Water shortages plague Beirut amid low rainfall

Met official: Rainfall for 2024-25 is the worst in 80 years

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People are buying water by the truckload in Beirut as the state supply faces its worst shortages in years, with the leaky public sector struggling after record low rainfall and local wells running dry.

"State water used to come every other day, now it's every three days," said Rima al-Sabaa, 50, rinsing dishes carefully in Burj Al Baranjeh, in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Even when the state water is flowing, she noted, very little trickles into her family's tank. Once that runs out, they have to buy trucked-in water — pumped from private springs and wells — but it costs more than $5 for 1,000 litres and lasts just a few days, and its brackishness makes everything rust. In some areas, the price can be twice as high.