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June 21,
2004
Pollutant found at Lasa dump site
Toluene also detected in village's spring water
'My children's skin gets infected every time they take a shower'
By Nada Raad
JBEIL: The detection of a pollutant in a spring serving one Jbeil village is raising suspicions among some residents that it was the cause of skin infections afflicting area children.
"My children's skin gets infected every time they take a shower, probably from the water," said Taan Mekdad, a resident in Lasa, a village some 1,300 kilometers above sea level in the Jbeil qada.
Mekdad noticed an oily film a few weeks ago at the well used by his family to drink and wash.
"I reported the incident to the Green Line Association, on the suspicion that an oily layer was emanating from the dump established four years ago at the top of the town's hills, where all kinds of waste are thrown untreated and then burned," he said.
Mekdad added that the ability of rainwater to carry polluted materials from the dump into the village's springs, groundwater and wells was proven by a test conducted on one of the villages' springs, which showed the presence of a colorless gas that causes health problems: Toluene.
"We took samples from one of Lasa's springs and sent them on June 5 to the American University of Beirut 's Environment Core Laboratory (ECL) that detected the presence of Toluene," Green Line campaigner Firas Abi Ghanem told The Daily Star.
The US Environmental Protection Agency's website states that people exposed to Toluene at levels above one part per million for relatively short periods of time can suffer from minor nervous system disorders such as fatigue, nausea, weakness and confusion. Long-term exposure can cause pronounced nervous disorders and an impairment of speech, hearing, vision, memory and coordination.
For the association, the tests served as a wake-up call: Lasa's water is a major potable source for nearly 40 households in the town, and it constitutes one of several sources of water that runs into the Nahr Ibrahim River .
"We will conduct additional tests that will determine the exact level of pollution," Abi Ghanem said.
Newly elected Lasa Mayor Riad Mekdad said the spring where Toluene was detected does not serve as a drinking source, but is used for irrigation.
But, he said, the municipality "would surely try to solve the problem" and find an alternative to the current dump.
Lasa's mayor said he would contact both Mount Lebanon Governor Yaacoub Sarraf and Environment Minister Fares Boueiz on Monday to discuss Lasa's solid waste issue.
"We have two choices. We might use the neighboring town of Hbeline 's dump, if it is ever opened, or we might ask Sukleen to collect and treat our waste, particularly since the company has begun to collect the waste of neighboring town Mayrouba," the mayor added.
Abi Ghanem said a short-term solution to Lasa's pollution is the immediate closure of the dump. A long term plan would be a national solid waste strategy based on the separation of waste at source, followed by recycling and composting.
Lebanon currently does not conduct tests to monitor its ground, sea and river waters.
Environmentalists said tests could reveal many toxic chemicals in Lebanon 's water, particularly given the absence of industrial waste treatment plants.