In Tannoura in Rasha Caza, Lebanon, the public phone booth was installed before people received water to their houses. Villagers’ homes have never been connected to the municipal water supply, their ground water is too deep to be extracted economically, and worst of all, their only spring, which used to be their only fresh water supply, is polluted from wastewater infiltration. Most households reuse their water two to three times before discharging it in the cesspit. Dishwashing and clothes washing water is collected to be used for floor cleaning, and then recollected to be used for toilet flushing.

Since 2006 30 houses in Tannoura benefit from the Grey water Treatment and Reuse project of the Middle East Center for the Transfer of Appropriate Technology (MECTAT). Each house was equipped with a 4 or 3 barrel treatment kit, in which anaerobic treatment of the collected grey water takes place during one or two days, and then is pumped into a drip irrigation network installed in the garden. "Thanks to the grey water project, I can finally make use of my arid backyard, and grow vegetables and fruits for my children by using the grey water that we generate, at no cost and without any effort", said Amal Serhal, a resident of Tannoura. The success of the Greywater project in Tannoura and the 9 others towns of Rashaya Caza in which the project is being implemented, would encourage the government to adopt smaller grey water projects, simple to implement and with results to be felt at the household and community level.

Web sites: IDRC – Grey water Treatment and Reuse for Water and Food Security in Lebanon (phase II) ; IRC - WASPA: Wastewater Agriculture and Sanitation for Poverty Alleviation ; Sanicon - Wastewater Reuse

Contact: Middle East Center for the Transfer of Appropriate Technology (MECTAT), e-mail

Source: Environment and Development Magazine, April 2007

Tags: water and livelihoods, water resources management