Lebanese University

Faculty of Engineering- Branch III

Civil Department - Public Works

Final Project

Groundwater Status in Qaraoun Reservoir

Prepared by:

Samar Hijazi

Presented to:

Dr.Chadi ABDALLA Dr.Ghassan CHEBBO Dr.Nayef ATRISI

July 2012
 Acknowledgement

Special thanks are given to all those who helped me accomplish this research by their physical
and moral support especially to :

 Dr. Chadi ABDALLLAH that supervised me and helped throughout the research and
supported me with the needed data and advice.
 Dr.Ghassan CHEBBO for primarily giving me the chance to obtain the Master2 Research
in Hydroscience with my fifth year in civil engineering, and second for accepting to be a
member of the jury and discussing my research.
 Dr. Antoine SAMRANI for his time in examining my research and reporting it, and
accepting to be a member of the jury.
 Dr. Nayef ATRISI for his time and accepting to be a member of the Jury of the faculty of
engineering.
 Dr. Veronique CAZPARD that was very helpful in collecting data and gave me support
and materials and advice especially in the laboratory work.
 Dr.Nabil AMACHA, the researcher at the Litani River Authority that supported me with
data.
 My friends in the Hydroscience class specifically Rouya Hdeib that helped me in the site
visits, and all my colleagues that helped me in the preparation of the samples for testing.
 The Municipalities of the villages of the West Bekaa and Rachaya districts that helped in
reaching the wells and taking samples.
 Dedications

To those who stood by me through all my education trend, and gave

me hope and strength to keep walking when my powers weakened...To
my parents that are the most precious treasure that I got.

To all who walked on this way before me, and chose to gave their
knowledge and experiences to the others, to my doctors in all my
educational classes, and to all doctors that are enriching Lebanon with
continuous researches and studies.
 Abstract

In an attempt to understand the groundwater status and flow regime in the Qaraoun area and
the quality of groundwater, groundwater modeling was applied. Two models were built: a
hydrodynamic model studying the flow regimes, and a contaminant transport model to track the
path of nitrates from surface to groundwater. In the hydrodynamic model, the groundwater
system was studied in 4 states, the steady natural state, steady development state, transient
natural state and transient development state in a period of two years from September 2009 till
September 2011. The comparison between these states showed that the abstraction from wells
affects severely the groundwater level especially in the dry period, where the drawdown reached
70 m in some localities, and the annual abstraction accounted for 37 % of the storage capacity
that reached 90 MCM in the most prolific winter of January 2010. The flow pattern in the system
in all states were found to be oriented eastward and NNE-SSW in the west Cenomanian aquifer,
and NNE-SSW in the east Cenomanian aquifer. In the Eocene semi-aquifer two flow directions
were found, from the middle northwards were it gets in contact with the Cenomanian aquifer,
and from the middle southward draining in the Litany river. The contaminant transport model
showed that the elevated concentration of nitrates was confined to the Cenomanian aquifer near
agricultural lands in large fields, and a great attenuation in nitrates concentration is noticed in
the aquifer system. This came in accordance to the chemical tests done on 12 samples taken from
12 wells in this zone. Among these samples, four wells located in the Cenomanian aquifer
contained elevated contents in NO3. The detected bromide and chromium concentrations are
suspected to originate from the randomly spread dumpsites in the area, but further inspection of
these species on surface is needed.

Keywords : Groundwater modeling, groundwater flow, aquifers, contaminant transport,

Qaraoun.
 Table of Contents
List of Figures..........................................................................................i
List of Tables...........................................................................................ii
Chapter I : Introduction......................................................................................1
Introduction....................................................................................................................................1
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................3
Description of the Study area..........................................................................................................8
1.Geographic Description.........................................................................................................8
2.Physical and Morphological Characteristics.........................................................................9
3.Climate................................................................................................................................10
4. Demographic features.........................................................................................................11
5. Landuse..............................................................................................................................12
6. Geology..............................................................................................................................14
7.Hydrolody...........................................................................................................................16
8. Hydrogeology.....................................................................................................................16
9. Water Demand....................................................................................................................17
10.Pollution Hazards..............................................................................................................18

Chapter II : Methodology.....................................................................................19
1. Hydrodynamic Model................................................................................................................19
1.1.Data Collection and Preparation.......................................................................................19
1.2.The Conceptual Model.....................................................................................................20
2. Contaminant Transport Model ..................................................................................................23
2.1. Data Collection and Preparation......................................................................................23
a. Available Data.............................................................................................................23
b. Site Investigation........................................................................................................24
c. Samples' Testing.........................................................................................................24
 2.2. Building the Contaminant Transport Model...................................................................25
3.Sensitivity Analysis....................................................................................................................26
4. Calibration..................................................................................................................................26
5. Validation...................................................................................................................................26

Chapter III : Results and Discussion ..................................................................27

1.Steady Natural Model.................................................................................................................27
Scenario 1 : Yammouneh Fault is a zero flow boundary.......................................................27
Scenario 2 : Yammouneh Fault is an inflow boundary..........................................................29
2.Steady Development Model........................................................................................................30
3. Transient Natural Model............................................................................................................32
4.Transient Development Model...................................................................................................35
5. Contaminant Transport Model...................................................................................................38
Chemical Test Results............................................................................................................38
Model Results.........................................................................................................................38
Suggested Remediation..........................................................................................................39

Chapter IV : Conclusion and Perspectives..........................................................42

REFERENCES......................................................................................................43

APPENDIX A: Standards For Potable Water

APPENDIX B: Groundwater Vulnerability Map
APPENDIX C: Tested Well Data
APPPENDIX D: Landfills
 List of Figures
Figure.1.Administrative distribution of Lebanon highlighting the study area.................................8
Figure2.Geomorphological units of the study area..........................................................................9
Figure3.Distibution of Pluviometric zones over the area..............................................................10
Figure 4. Potential Evapotranspiration in with the Qaraoun area highlighted..............................11
Figure 5. Villages included in the study zone showing existing springs.......................................11
Figure6. Distribution of living sources according to economical sectors......................................12
Figure 7. Some land uses in the Qaraoun area...............................................................................13
Figure 8. Geological Formations and Structures in the Qaraoun area...........................................15
Figure 9.Digital Elevation Model..................................................................................................19
Figure 10: Geological cards prepared by L.Dubertret ..................................................................20
Figure 11. Well Sampling..............................................................................................................24
Figure 12. Contour Map of Hydraulic Heads in the Steady Natural State- Scenario 1.................28
Figure 13. Water Balance in the Steady Natural State - Scenario 1.............................................28
Figure 14. Contour Map of Hydraulic Heads in the Steady Natural State- Scenario 2.................29
Figure 15. Water Balance in the Steady Natural State- Scenario 2...............................................30
Figure 16. Contour Map of Hydraulic Heads in the steady development state.............................31
Figure 17. Water Balance in the Steady Development State.........................................................31
Figure 18. Head in the area for stress period 2 and the head-time graphs of selected points-
Natural state...................................................................................................................................33
Figure 19. Water balance of the area for stress periods 5 and 12 - Natural State..........................34
Figure 20. Head in the area for stress period 1 and head-time graphs of selected points-
Abstraction Case............................................................................................................................36
Figure 21. Water balance of the area for stress periods 5 and 12 - Abstraction Case...................37
Figure 22- Spreading of Nitrates in the area at the spring of the first year and after 1 year.........40
Figure 23. Breakthrough curves of 2 selective observation wells over a 100 years period.........41
Figure 24. The path of particles from landfills in 10 years period................................................41
 List of Tables

Table 1. Distribution of Land uses in the Qaraoun area................................................................12

Table 2. Distribution of Agricultural lands over various crops.....................................................13

Table 3. Average Monthly Precipitation for the years (2009-2010;2010-2011)...........................21

Table 4. Characteristics of the Stratigraphic units in the Qaraoun Area.......................................22

Table 5. Concentration of pollutants in Qaraoun lake and Litani River......................................25

 Chapter I. Introduction

The quest for potable water has always been a priority for human civilizations, and where
water was found, life was found. But the increase of civilization, and improvement of life style,
have led to the overexploitation of water resources and raised the questions about the quantity
and quality of the available water.

One of the most important sources of fresh water is the groundwater reservoirs that appear on
surface in springs or drilled wells . This water is thought to be sheltered from surface pollution,
but unfortunately, the filtration of water through the soil covering the tanks of groundwater may
be not enough in some cases, and is not capable of eliminating some types of pollutants that
may be invisible, yet renders water unusable.

The world’s awareness of the importance of water availability and quality issue has led on
one hand to conflicts and wars on water resources, and on the other hand to the apparition of
several global organizations, conferences, and cooperation between countries, in order to be
able to study the water resources, stocks, and quality.

In Lebanon, the country known of its wealth in water, the water resources are deteriorating
and a real problem arises concerning the groundwater. The excess and random abstraction of
groundwater has led to important drawdown in water heads, and to sea intrusions in some
zones. Moreover, human activities like agriculture, industries, sanitary landfills and septic
tanks…have caused severe pollution of groundwater. Important draw downs in piezometric
levels occur especially in arid and semi-arid regions, where the groundwater aquifers does not
receive enough and year-long recharge from precipitation.

The Districts of Western Bekaa and Rachaya in the Bekaa governorate is suffering nowadays
from lack of water, and when found it is being polluted. Although the area is theoretically rich
with water, where the Litany river traverses it from north to south, and it contains the only
artificial lake in Lebanon which is the Qaraoun Lake, not to mention the numerous springs that
exists in the area, but all of these are either not being distributed evenly, or being polluted due to
excessive agricultural activities. In this situation, and after all surface water has been
excessively polluted, the major alternative solution may be to properly exploit groundwater. To
achieve this, studies should be made on all aquifers in the zone and their status and capacities,
and the effect of the current abstraction on their yield, and most important, to what extent had
human activities affected the groundwater, to make sure that water is exploitable.

The methods and techniques used in studying groundwater are variable. Field experiments
accompany almost all researches, and may be quite expensive and sophisticated. Tracing
experiments, pumping tests, boreholes, piezometers are the main methods used to study the
dynamics of groundwater. Moreover, sampling from wells or even springs, is used to determine

1
the chemical composition of the water of the corresponding aquifer, and its quality and
potability.

