Abstract:
Despite being considered water-abundant, Lebanon faces escalating challenges in the
water sector that can be attributed to various reasons such as population growth,
urbanization, and climate change. While billions of dollars invested in the last three
decades have yielded minimal improvement, urgent solutions are needed. With a few
wetlands being completed in different parts of Lebanon and showing promising results,
this experiment focuses on two newly completed constructed wetlands in the Bekaa
Valley, assessing their efficiency in treating greywater and evaluating the potential of
effluent reuse in irrigation or other non-potable applications. Influent and effluent
samples were analyzed for pH, Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Chemical Oxygen Demand
(COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5), and Total Phosphorus (TP). Results
showed an 87-92% TSS removal, 65-68% COD removal, 47-53% BOD removal, and a
59-76% Phosphorus removal. The results of this experiment were later compared against
local and regional standards and case studies, which reveal mixed results that highlighted
the importance of further research over an extended period of time.
