MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2021) More than 70 percent of Lebanese citizens face a risk of losing access to safe water within a month, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.
"More than four million people, including one million refugees, are at immediate risk of losing access to safe water in Lebanon. With the rapidly escalating economic crisis, shortages of funding, fuel and supplies such as chlorine and spare parts, UNICEF estimates that most water pumping will gradually cease across the country in the next four to six weeks," the fund said in a statement on late Friday.
According to UNICEF Representative in Lebanon Yukie Mokuo possible public water system's collapse could cause the rise of water costs by 200 percent a month.
"More than 71 percent of people fall within 'highly critical' and 'critical' levels of vulnerability. Nearly 1.7 million people have access to only 35 liters a day, a decrease of almost 80 percent against the national average of 165 liters pre-2020," UNICEF added.
Lebanon is currently facing a sharp economic crisis aggravated by the political unrest, COVID-19 pandemic and the devastating blast at the port of Beirut last year.