However, field testing is not sufficient and does not permit the appropriate analysis of the
current status or the prediction of future status unless it is followed by scientific arranging and
investment of the data collected from field. The arranging of the data collected is done through
groundwater modeling. Modeling is the simulation of reality and discovering laws that governs
the motion of the fluid in the real conditions. Unfortunately creating the real conditions is
practically impossible, and the model is only a simulation of reality and never reality itself, and
as much as the model resembles the real medium, as much as its results are more accurate and
more reliable. This is why some say modeling is an art not just a science, and a successful
modeler is the one who is able to simulate reality as much as possible.

The roots of groundwater modeling first started with the French engineer Darcy in the year
1856 where he delivered the known Darcy’s law regarding motion of fluids in permeable
mediums. After Darcy, many scientists worked on different types of motion. Of these are
Dupuit, Thies in the year 1935, Hantush 1956, Boulten 1963…In the 1950’s, in addition to the
analytical solutions, electric analogies like Resistivity analog appeared and were used to
simulate groundwater flow. Since 1970’s, numerical methods were developed to simulate
groundwater models and contaminant’s transport, the most used are: Finite difference, Finite
element, Boundary element, Analytical element. These methods represented the basis of the
computer codes that developed afterwards, and are still used till nowadays. The most famous
computer code regarding groundwater flow and contaminants transports is MODFLOW that
appeared in 1988.But at that stage, it was complicated and not user friendly, which led to the
apparition of graphic user interfaces that were MODFLOW integrated like Processing Modflow
(PM), Groundwater Vistas, Visual MODFLOW(VMOD), and Groundwater Modeling System
(GMS).

For the case in the Qaraoun reservoir, several models will be built using the PM graphic user
interface, and the project will try to simulate the reality through examining previous studies, and
through site visits and water testing. We aim at understanding the current status of the
groundwater in the Qaraoun reservoir, and defining the fluctuation in groundwater heads, as an
effect of abstraction from wells. Also the project will study contamination if it exists, and
propose some possible remediation methods.

2
Bibliography
The issue of alimentary security in all countries is trapping great attention, and is a vital
daily issue that all people from all layers are in direct contact with. Water quality is an issue
that effects various sectors especially public health and economy. For instance, the deterioration
of water quality in the Litani river watershed in Lebanon has caused the apparition of 301 cases
of Hepatitis malady, and 497 Typhoid malady in the year 1997 (Jaradeh, 2008). The impacts of
the poor water quality in any region are not limited to health impacts only, but goes beyond that
to having high economic costs from illness treatment, to water treatment, to the limitations of
the exploitation of this water in the different economical sectors( U.S. Agency for International
Development, 2003). For this reason, strict legislations and guidelines were set by governments
and United Nations Organization on the quality of water needed in its different usages. The
standards for potable water set by LIBNOR (Lebanese standards) and WHO(World Health
Organizations) are given in Table A.1 in Appendix A. The tracking of pollution in water and
the quality of consumed water became the subject of numerous researches in all countries all
around the world. Even more, detailed analysis of each type of chemical substances that might
be present in water is made to understand their effect on living things, their fate in water and the
different chemical reactions they may undergo, and thus their bioavailability. Pollutants have
different transport mechanisms though soils, depending on their state (dissolved or solid) and
the particulates they are bounded to(Water Resources Research, Volume 22, Particle Transport
Through Porous medium). A general sight of major pollutants, their origin, their effect, and
their fate is given below:

a)Total Dissolved Solids

Total dissolved solids (TDS) is an expression for the combined content of all inorganic and
organic substances contained in a liquid smaller than 1.2 micrometers. Primary sources of TDS
in receiving waters are agricultural runoff, point sources of water pollution such as industrial
and sewage treatment plants, pesticides arising from agricultural runoff, and from the natural
weathering and dissolution of rocks and soils. The recommended TDS limits for potable water
are usually set at 500 mg/l by most international guidelines. The classification of water
according to its concentration in TDS is given in Table A.2 in Appendix A.( LRA 2009)

b) Sulfates

Sulfates (SO4) occur naturally in waters as a result of leaching from gypsum and other
common minerals. Calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate contribute significantly to the
hardness of water and to corrosion of distribution systems. They also may be discharged in
numerous industrial wastes such as tanneries, pulp mills, municipal waste and textile mills...
The standards normally set a limit for sulfate in potable water at around 250 mg/l.(LRA 2009) .

3
 c) Nitrogen

Nitrogen may come from fertilizers and animal wastes on agricultural lands, human waste
from sewage treatment plants or septic systems, and lawn fertilizers used on lakeshore property.
(Understanding Lake Data, Byron Shaw). One example indicative of farming practices as a
major cause of groundwater pollution is that nitrate problems are most common in the spring,
which is the time that farmers apply nitrogen fertilizer to their fields. Analysis usually includes
nitrate (NO3–) plus nitrite (NO2–), ammonium (NH4 +), and organic plus ammonium (Kjeldahl
nitrogen). Total nitrogen is calculated by adding nitrate and nitrite to Kjeldahl nitrogen.

High concentrations of nitrate (NO3) in drinking water can cause methemoglobinemia, or

blue-baby syndrome in infants under the age of six months. (LRA,2009)

The Table.A.3 describing water according to its nitrate concentration is given in APPENDIX A.

d)Phosphorus

Major sources of phosphorus include human and animal wastes, soil erosion, detergents,
septic systems and runoff from farmland or lawns.

Phosphorus does not dissolve easily in water. It forms insoluble precipitates (particles) with
calcium, iron, and aluminum. In areas where limestone is dissolved in the water, marl (calcium
carbonate) precipitates and falls to the bottom. Marl formations absorb phosphorus, reducing its
overall concentration as well as algae growth. Iron also forms sediment particles that store
phosphorus—but only if oxygen is present. (Understanding Lake Data, Byron Shaw)

The amount of phosphorus found in water generally is not more than 0.1 mg/l unless the
water has become polluted from waste sources or excessive drainage from agricultural areas,
but the latter seems to be rather a minor factor as phosphates are not very mobile in soils or
sediments. Untreated domestic effluent often contains excessive amounts of phosphate as a
result of the demand for household detergents increases steadily. (LRA,2009)

e)Oxygen

Oxygen (O2) is vital to aquatic life. It is essential to keep organisms living, to sustain
photosynthesis, and for the development of populations. Organic waste from municipal,
agricultural and industrial sources may overload the natural system causing a serious depletion
of the oxygen supply in the water.(LRA 2009)

f) Chlorides and Bromides

Sources of chloride include septic systems (chloride values of 50 to 100 mg/l are common in
septic tank effluent), animal waste, potash fertilizer (potash = potassium chloride), and drainage
from road-salting chemicals.

4
 Bromide, like chloride, is normally conservative in a ground water system; however, some of
the bromide will sorb on organic solids (Gerritse and George 1988; Reeve 2002) and on mineral
surfaces in water having a low pH (Seaman et al. 1996).Human activity has introduced a large
number of compounds of bromine into aquifers. (Davis N. Stanley 2004). Bromine has been
extensively used in pesticides, medicine, industrial solvent, gasoline additive, and water
purification compounds( Price and al 1988).

g)Chromium

Chromium originates from dumpsites and wastewater, and undergoes redox reactions,
precipitation dissolution, sorption, desorption in non linear isotherms.(Frederick T. Stannin
2004)

Surface water quality has grabbed attention since long ago by researchers, and continuous
and numerous researches are conducted on lakes, rivers, and springs. In Lebanon, the Litani
river, being a vital source of water in Lebanon, traversing the country from north to south has
captured the greater attention. For instance, M.Jurdi et al, researcher at the American University
of Beirut, started a research about the quality of water in the Qaraoun lake, an impoundment of
the Litani River , and tested the water quality by sampling in dry season from 18 points at the
input of the lake, middle and in the proximity of dam. The study was conducted in 1995 and
published in 2001. The researcher in her first report "Evaluation of water Quality of the
Qaraoun Lake" found that the lake undergoes self purification process, through biodegradation
and deposition of the different pollutants, making it suitable for domestic use and in compliance
with the WHO guidelines. This result came unexpected and contradictory to the study made by
MOE in 1994 that found the water of the lake unsuitable for fishing, swimming or irrigation.(
Water Quality Assessment of the Qaraoun lake) .M.Jurdi continued her study in 2005 by
examining the metals' variations in the sediments of the Qaraoun lake, under the title " Variation
of Metals in Bed Sediments of Qaraoun". It was concluded that sediments act as a sink for
metals and the deposition of metals is primarily related to sediment organic content and the
level of dissolved oxygen in water. The research was proceeded in 2010 with Samira I.Korfali
and determined the bioavailability of the detected metals(Fe, Cr, Ni, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd), through
determining the speciation of these metals in order to understand the variation of these
concentration in depth and position of the lake. The data showed that the highest percentages of
total metal content in sediment fractions were for: Fe in residual followed by reducible, Cr and
Ni in residual and in reducible, Cu in organic followed by exchangeable, Zn in residual and in
organic, Pb in organic and carbonate, Cd was mainly in carbonate.

Many pollution assessment program were run in the Litani River basin, mainly conducted by
the Litani River Authority founded in 1954, that started a water quality monitoring program,
delivering periodic reports about the quality of water in the whole catchment of the Litani river
basin. Other programs are run by the UNDP and USAID. The UNDP in its report Business Plan
For combating Pollution in the Qaraoun lake, prepared by ELARD and submitted in 2011,
divided the upper Litani catchment into 7 zones representing management units, and specified
pollution pressures and volume of solid and waste water discharged daily in each of these zones.

5
The report stated some measures that were taken to combat pollution, such as building solid
waste management facilities and wastewater treatment facilities, in addition to
recommendations regarding positions and capacities of waste treatment stations. Another
important report is "Assessment of Water Quality of the Upper Litani River Basin and Qaraoun
reservoir" done by U.S Agency for international development, focused more on the pollution
concentrations in the lake and river and some wells, and proposed remediation methods for the
management of waste water, solid wastes, sediments and agricultural acts, along with costs of
these remediation plans.

