Ainata and Deir El Ahmar Water Master Plan

The Ainata and Deir El Ahmar areas of the Baalbeck caza hold 28 villages and 27,444 inhabitants across 29,788 ha - of which 5,319 ha are irrigated, 8,794 ha are potentially irrigable and 14,878 ha are non-productive. The Ministry of Energy and Water commissioned an integrated water resources study and master plan combining potable and irrigation storage, transmission and distribution, with the corresponding detailed designs.

Libanconsult delivered the assignment as sole consultant between 2017 and 2019, covering the feasibility study and master plan, detailed design, and preparation of tender and expropriation documents across potable water, irrigation and storage infrastructure.

The work began with data assessment - topography, climate, geology, hydrogeology, land use and socio-economic baseline - a water sector policy review, flow measurement at every spring, and demand and population projection to 2040. It then set out the integrated solution: four hill lakes totalling 1,200,000 m3 of storage, five new drinking water reservoirs of 500 m3 each, catchment improvement and rehabilitation of five springs, and rehabilitation of 77 km of irrigation canals and 15 km of drinking water pipelines, with cost estimate and action plan.

The Ministry holds a coherent, bankable programme securing drinking and irrigation water for 28 villages and 27,444 people to a 2040 horizon.