultural activity and household waste.
In this context, Shehadeh pointed out that “many factories diverted their sewage to the river, and the Liban Lait factory is one of the largest factories in the region and was previously accused of diverting sewage channels to the river, but now it has its own primary refining station,” and stressed that “the issue Sewage refining is new and not all departments and institutions have much experience with it. She continued: “But we at the Bekaa Water Corporation were the first to carry out this task with our modest ability.”
Year following year, the rate of pollution increases, and young men die as young as roses who did not see the features of life except its bitterness. The pollution of the Litani ended their lives at the ages of 19 and 24 years, and this is Muhammad Al-Kayyal, who died some time ago, and Habiba Al-Qursaifi following him, and Ilham Yazbek today, the witnesses, their only sin. They are adjacent to the river, so the people of the region are very concerned regarding the spread of the disease in the region, the percentage of those infected with it among the residents of the towns of the Litani Basin exceeded the general national average of 242 percent of the citizens “four times,” according to what was stated in a study on the “pollution relationship.” “The high rate of cancer in the villages of the Litani Basin,” which was carried out by the National Social Health Authority in cooperation with the Lebanese and American universities, in 2016.
The Litani River is polluted, and no one knows who is the criminal who started the sewage lines to flow into the river, turning it into a long sewer that kills people. What is strange is the state’s silence regarding who made this decision! While the initiatives of the Ministry of Health and Civil Society were very timid, the people of the region would demonstrate every now and then, especially when one of the infected people died, and the media would shed light on the issue, but no one would live up to it!
As for the steps taken by the state, Shehadeh said: “We at the Bekaa Water Corporation, in agreement with the Council for Development and Reconstruction, which is also concerned with developing plans for sewage networks throughout Lebanese territory, decided to transfer the sewage networks from the Housh al-Rafiqa area to the Tamnine model station near Housh al-Rafiqa.” It accommodates the sewage of the western Baalbek area and recycles water, but since the year 2013, since I worked at the institution, we have known that the foundation stone for this station will be in February 2015, and we were optimistic,” she added sadly: “We are now in the year 2023, and the station is still under implementation due to many problems.” “We do not know anything regarding the problems, and the issue has been forgotten by the people of the region.”
The Ministry of Industry forced all laboratories to install refining stations, but who monitors these stations? Who is following? no one! Laboratory tests are very expensive, and there are many donations that arrive but are disbursed in a suspicious manner.
You cannot pass through the Al-Rafiqa courtyard unless you wear a mask over your nose because of the smell of the river. The ministries do not do anything, the area is considered afflicted, and the citizens are waiting for their turn to die one by one. They live in a terrifying reality. In two weeks, the Al-Rafiqa courtyard lost 3 people to cancer!
What is happening in the Bekaa, and specifically in some of the Bekaa villages adjacent to the Litani Basin, can be described as nothing less than genocide due to cancer, in light of the strange silence of the official authorities.
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