Unlike surface water, groundwater didn't grab much attention and was assumed pure since it
is relatively shielded and particles should pass a long track of natural filters before reaching the
subsurface reservoir. But with the increase of urbanization, and deterioration of soil occupation,
and the increase of abstraction from groundwater wells, pollution was detected in wells and
groundwater became an important study domain. The study of groundwater quality required the
study of the trajectory of pollutants from surface to soil to groundwater reservoirs. Many factors
affect the groundwater pollution, like the degree of surface pollution, the type of pollutants, the
type of soil trapping the water and its permeability, and the depth of water table
(BAMAS,2005)... Especially in agricultural lands, groundwater is very susceptible to pollution
by nitrates and phosphates that infiltrates with water during precipitation or irrigation. Darwich
et al 2003, found in his research that farmers in the central Bekaa plain apply up to 600 kg.N/
ha under some types of crops. These increased values of applied nitrates lead to the detection of
nitrates in elevated concentrations in the wells of the Bekaa plain. Also, interaction between
surface and groundwater may be an important manner of pollution of groundwater. Z. Saad et
al. in 2009 showed that there is an infiltration from the Qaraoun lake towards adjacent
groundwater in the vicinity of the dam. This infiltration from lake to groundwater was
delineated by isotopic analysis at different points and depths of the lake, and in the near
groundwater wells.

Various methods have been applied in assessing and analyzing the pollution of groundwater
in an area. The most common methods are the statistical methods of chemical data. These
statistical methods provide only qualitative description of the pollution state, and rarely
combines all contributing factors of pollution.

Nevertheless, these statistical methods can be combined with groundwater modeling to fully
understand the transport of pollutants and their overall behavior in the model area. Groundwater
modeling is a widely used tool worldwide, but is still uncommon in Lebanon. The significance
of groundwater modeling in pollution tracking is that it combines the hydrological, geological
and hyrdrogeochemical factors all in one package and studies their effect simultaneously. They
are especially useful as a planning instrument since they are portable where models are
adaptable to different situations. Only models allow future prediction of effects of remediation
from measures and allows a deeper understanding of the system by identification of sensitive
input parameters(A Guide to Sustainable Nitrogen Management, Volume 8, 2003).However, the
challenge in groundwater modeling is that it needs a wide and trusted data base to be as reliable
as possible. Especially the following data should be available in a sufficient spatial as well as
temporal resolution:
- hydrogeological underground information, stratigraphy
- hydraulic parameters (e. g. conductivity) of the different substrates

6
- historical hydraulic heads in a high temporal resolution (if necessary in overlying aquifers)
- interactions with surface water bodies
- historical data on water extraction through wells
- data on present and historical land use including records of fertilizer input on plot scale.
This means that intensive monitoring and studying of the area should be present before the
application of groundwater modeling.(A Guide to Sustainable Nitrogen Management, Volume
8, 2003).

In Lebanon, proper investigation is missing, and the only fully study regarding groundwater
reservoirs in Lebanon was done by the UNDP in 1970. The report represented a full study on
groundwater resources in Lebanon accompanied with extensive site investigations including
questionnaires, boreholes, pumping tests, and geophysical testing on the aquifers in Lebanon
and gave the properties of the aquifers including water balances, dynamic reserves, and
hydraulic parameters( Transmisivity, porosity, storativity). The aquifers investigated by this
report included all the aquifers of the interior and mediterranean provinces.
Another report that studied the properties and water resources, and is of great importance is
the FAO 1976 study.
In addition to their usage in pollution assessment, groundwater modeling have been used as
interpretation tools for investigating groundwater system dynamics and understanding the flow
pattern, or as simulation tools for analyzing responses of the groundwater system to stresses, or
as assessment tools for evaluating recharging, aquifer storage processes, and quantifying
sustainable yield or even as management tools for studying alternative policies.. The purpose of
the modeler determines what model to be built, and what state of the aquifer is to be studied, i.e.
in the natural(without abstraction and human interference) or current case, in its steady(after
reaching equilibrium) or transient state( variability through time). The contaminant transport
model is then built on the basis of these models, and after fully understanding the flow regimes
of the system.

An example of groundwater model attempt in Lebanon is the one made by BAMAS 2005 as
the part of the "Groundwater Flow Modeling and Vulnerability Mapping" report. The model
was built to conceptualize the Upper Litani River catchment, using MODFLOW2000,
integrated in the user friendly GMS (version 5) software package. The model only aimed at
calculating the groundwater heads in the area, and a thorough calibration was not in the scope of
the project(BAMAS, Groundwater Vulnerability Mapping). The results obtained were that the
head varies from 900 m to 300 m and the flow was directed NNE-SSW. The study used
DRASTIC method developed by Aller et al. (1987) for the U.S. EPA. to built the vulnerability
map of the upper Litani river basin. The method combines seven hydrogeological parameters
that contribute to land vulnerability. The map obtained is given in Appendix B, and it shows
how vulnerable is the Qaraoun zone and its neighboring sites especially in the zones of highly
karstified Cenomanian formations . Contributing to this vulnerability, is the urbanization and
agricultural and industrial activities in the area the thing that urges complete and new
management techniques of pollution in the area.
For this reason, a conceptual model of the Qaraoun area is built, in an attempt to understand
the groundwater system and track pollution in this complex geological and hydrogeological
combination.

7
Description of the study area:
1. Geographic Description

The area of study occupies 415 km2, where the distance between its farthest points is about
24 km, and its average width is about 20 km. The area lies totally in the Bekaa governorate,
occupying great part of the western Bekaa and Rachaya districts, where it extends from
Machgara and Sohmor in the south, till Tell Znoub in the north. The SSW and NNE extents
are located between coordinates (140920m;173578 m ) and (169456 m;192992m) respectively
in Lambert conformal conic projection typically used in Lebanon (figure 1) .The highest peak
lies in Jabal Bayada located in the Eastern flank of Mount Anti –Lebanon and has an altitude of
1624 m, while the highest peak in Western flank is at 1850m, and the inland has lower altitudes
with the lowest elevation being 740 m at the Machgara valley.

Figure.1.Administrative distribution of Lebanon highlighting the study area.

8
2.Physical and Morphological Characteristics

 Physiographical Surface
According to their altitude and topographic mass characteristics, we can distinguish several
geomorphologic classes:
- The Bekaa comprises two geomorphologic units :The hills with elevation ranging from
1000-1500 m that assures the passage from the crests of Mount Lebanon range to the Bekaa
valley. They are mainly occupied by Cenomanian formations. And the plain that constitutes
the flat land depression (900 m) that separates the Western and Eastern mountain ranges. It is
occupied by shallow quaternary deposits in the north of the area, and Eocene formation in its
middle.
- The elevated plateaus of the Anti-Lebanon range with altitude ranging from 900 m to
1500 m , occupying the eastern part of the study area. They are dominated by Cenomanian
limestone.( Abdalla 2004)
Figure 2 shows these stratigraphic units.

Figure2.Geomorphological units of the study area (Abdallah et al 2009)

9
 3.Climate

Considering the eco climatic zones defined by the National Meteorological Service, the
Qaraoun area belongs to the interior Litany zone characterized by a continental climate, with
unpredictable rainfalls.
a) Rainfall : Rainfall varies significantly from the western mountain range (up to 1300 mm)
toward the inland (where it reaches 700 mm). Three zones can be distinguished, the eastern part
of the Mount Lebanon zone in which the annual precipitation varies from 1300 mm to 1100 mm
from west to east, the inland zone with a precipitation between 900mm and1100 mm, and the
eastern Mountain chain zone where the precipitation varies between 700 and 900 mm(CAL
1973, 1982). Figure 3 shows the distribution of pluviometric rates over the land.
b) Temperature: Mean annual temperature in the study area is around 17 ᵒc, as it is known
for the eco-climatic zone that the area belongs to.
c) Evapotranspiration: Evapotranspiration in the zone is very variable considering the wide
range of altitudes, temperatures, geological formations, and occupation of soil. According to
NAP 2001, the average annual evapotranspiration ranges from 1200 mm in the Bekaa valley in
the lowest zone in the area, and decreases gradually to 1000 mm as the altitudes rises in the east
and west of the zone. Figure 4 shows the distribution of evapotranspiration rates over the zone
in respect to the whole Lebanon area.

Figure3.Distibution of Pluviometric zones over the area(NAP 2001)

10
 Figure 4. Potential Evapotranspiration in with the Qaraoun area highlighted(Abdallah 2001)

4.Demographic features:

The area contains 34 villages, among them are 18 of the major villages in the western Bekaa
district and 16 in Rachaya district.( figure 5)

Figure 5. Villages included in the study

zone showing existing springs

11
 The zone has known a great jump in urbanization between the year 1970and 1980, where the
increase rate reached up to 43%,but then decreased to 9 % between the years 1980 and 1994 and
it is estimated to increase 65 % in the year 2020. The number of inhabitants can be estimated
from the number of houses in the area. The estimated number of inhabitants reached 56135 in
year 2004(UNDP 2004). Due to the retarded economic conditions, and to what the villages
suffered especially in the west Bekaa from Israeli attacks, a great percentage of the population
especially the young generation migrated either towards greater cities like Zahle and Beirut, or
outside of Lebanon(UNDP,2004). The area contains an important percent of university
graduates that accounts for 20 to 40 %, and around 23 % that have moderate education, and 8 to
16 % that can only read and write. The people depends mainly on agriculture in this area, but
this does not cancel the contribution of other economical sections.(Figure 6)

sectors
variable
7%
Figure 6. Distribution of living sources industry agricultu
14% re
according to economical sectors.(Abdallah,2009)
35%
bussines
s
17% commerc
e
27%
5.Landuse

The area is mainly an agricultural area, where

major cultivated crops include olives, fruit trees, and vineyards in medium or small fields. This
makes the land in urgent need for irrigation projects. For this reason the Qaraoun dam was
constructed at the litany river course. Urban development is increasing and villages are
extending in the area especially around the Qaraoun lake and basic road networks as it is
noticed from satellite images. Moreover, an important portion of land is still unexploited, and
unproductive, and only consists of bare soils or rocks. The classification of the soils was made
based on CORINE classification, usually used in Lebanon and derived from the European
classification nomenclature, to level 4 of discrepancies. Table 1 gives the data available
concerning the areas occupied by the various land covers, to level 1 of discrepancies, while
Table 2 gives the distribution of agricultural lands over the various crops.

