The Litani river winds its way through the open plains of the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon’s agricultural heartland. For centuries, farmers there relied on it to irrigate their crops.
But in recent years, the river has become a dumping ground for an unfettered flow of raw sewage, industrial waste and chemical fertilisers. Grey and fetid, it emits a pungent smell that wafts over nearby farms and envelops the refugee camps that dot the river banks.
“The Litani is worse than a sewer,” said Firas Aboud, a 28-year-old Syrian farmhand who lives in one of the informal camps near the city of Zahle. “I wouldn’t let my worst enemy wash in it.”
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