Landcover agriculture Wooded area Unproductive Urban lake river

area
Area (ha) 10935.25 2615.4862 21165.1425 1021.1293 34.26 33.07
Percentage 26.35 6.3 51 2.46 0.1 0.080
Table 1. Distribution of Land uses in the Qaraoun area

12
Type of Field crops Field crops
agricultural Olives Fruit trees vineyards in small in medium to Total
land fields large fields

Area (ha) 478.964 1454.4 249.3237 1916.95 6835.624 10935.25

Percentage 4.38 13.30 2.28 17.53 62.51 100
Table 2. Distribution of Agricultural lands over various crops

Figure 7 shows pictures captured of the landuses in the area.

a)Cultivation in large Fields b)Vineyards in Khirbet Qanafar

c)Unproductive area

b)Industries

figure 7. Some land uses in the Qaraoun area

13
6. Geology

Depending on the geological card at scale1/50000 prepared by L.Dubertret (Jezeine and

Rachaya nord), the zone overlies a vast range of geological formations. The Cenomanian
formations outcrops from the west and are governed by the Yammouneh fault from the west and
bordered by Senonian marl from east. The lower part of Bekaa valley is dominated by the
Eocene formation, and then the Cenomanian rocks are exposed again where they juxtaposes
with the Jurassic formations along Rachaya fault. The quaternary deposits only appears in the
upper part of the area and consists of a shallow layer of alluvial deposits mainly clay, sand, and
gravels. The lower cretaceous rocks C1,C2, C3 are rarely exposed at the surface and always in
direct contact with the Cenomanian formations. Also the Senonian impermeable rocks appear as
strips bordering the Eocene formation in the middle of the zone.

 Stratigraphy:

The stratigraphy of the Qaraoun area is typical in Lebanon, and it is concluded from the
cross sections and boreholes, given by L.Dubertret, notice explicative of “Feuille de Rachaya”,
and “Feuille de Jezzine”, in addition to the descriptions and sections given by the UNDP report
in the year 1970. The major geological units are:

 Jurassic:
Thick layer of volcanic rocks, limestone and dolomitic limestone, jointed with thin
layers of marly limestone, highly fractured and well karstified. Its thickness
reaches over 800 m in some locations, so it represents a huge container of water
due to its aquifer property.
 Cretaceous:
- Neocomian-bermian (c1): quartzitic and calcareous sandstones with fragment
of clay and silt. It is about 100 m thick, and due to its moderate hydraulic
conductivity, it acts as a semi-aquifer.
- Inferior Aptian (c2): clastic limestone, with joints filled with silt and clay and
shale. It is about 100 m thick.
- Albian (c3): marly limestone and schist. Its thickness is about 215 m.
- Cenomanian, Toronian (c4, c5): about 600 m massive, highly fractured,
jointed, well karstified limestone and dolomitic limestone. It possesses
excellent auriferous property.
- Senonian (c6): fractured, jointed chalky marls, and marly limestone. It is about
600 m thick.
 Eocene:
- Ypresian (e1): This stratigraphic unit is absent in the area

- Lutetian (e2): 850 m thick. Moderately thick to thin bedded, highly fractured
and jointed, interbedded with marly limestone.

14
  Miocene:
- Vindobanian (mcg,350m): Thick conglomeratic limestone, and clastic
limestone
 Quaternary:
It is of variable thickness and composition, it represents a shallow layer of few
meters in the area, mainly made of alluvial and colluvial deposits.
 Geologic structures
Three important faults exist in the study zone, all oriented NNE-SSW. The major fault is the
Yammouneh fault that borders the west of the area and the Rachaya fault that represents the
eastern boundary of the area and in between the Hasbaya fault. Also, minor faults that are
oriented with an angle to the Rachaya and Yammouneh fault exists in the south east of the study
area. In addition to these faults minor fractures and folds exists, Folds also exist, but almost
locally accompanied with faults and local flexures. Anticline structures are dominant, joining a
set of anticline-syncline due to tectonic compression effect. This creates several local springs of
the overflow type, but with limited discharge, such as those springs located near Jeb Jannine -
Qaraoun area.( Figure 8) (Description of the Litani River Basin,2007)

Figure 8. Geological Formations and Structures in the Qaraoun area

 Karst
Karst formation is due to water dissolution on carbonate rocks by preferential development
along fractures and discontinuities (Shaban and Khawlie, 2007). Karstification occupies an
important area of the Qaraoun basin. Apart from the small-scale and surficial Karstic features,
two major karst types exist as: sinkholes and lapies. Both types are found to be dominant mainly
at the top of the mountain chains in Cenomanian rock formations. Sinkholes make a large
contribution in collecting surface water and are characterized by their connection with
subsurface Karstic channels thereby transporting water for long distances. They also create

15
many Karstic springs, such as Khrayzat spring. Lapies are known for their association with
longitudinal fracture systems, thus accounting for their surface water recharge properties.

7.Hydrology

The main hydrological features in the area are the Litany river, and the Qaraoun reservoir.
The area mainly belongs to the middle sub basin of the Litany river. The river traverses the area
taking a NNE-SSW orientation. with an average slope of 10 m/km in the middle basin . The
volume of discharge of river is 295 km/km. Based on Way’s classification (1978) the drainage
pattern oscillates between dendritic and parallel in the Bekaa area, with almost short tributaries
(less than several km). Drainage density is around 0.9 km/km. The width/length ratio,
controlling the travel time of surface water, alternates around 0.85 . This high ratio at the upper
range of the river explains the existence of wide flood plain at the Qaraoun lake before 1955
(Abd al Al., 1953), and the implementation of the corresponding dam at a later stage.
.
The Qaraoun Lake covers an area of 12.3 km2, and is of a capacity of 220 MCM when full at
surface water level of 858 m. The Lake usually fills 70 % of its full capacity, and these are used
for irrigation, industry and hydropower. There are plenty of springs in the area, but few have
high discharge volumes. Most of the springs in the Jurassic and Cenomanian rock formations
are known to be of the Karstic type, and show an obvious fluctuation in their discharge. While,
fault, ordinary and overflow springs have lower flow rates. The study of the behavior of those
springs and their exploitation is necessary for better water management. (IDRC , 2007). we can
name among the springs known in the area : Ain Bouchana, Ain Skandar, Ain elGhazel, Ain el
Machraa... The exiting springs are shown in Figure 5.

8. Hydrogeology

We can recognize in the area mainly 5 aquifers, the Cenomanian aquifer occupying a vast
area of the west of the area, the Cenomanian aquifer in the far east of the area, the Barouk
Jurassic aquifer, and the Eocene aquifer of the west range, and that of the east range. These
aquifers appear to be in direct contact with surface in some locations, and confined in others.
Some of these aquifers are interconnected, and others appear to extent outside the zone. As
mentioned in the UNDP 1970 report, the Eocene aquifer is connected to the Cenomanian
aquifer at the level of Tell Znoub, where the groundwater passes from the Eocene limestone
towards the Cenomanian limestone. While the eastern Eocene aquifer seems to be independent
of the adjacent limestone formations. The Jurassic of Barouk forms an isolated basin, with no
relation to the other aquifers and thus it is excluded from the model. The west Cenomanian
aquifer is limited by the Jurassic limestone or lower cretaceous along the Yammouneh fault. It
contains the Qaraoun lake, and there’s no doubt that an inflow into the reservoir takes place
when the head of the surrounding aquifer is higher than the head in the lake. The opposite is
also true but it is unlikely that the head in the lake is lower than the head of the surrounding
aquifer, where historical records show that such situation occurred only in the springs of years
1966 and 1967(UNDP 1970).

16
 The majority of the high potential water-bearing properties in J4 and C4 are due to their
secondary porosity and fracture systems which results in a high degree of permeability and
storage (Shaban et al., 2006). In addition, many perched aquifers exist locally with a limited
yield of groundwater. The remaining rock formations are either aquiclude (do not bear
groundwater) or aquitard (bearing groundwater to some extent only). Some other formations are
“semi-aquifers” because they possess aquiferous properties, but are limited in their volume due
to open exposure. The superposition of these fractured and karstified rocks with impervious
lithologies (e.g. marl and clay) makes them suitable for groundwater storage. (Abdallah,2007)

9.Water Demand

The population in the West Bekaa and Rachaya districts depends mainly on 4 sources of
water: Lucy and Chamsin and Ain el Zarka water projects, natural springs, and artesian wells
( As-Safir Newspaper, 12173).Thus an important portion of water supply comes from
groundwater. The area being mainly an agricultural area, the major water demand is saved for
irrigation. A smaller part is for domestic use, and a smaller one for industrial use. The estimated
need for irrigation in a sub-humid climate at medium temperature, is around 30 m3/day/ha
(FAO, Irrigation Water Management) as an average to all crops. Annual supply from ground
water for irrigation is estimated to be 70 %, thus an overall of 0.7x30x365daysx10935.6 ha = 84
MCM/year.
The per capita is 150 l/day known for Lebanon, with the served population being 56135;
the total domestic demand for a year would be 0.15x56135x365 ≈ 2.05 MCM.
The industrial demand is estimated to be 2.5 MCM, with an increase 11.2% every 5 years as
estimated by MOEW.

17
10. Pollution Hazards

a)Domestic pollution: The main way used to dispose waste in the area is open air burning. This
induces serious air pollution yet reduces the impact of organic pollutants to water recipients. No
standards govern the works of the landfills in the area, thus no sealing is used to protect soil and
groundwater from pollutants, nor do they have any techniques to gather and treat the remaining
sludge. In addition, the sewage network is almost absent in the area and septic tanks spread in
an irregular manner. This has a serious hazard on the health of the population, because of
polluting water with various pathogen and bacteria like cholera, hepatitis virus, salmonella,
coliforme fecaux..
b) Agricultural Pollution: The intensive and mismanaged usage of fertilizers and pesticides in
the agricultural lands is a serious source of pollution. These fertilizers and pesticides represents
the major source of the excess concentrations of nitrates(NO3), and phosphates(PO4). In
addition to some gases like methane and nitrogen oxide, which contributes to air and water
pollution as well.
c)Industrial Pollution: The area contains an important number of industries, among these: paper
industry, stone cutting, garage and petrol stations, olive presses, etc...These industries dispose
their solid waste with domestic landfills with no previous treatment, and discharges their waste
water with the sewer network most of the time directly into the Litani river. Three waste water
treatment plants are currently ongoing in the Qaraoun area.

18
 Chapter II. Methodology
Two types of models are to be built during this project, the hydrodynamic model
(groundwater flow model) that allows to understand the flow regimes and storage capacities of
the zone, and a contaminant transport model that is based on the hydrodynamic model, and is
built to examine the trajectory of pollutants in the groundwater system. To achieve that, a
certain methodology that starts with data collection and preparation for use in the model was
followed, followed by building the conceptual model that represents the basis of the computer
model . The computer software chosen for building the model is Processing Modflow for
Windows V.5.3.1 (Chiang and Kinzelbach,2001) for being a reliable and tested graphical user
interface of the well known MODFLOW program. This software only accepts ASCII files as
input files, and thus all the collected data had to be properly prepared in a GIS environment and
saved as ASCII files. Data collected from previous studies included mainly those related to the
geological, hydrological, and hydrogeological features of the area.

1. Hydrodynamic Model

1.1. Data Collection and Preparation

Geologic data was obtained from geological cards prepared by L.Dubertret at a scale
1/50000. The Qaraoun basin appears to extend over 4 geological sheets: Jezzine, Rachaya
North, Hermon, and Marjayoun. These sheets were scanned and georeferenced, and then
digitized, where they were used to determine the boundaries of the model(figure 10).The
stratigraphy of the area was determined from geological sections given in the notice associated
with geological card and in the UNDP 1970 report.

The surface elevation of the area was digitized by building the digital elevation model which
was built from a 10 m interval contour map obtained from the Remote Sensing Center- CNRS
(figure 9).

Figure 9.Digital Elevation

Model(prepared on ArcGIS)

19
 a) b)
4
Figure 10: a)Geological cards prepared by L.Dubertret (1955) ;b)The geological formations
digitized and clipped to the study area.

The hydrodynamic properties differs according to the geological formations. These properties
including transmisivities, storativity, and effective porosity were determined from the UNDP
1970 report. The horizontal hydraulic conductivity is deduced from the transmisivity. The
vertical hydraulic conductivity is accounted to by an anisotropy ratio; the ratio of vertical to
horizontal hydraulic conductivity of a unit; often arbitrarily assigned to each unit and is then
subject to model calibration. The values of the anisotropy ratio as reported by Todd
(1980) range between 0.1 and 0.5 for alluvium and possibly as low as 0.01 when clay layers are
present.
External hydrological conditions in the area include: precipitation that represents the major
recharge to the area, potential evapotranspiration, river, springs, and pumping wells. The wells
existing in the area are mainly public wells.
All these data were entered into ArcMap, and converted to ASCII files.

1.2 The Conceptual Model

Building the conceptual model is the most important step in groundwater modeling. A proper
conceptual model gives proper model results, and the opposite is true. Especially in the scarce
of data and computer codes limitations, many assumptions and simplifications must be made.
The groundwater system will be studied in four states for which corresponds a set of variables.
The four states to be studied are:
a)The steady natural state: This state represents the state of the system in equilibrium and
before any human interference or abstraction from wells. In the steady state the long term
average inflow equals the long term average outflow. Groundwater level distribution and water
budget of the steady natural groundwater flow provide references for assessing the impact of
abstraction, and serves as the initial conditions for the development models. The study of this
state is taken on daily basis, where the time unit is taken as a day, and all outputs are in m3/day.

20
 b) The steady development state: This represents the steady state of the model after
abstraction from the aquifers starts. The system also is in equilibrium and the inflow and
outflow reaches equilibrium again after a sufficient period of the beginning of abstraction. The
object of building the steady development model is to understand the effect of abstraction on the
groundwater system.
c) The transient natural model: The transient natural model takes into account the seasonal
variations in the inflow and outflow from the system. The unbalance of total recharge and
discharge causes the change of groundwater storage over time. Especially in climatic zones like
Lebanon, where the year is divided into dry and wet seasons, and the recharge from
precipitation varies significantly within a year, studying the aquifer in its transient state is
important. The dry season extends from June till August, and the greater amounts of recharge
are obtained between November and February. These variations are detected for each stress
period which represents the period for which the parameters of inflow and outflow are
considered constant. The model was studied over two years starting from September 2009 till
August 2011- which is the duration of available groundwater head data. The two years were
divided into 24 stress periods each stress period representing a month. The pluviometric data
registered in Khirbet Qanafar rain gauge in these stress periods are given in table 3 .
Time 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Rate(mm) 47.6 43.6 226.4 258.2 362.4 222.4 35.8 7.2 0 0.2 0 0

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
2.6 48.4 0 112.6 8.6 90.2 0.6 38.2 42 5.4 0 0
Table 3. Average Monthly Precipitation for the years (2009-2010;2010-2011)
d) Transient development model : In an analogy to steady natural model, this model studies
the effect of abstraction but in the different periods. Obviously, the abstraction in a dry period
with limited recharge sources (for example stress periods 11 and 12 in this case) will have a
greater effect than the period of a heavy rain. Some wells suffer from water scarcity in dry
seasons as some of the wells' owners in the area mentioned. However, it was not possible to
determine the pumping rate at each of the 24 months of the simulation time, and the rate was
considered constant, knowing that this may cause some discrepancy in the results, but it still
would be an indicator of the effect of abstraction in these periods.
All these models are built on a base model containing the model extents, layers, the
hydraulic conductivities, transmisivities, storage parameters, and porosity of aquifers. The
model extent is represented by a rectangle of size 24 km x19 km, divided into 240 columns and
190 rows. The upper left corner of this model considered as the origin is located at X 0= 745072;
Y0 = 3728622 in UTM geographic coordinate system.
The geological layers present in the Qaraoun area are simplified to 9 units with variable
hydrostratigraphic description . The dipping of these formations, leads to the fact that most of
these formation have upper parts exposed at the surface, the thing that makes the discretization
of these layers somehow complicated. Each layer will contain several geologic formations with
varying hydraulic conductivities, and discretization is done vertically and horizontally. The
hydrostratigraphic units with their hydrodynamic properties are listed in Table 4.

21
 Hydro-
Geological Lithological T** nt ne**
stratigraphic S**
Unit description H*(m) Kh(m/d) (m2/s) (%) (%)
character

Alluvial and
10-4
Quaternary colluvium aquitard 1.5 0.15 30 15
>10 m to10-2
deposits
Marly
Burdigalian limestone
aquiclude 100 m 1e-4 10-2 0.015 35 1.5
(m1) and silty
marl
10-3 to
Lutetian(e2) limestone Semi-aquifer 850 m 5 0.029 20 2.9
0.3
Chalky Very
Senonian(c6) aquiclude 630m 0.001 - 30 -
marls weak
Limestone
Cenomanian,
and Excellent 2.3e-3
Toronian 600 m 30 0.04 15 4
dolomitic aquifer to 0.8
(c4,c5)
limestone
Marly
Very
Albian(c3) limestone aquiclude 215 m 0.01 - 25 -
weak
and schist
Inferior Clastic
aquitard 107 m 0.01 1e-5 0.045 15 4.5
Aptian (c2) limestone
Neocomian- Sand stone 3e-4 to
Semi-aquifer 125 m 0.1 0.06 20 6
Bermian(c1) and clays 10-2
Dolomite
and Excellent
Jurrasic 600m 64.8 0.45 0.02 15 2
dolomitic aquifer
Limestone
Table 4. Characteristics of the Stratigraphic units in the Qaraoun Area(*adopted from Dubertret 1955
notice accompanied with geological cards; **adopted from UNDP 1970)

Symbols used in the table:

- - H= total thickness of the stratigraphic unit in - S = storage coefficient

- Kh= horizontal hydraulic conductivity in m/day - nt = total porosity in %

- T - T= transmisivity in m2/day - ne = effective porosity in %

22
2. Contaminant Transport Model

2.1 Data Collection and preparation:

a) Available data: Prior to searching for pollution in groundwater, the pollution on surface
should be detected and tracked. The main source of pollution on surface are the agricultural
lands, and the landfills that are susceptible lands of pollutants leaching and infiltration to
groundwater. The concentration of pollutants in these sources is taken based on previous studies
on soil pollution in such locations. Another source of pollution might be recharge from surface
water. The Qaraoun lake and the Litani river represent reservoirs of all waste water of domestic
and industrial facilities in the zone. The water quality of the Qaraoun lake was taken from the
study prepared by Mey Jurdi in 2001 "Evaluation of Water Quality of Qaraoun Reservoir", and
experiments conducted by the LRA periodically since 2001 , while the chemical data
concerning the Litani river was obtained from the experiments conducted monthly by the LRA
at several points of the river. Several parameters were obtained : Sulfates, Nitrates, Nitrites,
TDS, Ammonia, Phosphates, Dissolved oxygen, in addition to metals Calcium(Ca),
Magnesium(Mg), Sodium(Na), Iron(Fe),Zinc (Zn), Chrome(Cr), Copper(Cu), along with field
data : electrical conductivity, pH, and temperature. It should be noted here that there exist a
significant variability in the results obtained by the two studies, and between the results of the
different periods. This issue should be treated with prudence, and it means that for a complete
assessment of groundwater pollution, observation wells should be monitored periodically in
accordance with surface water testing.

b) Site Investigation: Groundwater data is not available from previous studies, thus site
investigation was made to collect well data. Two site visits were made on May 30 /2012 and
June 4/ 2012 in which 12 water samples and wells' data were collected. The 12 wells were
chosen to be almost uniformly distributed over the area.( Figure C.1 in Appendix C).

The field conditions (conductivity, temperature, pH) were tested directly using the
MultiParameter PCSTestr 35, and the coordinates of the points in UTM coordinate geographic
system(zone 36N) were determined using the Magellan GPS. The samples were collected in 500
ml bottles, filled to the very top, properly sealed, given a unique ID then conserved properly at
4 ᵒC till reaching the laboratory of the EDST- Lebanese university, where they were tested for
their for their metallic and ionic composition. Figure 11 shows photos captured during well
sampling showing the steps made in collecting the sample.

23
 Sampled Well Sampling

Testing field's conditions Taken Sample

Figure 11. Well Sampling ( photos taken on May 30/2012 in west Bekaa)

c) Chemical Testing
The water samples taken were filtered using a 0.45 µm polycarbonate membrane, and passed
on the Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (ASS) to measure the cations (metals) concentration.
Metals tested are Chromium (Cr), Iron ( Fe), Zinc (Zn), Magnesium (Mg) and Calcium(Ca).
The samples were also passed on the Ionic Chromatography (IC) to measure their ionic
composition in Chlorine (Cl-), Nitrate (NO3-), Nitrite(NO2), Phosphates (PO4-), Sulfates
(SO42-), Bromide (Br-). Bacteriological testing was not possible.

24
 2.2. Building the contaminant Transport Model

Based on the chemical analysis, the major pollutant to track from surface to groundwater
was found to be nitrates that is mainly suspected to originate from leaching of nitrates in
agricultural land.
The MT3D model integrated with Processing Modflow 5.3.1 was used to simulate the
contaminant transport model.
The initial concentrations taken for the Qaraoun lake and Litany river are taken as shown in
table 5 . The results for nitrates, ammonia and nitrites were taken as the results obtained by the
LRA for May 2010( highest concentrations).
Location Total N NO3 NO2 NH3
Qaraoun Lake 9 13 0.44 0.26
Litani River 8.8 14 0.81 5.52
Table 5. Concentration of pollutants in Qaraoun lake and Litani River.
The Nitrates concentration in agricultural lands is taken as 55 mg/l.(T. Darwich 2009).
Thirteen active dumpsites exist in the area. The location of these dumpsites is given in
Figure D.1 in Appendix D, and the daily amount of received solid wastes is given in Table D.1
in Appendix D. As it was not possible during this research to determine their yield in
concentrations of heavy metals and nitrates and bromides and chromium, a different method is
followed. Pollutants are considered as particles and the path of these particles is tracked
regardless of their concentration. The particle tracking was done using the PMPATH model
integrated with Processing Modflow 5.3.1.

Two stages were selected to study the path of nitrates. The stage of application of fertilizers
(spring) where nitrates concentrations are taken as initial concentration and are the maximum
concentrations, and 1 year after this application to examine the fate of these nitrates in the
aquifer system. Note that the samples were taken in May, which is the period close to nitrate
application.

The transport mechanisms of nitrate in groundwater included advection, dispersion and

sorption.
The longitudinal dispersivity is mainly scale dependent were a large range of values were
applied and adjusted during model calibration. The transversal dispersivity was taken smaller
than longitudinal dispersivity in an order of one magnitude.
Langmuir non-linear isotherm was used to simulate sorption of nitrates with Langmuir
equilibrium constant and maximum sorption capacity varying with the variation of the
geological unit and soil type.

25
 3. Sensitivity Analysis

After building the model, the sensitivity analysis is performed to check the sensitivity of the
input parameters. A little change in a certain parameter may dramatically change the model
results. This step is important to understand the relation between the model input and output,
and what inputs are the most important and should have the most attention and in what range
can these inputs vary during model calibration. This step is done by imposing a change in one
parameter and rerun the model to check the changes on the results. The analysis is made on two
sides, the hydrogeological parameters meaning the properties of the geological units, and the
hydrological parameter or processes. It will be then those processes that should attract the most
attention in experimental research and which may become important management tools if we
intend to modify the system behavior to match certain criteria. (Sensitivity, Calibration,
Validation, Verification, A A VINOV 2008). The sensitivity of hydrodynamic parameters serves
later in the calibration step, while the sensitivity of the processes serves as knowing the
processes on which management should be emphasized.
4. Calibration
Ten observation wells monitored by the LRA since 2009 are available in the area. The water
levels in these wells for the two years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 where used in calibration.
However, the number of these wells and their distribution in the area in addition to the lack of
some month data, weakens the confidence in the calibrated model in some locations. Therefore,
the levels of springs is also used as head indicators in addition to site observations and
investigation on some wells.

5. Validation
A proper validation of the built model is not possible so far. To do this, another set of
temporal data is needed, to check if the system can correctly or with quite precision regenerate
the results. However, the groundwater data available about the zone are limited and monitoring
of the groundwater levels and status is still insufficient, and the validation of the model may
need several years ahead of temporal data collection.

26
 Chapter III. Results and Discussion:

1.Steady Natural Model

Two scenarios were taken regarding the boundaries of the steady natural model. The first
scenario considers all boundaries as zero flow boundary including the Yammouneh fault, while
the second considers the Yammouneh fault as an inflow boundary. The results of the two
scenarios are given in this section.

Scenario1: Yammouneh fault is a zero flow boundary

The contour map of the hydraulic heads obtained for the first scenario (figure 12) shows for
the west Cenomanian aquifer a head of about 750 m, with a variable flow direction mainly
oriented southward and towards the Qaraoun lake where it is drained. This proves the existence
of the head dependent source under the Qaraoun lake mentioned in the UNDP 1970 report. As
for the Eocene semi-aquifer, two flow directions are noticed. From the middle of the aquifer at
the level of ElBire towards the north with a hydraulic gradient of around 130 m. At this level,
we notice a leakage flow from the Eocene aquifer towards the Cenomanian aquifer where they
get in contact under the shallow quaternary deposits. The second direction is from the middle
towards the south with a greater hydraulic gradient of 190m and which most probably
eventually exfiltrates into the Litani river . In the east Cenomanian aquifer, water flows
southward with a hydraulic gradient of 60 m from 900 m in the north to 840 m in the south. In
general, the head in the east aquifer is higher than the head in the western aquifer.
By analyzing the water budget shown in Figure 13, we notice a residual inflow in the total
balance. Theoretically, in the steady state, the total water balance should be zero(Inflow -
Outflow). This limited residual flow having the value of 757 m3/day which accounts for 0.1 %
only of the inflow to the system may probably be due to the existence of the Qaraoun lake or to
a leakage to an adjacent aquifer outside of our extent which was not considered in the model,
indicating that the surface water catchment does not coincide with the groundwater catchment,
or due to the complexity of actual subsurface layers within the same geological formation and
that may be leaky. The dominant inflow comes from infiltration which represents 87.6 %, the
remaining portion comes from river leakage and represents only 12.4 %. The major discharge
of the area is represented by the evapotranspiration that represents 43 % of the outflow, the
second discharge is through leakage into river which accounts for 22 %, then comes the
drainage through springs that their daily discharge represents 18 % of the total discharge. And
finally the head dependent boundary represented here by the source under the Qaraoun lake
which represents 17 % of the total discharge which is an important portion relatively showing
the high conductance of this source.

27
 Figure 12. Contour Map of Hydraulic Heads in the Steady Natural State- Scenario 1

Figure 13. Water Balance in the Steady

Natural State - Scenario 1

28
 Scenario2: Yammouneh fault is an inflow boundary

By examining the heads in the zone shown in figure 14, we notice that the same flow
directions as in the first scenario are present. There's only a slight increase in the hydraulic
heads of the zone in the order of 5 m.
On the other hand, the water balance (figure 15) shows a significant difference on the volume
discharged from the region. The new inflow increased the total inflow of the area significantly
which imposed the augmentation of the discharges of springs and leakage to river and head
dependent source, but the percentage discharged by each of these almost remained the same.
The new percentages became: 41.5 % eliminated from the system through evapotranspiration;
22.6 % are discharged into river; 18.4 % drained out as springs, and 17.5 % drained in the lake.

Figure 14. Contour Map of Hydraulic Heads in the Steady Natural State- Scenario 2.

29
Figure 15. Water Balance in the
Steady Natural State- Scenario 2

Thereof, only the results of the first scenario are considered in the models since it seemed
from the natural model that the general trend of the model is the same.

2.Steady Development Model:

Considering the contour map of the hydraulic heads (figure 16), it can be noticed that the
general flow direction remains the same as for the natural model, with the formation of a cone
of depression around the domain of the well, and a drop in the levels of water. The greater
drawdown occurred around abstraction wells with the higher pumping rates, the maximum
drawdown noticed was 25 m near the wells of El Bire, Mdoukha , Jeb Jannine where these wells
are known of their elevated daily pumping rate (for instance 740 m3/day in Jeb Jannine( MOE))
The abstraction from wells induced significant changes on the components of the water
balance (figure 17) but not on the total water balance that regains equilibrium and converges to
a negligible residual flow representing only 0.01% of the inflow. The changes induced by the
abstraction from wells on the components of the water budget by considering their variation
from the natural steady water budget are found to be as follows:
- decrease in the overall discharge to river by 27 % ( from 8235.7 m3/day to 6013.7 m3/day)
-decrease in the evapotranspiration by 12 % as a result of the drop in the water level.
-decrease in the discharge into springs by 4 %
-decrease in the drainage to the head dependent source located under the Qaraoun lake by 7
%.

30
 Figure 16. Contour Map of Hydraulic Heads in the steady development state.

Figure 17. Water Balance in the Steady

Development State

31
 3.Transient Natural Model:

The best way to visualize the variation of groundwater levels in the different stress periods is
to show the head-time graphs. Figure 18 shows the positions of 4 chosen points considered as
observation wells in the model and the variation of the head calculated by MODFLOW for
these observation wells. The time is given in days, and the head in meters. The contour map
shown in the figure belongs to stress period 2 which represents the period of October 2009.
By examining the graphs given in figure 18, we notice a common pattern of fluctuation of the
hydraulic heads in the 4 wells. They all are characterized by an oscillatory curve, reaching a
maximum in the day 150 and the day 555 which belongs to the stress periods 5 and 18 which
lies in the rain periods, and a minimum in the dry periods from June till August for the two
consecutive years. Moreover the pattern seems decreasing where the maximum attained in the
first year is greater than the one attained in the second year. For instance, for well 1 the
maximum head obtained in the first year reached 867 m while it dropped to 861 m in the second
year. This is due to the fact that the year 2009-2010 had a more prolific winter. As for the
general trend of the hydraulic head in the whole zone, the same flow directions as for the steady
natural case are obtained, but with more elevated hydraulic heads that exceeds 1100 m in some
localities. Also we notice that the heads in the eastern part of the area are higher than the heads
in its western part.
This pattern of fluctuations of groundwater levels is definitely related to the change in the
water budget of the area. The unbalance of total recharge and discharge in the transient state
causes the change in groundwater storage over the time. The two water balances given in figure
19 where chosen to represent the most prolific recharge period (January 2010) represented by
stress period 5, and a zero precipitation recharge period (August 2010) represented by period 12
(refer to Table 4 for pluviometric data). The budget shows a positive overall storage value in
August. This positive value means that the discharge from the zone is greater than the recharge
and the groundwater storage is depleted during these seasons. This also is reflected in the
decrease of the discharge to springs where it reached 5318.2 m3/day only. Also the leakage
from river became now the main recharge source to the system, where it increased to reach
12,946 m3/day. For the stress period 5 representing January of the year 2010, the storage
attained a negative value, where there's excess recharge to the zone, indicating that this excess
recharge is being used as storage and not discharged. This storage represented about 22 % of the
flux infiltrated through precipitation. The discharge to the springs and head dependent
boundaries increased more than 300 % .

32
Figure 18. Head in the area for stress period 2 and the head-time graphs of selected points- Natural
state.

33
a) Water Balance of Stress period 5 ( January 2010)

b)Water Balance of Stress period 12 ( August 2010)

Figure 19. Water balance of the area for stress periods 5 and 12 - Natural State

34
 4.Transient Development Model:

The contour map of the hydraulic heads of the zone is shown in figure 20 along with the
graphs showing the variation of head versus time, at the same points taken for the transient
natural model for the sake of comparison. The time is given in days and the heads given in
meters.
The contour lines for the hydraulic heads obtained for the stress period 1 are so similar in their
general form to the ones obtained in the transient natural state, except that a cone of depression
is noticed around well locations ( points in red) and a general drop in water levels. To get an
idea about the fluctuation of the heads in the area during the 2 years, we examine the graphs
giving the head versus time in figure 20. The pattern is the same as for the natural state, but with
lower maximums. The wells located near well fields are exposed to severe drawdown in their
water level, as seen in well 3 located between three well fields in which the head drops 200 m.
This value may be overestimated by the software but it definitely gives an idea of the severe
drawdown occurring in these zones and explains the observations by the population that some
wells dry up in summer. For well 4 for example, that also lies near a well field, the head drops
77 m from what it was on in the natural state in the maximum rain period. However, the
observation well 2, shows little drop in head which is in the order of few meters only (4m). This
may be due to the position of this well in the vast range of the Cenomanian aquifer that
represents a huge reservoir and is less vulnerable to abstraction.
The water budgets of the area shown in figure 21 shows a great depletion in the groundwater
storage in the dry period, where the value abstracted from the storage reached 63102 m3/day
which is 23 times greater than the amount discharged in the natural state. The abstraction from
wells decreased the discharge into springs and induced an increased infiltration from river. The
discharge of the springs reached 4617.6 m3/day which means that some springs completely dry
up in summer. This shows that the abstraction from wells forms a serious stress on the
groundwater of the zone, in spite of its great capacitance.

35
Figure 20. Head in the area for stress period 1 and head-time graphs of selected points-Abstraction
Case

36
a) Water Balance for period 5 ( January 2010)

7
b)Water balance of stress period 12 (August 2010)

Figure 21. Water balance of the area for stress periods 5 and 12 - Abstraction Case

37
5.Contaminant Transport Model:

 Chemical Test Results:

The chemical content of the samples was significantly variable, which is normal due to the
variability in space of these samples. The chemical test results are given in table C.1 in
Appendix C. Only four samples showed concentrations in NO3 exceeding the guidelines of
WHO but are within the limit set by LIBNOR. Three of these samples showed also elevated
amounts of bromide, and chromium, in addition to two other wells. Unreasonable
concentrations of bromide are detected in number of wells that reached 49.8 mg/l in the sample
of Sohmor well for example, which is as high as 8 times the limit set by WHO for bromide in
drinking water for a 60 kg adult (6 mg/l). None of the samples showed concentration in Nitrites
or Phosphates.
The absence of nitrites in the wells favors the hypotheses that the origin of nitrates is the
fertilizers used excessively in agricultural lands and not domestic water or waste. Another
thing that supports this hypotheses is the location of these wells in or near agricultural lands of
field crops in medium to large terraces as it can be noticed from the landuse map (Appendix E)
Contributing to this location is that all these wells are targeting the Cenomanian aquifer and
this is explained by the great vulnerability of this aquifer.
The large divergence of Cl/Br ratio in the wells (in the order of 0.5 in the suspected wells)
is an indicator of the non-natural origin of bromide in groundwater. Two hypothesis that needs
further inspection can be suggested for the distribution of bromides in two different aquifers:
either the traveling of bromides in dissolved for long distances along these connected aquifers(
west Cenomanian and Eocene), or the existence of near pollution sources affecting these wells
directly like agricultural lands and landfills.
Chromium may have natural origin in the groundwater from weathering of surface rocks,
but also can be contributed to from industrial wastes in landfills especially tanneries and
cement producing and stone cutting . This needs further investigation of surface and bromine
and chromium concentration in soils of the area, the issue that is still not covered.

 Model Results

The plumes of concentrations of nitrates across the model area for the two specified stages
are shown in figure 22. Darker orange color shows a high concentration in NO3 while yellow
color shows low concentration in NO3 not exceeding the limit for potable water (10 mg/l).
Important attenuation in the initial concentration are noticed during the first year. To have a
clearer sense on the concentration of nitrates through time, breakthrough curves were prepared
over a period of 100 years (figure 23). The two wells selected showed different behavior, well
12 located away from pollution sources, showed a slow increase from 0.416 mg/l to 3.95 mg/l
which is still below the guidelines knowing that this is concurrent with the chemical test results
where no nitrates were detected in well 12. Well 5 located in the middle of a highly
concentrated area in NO3, shows gradual decrease in concentration from 24.4 mg/l to 3.75 mg/l.

38
The detected concentration in nitrates in well 5 was 22.9 mg/L which complies with the
calculated concentrations. This doesn't mean that these are the concentrations in these wells
after 100 years, since the factor of the added concentrations for the years that follows are not
accounted, but it rather shows the behavior of NO3 in the aquifer system which helps predict its
fate. As a general sight, NO3 doesn't seem to be very mobile or conservative in the aquifer
system, and this mobility varies across the system without proper regime due to the great
heterogeneity present. For instance, in the Cenomanian aquifer, the concentration of NO3 from
its higher value in the north was decreased in its way southward by more than 90 % 4 km
downstream. The attenuation is even greater heading eastward, where it was completely
attenuated or most probably sorped by the Senonian marls 2.8 km away. This explains the great
heterogeneity in the chemical results of the tested well, and the absence (not detected by the
chromatography test) of NO3- in half of the samples. But it is possible that if the same wells
were tested some years later, a higher amount of NO3 that seems to migrate in the system from
the higher concentration to the lower ones may be detected as shown in the breakthrough curve
of well 12.
As for the landfills, the trajectory taken by pollutants from landfills to groundwater is shown
in figure 24. All particles eventually reaches the Litani river even those that are relatively far
from the river course. In addition to a number of close wells that may be affected by the
pollutants. For example the well of Tell Znoub( S7) located at the upper left corner of the study
zone, had an elevated concentration in bromide. This is explained by the particles that reaches
this well from several landfills including those of Khirbet Qanafar, Ghazze, Soultan Yaaoub and
El Manara.

 Suggested Remediation

Eventually the amounts of nitrates in the aquifer system will move slowly and will be
discharged with springs and rivers and wells out of the aquifer to improve water quality.
However, discharged water containing nitrates used in irrigation will infiltrate holding a greater
amount of nitrates. The continuous cycle of charging and discharging of NO3 to the aquifer is
what controls the quality of the groundwater, and shows that if the charge to the aquifer was
minimized, the groundwater will restore its quality few years later where. So the primary and
less expensive remediation step that may be taken is to reduce the leaching of NO3 mainly by
informing farmers about the hazards and proper techniques of pesticides and fertilizers
application. Direct interference in the aquifer system such as chemicals injection is not
recommended since the pollution in nitrates is still not hazardous( below Lebanese guidelines)
especially considering the high cost of these techniques.
The landfills on the other side, needs immediate interference and management to control the
leaching to groundwater. Several solid waste treatment plants should be build to replace the
random unsealed landfills. For the elimination of bromides from groundwater, abstraction wells
may be necessary around some landfills after their closure to pump up the infected groundwater,
treat it properly then returning it clean to the environment.

39
 a) stage1 - Period Of application-time step 1( 1month)
> 25 mg/l
20-25 mg/l
15-20 mg/l
10 - 15 mg/l
< 10 mg/l

b) Stage 2 - One year after application of fertilizers

Figure 22- Spreading of Nitrates in the area at the periods :a) spring of the first year ;b) After 1 year

40
 a) b)

Figure 23. Breakthrough curves of 2 selective observation wells over a 100 years period a) well
12 ; b)well 5

The particles' path of pollutants in landfills is shown in figure 24 below in a period of 10 years.

Figure 24. The path of particles from landfills in 10 years period.

The landfills are represented by the light orange spots, the pumping wells in red points, and the red
curves represents the particles' path.

41
 Chapter IV. Conclusions and Perspectives

The results of the groundwater flow model shows that the Qaraoun area possesses important
reserves of groundwater, that reaches 90 MCM in a year. The yearly abstraction from this
dynamic reservoir accounts for about 37 % of the annual reserve( 33 MCM). The rest goes as
discharge into springs that are numerous in the area, and infiltration to river and Qaraoun lake.
However, in the transient state, in absence of recharge from precipitation during summer, the
balance becomes negative and the discharge of springs and water table level is severely
affected. This causes the dry up of some springs and wells during summer, and necessitates
control on the abstraction especially with the increase in population and water demands.

As for the nitrates tracking in the groundwater system in the Qaraoun area, known of its
agricultural nature, the nitrate concentration was found critical only in some locations near to
large field crops that are more subject of over fertilization, and no serious nitrate contamination
hazard is found near small and individual field crops. Moreover, the nitrate pollution is mostly
confined to the Cenomanian aquifer due to its high hydraulic conductivity which makes it
highly vulnerable to nitrates leaching. The Senonian marl that borders the Cenomanian aquifer
helps in the great and fast attenuation of nitrate concentrations. The landfills, even those
relatively far from the Litani river seem to seriously affect the river through leakage of
groundwater in addition to the surface runoff, these landfills also may be the origin of wells
high contents of bromides and chromium in some wells. A further investigation of surface
content in these two species at suspicious locations such as landfills or septic tanks is needed to
verify this hypothesis.

This research may only be proceeded and completed if extensive field data was collected on
several years, and monitoring of wells, soils, surface water, is conducted. If temporal data is
obtained, future prediction would be possible, and the effectiveness of remediation procedures
can be evaluated quantitatively to minimize expenses. The complete quantitative assessment of
the groundwater status of the Qaraoun reservoir necessities the activation of monitoring and
data collection in the several domains especially regarding the periodic chemical testing of
wells, the thing that is still absent in the area, knowing that the majority of the existing wells are
public wells managed by municipality, which makes their monitoring easier. Also digitizing and
georeferencing all field data in a GIS environment is very important for correlating all available
data and producing complete assessment and successful policies.

As a conclusion, the Qaraoun area still needs proper management and continuous
investigation and monitoring in order to reach to a complete and clear assessment of pollution to
put a serious plan to protect the groundwater, this precious resource of the Qaraoun area, and
of all Lebanon country.

42
 REFERENCES
(1) Abdallah,C. 2007,Description of the Litani river basin, 15 June 2007,technical report.

(2) Abdallah,C. 2010, Hydrology and Watersheds. Lebanese university, Ecole Doctorale Science and Technology.

(3) Final Technical Report to IDRC, Towards An Ecosystem Approach To The Sustainable Management Of The
Litani Watershed - Lebanon , 12 December 2007.

(4) Mey Jurdi, Samira Ibrahim Korfali, Yester Karahagopian And Brian E. Davies, Evaluation of Water Quality of
Qaraoun Reservoir - Lebanon: Sustainability for Multi-Purpose Usage, 10 July 2001

(5) Groundwater Flow Modeling and Vulnerability Mapping, BAMAS, September 2005.

(6)Litani River Authority, Annual Report, Environmental Unit ,2009

(7) LRA, 2007.Towards an Ecosystem Approach to the Sustainable Management of the Litani Watershed,
International Project, Litani River Authority(LRA), Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research
Development Studies Association (DSA) , 12 December 2007.

(8) Water Quality Assessment of the Upper Litani Basin and Qaraoun Lake - Lebanon, Bureau of Asia and the
Near East, U.S Agency for International Development. October 2003

(9) Saad Z., Kazpard V., El Samrani A., Aoun M., Amacha N, and Saadeh M., Chemical And Environmental
Isotope Investigation On Hydrodynamics Of A Monomictic Lake: A Case Study On Qaraoun Dam, Lebanon,
Journal of Environmental Hydrology, Volume 17, 2009.

(10) UNDP: 1970, Liban: Etude des Eeaux Souterraines, Programme des Nations pour le Development,N.Y.,
DP/SF/UN/44, Liban.

(11) Darwish T., Jomaa I., Awad M., and Boumetri R., Preliminary Contamination Hazard Assessment of Land
Resources in Central Bekaa Plain of Lebanon, Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research, Center for
Remote Sensing, Lebanese University, Faculty of Agriculture, Beirut, Lebanon,15 October 2008.

(12) Yangxiao Zhou, Applied Groundwater Modeling, UNESCO, IHE, LN0418/09/1.

(13) Dubertret L.1952. Carte geologique au 50,000e>, feuille de Jezzine, Beyrouthe, Décembre 1952.

(14) Dubertret L.(1945-1960). Carte géologique au 50,000e>, Racahaya Nord, Beyrouth, Juillet 1945.

(15) Dubertret L.1955. Carte geologique au 50,000e>, feuille de Marjeoun, Beyrouth, Decembre 1952.

(16) Dubertret L.1955. Carte geologique au 50,000e>, feuille de Hermon, Beyrouth, Decembre 1952.

(17) Dubertret, L. 1960 Carte Geologique au 50,000e> Feuille de Rachaya. Notice Explicative, 44 pages.

(18) Darwich T., Attalah T., El Khatib M., and Hajhasan S., Impact of Irrigation and fertilization on NO3 leaching
and soil-groundwater contamination in Lebanon, 17 WCSS, 14-21 August 2012, Thailand.

(19) WHO, Rolling Revision on WHO Guidelines for drinking-water Quality, Nitrates and Nitrites in drinking
Water, July 2004

(20)WHO, Bromide in Drinking Water, Background document for the development of WHO guidelines for
drinking-water quality, WHO/HSE/WSH/09.01/6.

43
(21)UNDP, Business Plan for Combating Pollution of the Qaraoun Lake, Main report, ELARD, 13 June 2011

(22)FAO, Irrigation Water Management : Irrigation Water needs, 1986.

(23) Laura Mcdowell- Boyer, James R. Hunt, and Nicholas Sitar, Particle Transport Through Porous Media, Water
Resources Research, Vol. 22, P. 1901-1921, December 1986.

(24) Shaw B., Mechinich C., and Klessig L., Understanding Lake Data, G3582.

(25) Dorothy J. Vesper, Caroline M. Loop and William B. White, Contaminant Transport in Karst Aquifer ,
Department of Geosciences, and Materials Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University
Park, PA 16802, USA.

(26) Hongze Gao, Groundwater Modeling for Flow Systems with Complex Geological and Hydrogeological
Conditions, 2011 Xi'an International Conference on Fine Geological Exploration and Groundwater & Gas Hazards
Control in Coal Mines, Procedia Earth and Planetary Science 3 ( 2011 )

(27) UNDP, Living Conditions of Families, 2004 (in Arabic)

(28) United States Office, EPA, Understanding variation in Partition Coefficient, Kd ,values, Volume I, August
1999.

(29) Arden D. Davis, Deterministic Modeling of Dispersion in Heterogeneous Permeable Media.

(30) Frederick T. Stannin, Malcolm Pirine, The Transport and Fate of Cr(VI) in the Environment, P.161-212, July
2004.

(31) Davis N. Stanely, Fabryka-Martin, June T., Wolfsberg, Laura E., Variation of Bromide in Groundwater,
Groundwater, November 2004.

(32) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Case Studies in Environmental Medicine (CSEM) -
Chromium Toxicity, WB 1466, December 18, 2011.

(33) A A VINOV, Sensitivity, Calibration, Validation, Verification, Ecological Models, ELSEVIR 2008.

(34) Shawki LHaj, "‫"اطالق مشروع امداد الجنوب بمياه الليطاني‬, As-Safir news paper, 12174, May 4/ 2012.

44
APPENDIX A
Standards for Potable Water
 APPENDIX A - STANDARDS FOR POTABLE WATER

Parameter LIBNOR Standards* WHO Standards**

pH 6.5-8.5 6.5-8.5
TDS 500 mg/l 1000 mg/l
DO - -
BOD - 0.909 mg/l
NH3 - 1.5 mg/l
NO3 45 mg/l 10 mg/l
-
NO2 0.05 mg/l -
-
SO4 250 mg/l 250 mg/l
Cl 200 mg/l 250 mg/l
-
PO4 1.35 mg/l -
Fe - 0.3 mg/l
Al - 0.2 mg/l
Zn - 3 mg/l
Cr - 0.05 mg/l
Cu - 1 mg/l
As - 0.01 mg/l
Cd - 0.003 mg/l
Hg - 0.01 mg/l
Pb - 0.01 mg/l
Table A.1.Guidlines for Potable Water (source *Scientific World Journal,** Jurdi et al.2001)
 APPENDIX A - STANDARDS FOR POTABLE WATER

TDS (mg/l) Designation Uses

0-1,000 Fresh water Most purposes including

drinking

1,000-10,000 Brackish water Drinking if fresh water is

unavailable

10,000-100,000 Saline For livestock and limited

irrigation

>100,000 Brine Oil and gas production

Table A.2.Classification of Water According to TDS (LRA 2009)

Nitrate Concentration
Interpretation
(mg/L)

NO3 0 - 45 Below the drinking water standard. The

nitrate level is safe for humans and livestock.
45-175 Higher than the drinking water standard. The
water should not be consumed by infants six
months of age or younger, or by pregnant or
nursing women. It may be acceptable for
adults and livestock though it is not
recommended.
>175 The water should not be consumed. Install a
water treatment system or use bottled water for
drinking and cooking.
Table A.3.Description of Water According to Nitrate Concentration.(LRA,2009)
 APPENDIX B
Groundwater Vulnerability Mapping
APPENDIX B - GROUNDWATER VULNRABILTY MAP

Groundwater Vulnerability Map of the Upper Litany Basin(BAMAS, 2005)

APPENDIX C - TESTED WELL DATA

Figure C.1. Position of Sampled Wells

 APPENDIX C - TESTED WELL DATA
Sample locality Temp(ᵒC) PH Cond (µS/cm) TDS(ppm) Cl PO4 SO4 NO3 NO2 Br Fe Zn Cr

S1 Saghbin 17 7.9 460 326 4.179 ND 12.609 ND ND 1.593 0.0213 0.7595 ND

S2 Mashgara 24 8 410 291 7.768 ND 7.501 ND ND 4.028 0.0241 0.9231 0.0454

Ain-
S3 16.7 8.06 288 205 2.694 ND 2.341 ND ND 5.628 0.0231 0.0394 0.0523
ElTine
S4 Sohmor 18.9 7.22 754 538 26.699 ND 6.268 2.888 ND 49.883 0.0351 0.024 0.0348

S5 Baaloul 18 7.73 488 346 5.117 ND 3.299 22.902 ND 14.55 0.0141 0.0105 0.0659
Job
S6 19 7.73 543 383 16.532 ND 9.485 8.455 ND 23.88 0.0583 0.0682 0.0363
Jennin
S7 Tel Znoub 20.4 7.51 608 430 21.256 ND 4.596 22.126 ND 37.668 0.0789 0.0227 0.0568
Soultan
S8 19.7 7.9 491 351 16.259 ND 6.682 25.682 ND 32.502 0.0541 0.06431 0.052
Yaaouub
Khirbet
S9 17.8 8.05 530 374 9.107 ND 14.831 27.172 ND 1.031 0.0542 0.0322 0.0114
Rouha
S10 Mhaidse 21.8 7.45 533 380 9.541 ND 0.818 ND ND 4.376 0.1191 0.0272 0.0335

S11 Rachaya 18.1 7.5 475 345 8.498 ND 4.028 ND ND 2.881 0.0627 2.371 ND
Kfar
S12 18.4 7.5 530 376 9.767 ND 3.652 ND ND 2.729 0.0704 0.0541 0.015
Meshki

exceeding LIBNOR Standards Table C.1. Chemical results of the tested wells
exceeding WHO standards
ND Not Detected
All values are expressed in mg/l except where else mentioned
 APPENDIX C - TESTED WELL DATA
60
Cr
Anions 0.07
50
0.06
concentration(mg/l)

40

concentration(mg/l)
Cl 0.05

30 SO4 0.04
NO3 0.03
20 Cr
Br
0.02
10
0.01
0 0
S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11 S12 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11 S12

Fe Zn
0.14 2.5

0.12
2

Concentration (mg/l)
concentration (mg/l)

0.1

0.08 1.5

0.06 Fe Zn
1
0.04
0.5
0.02

0 0
S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11 S12 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11 S12

Figure C.2. Bar Charts showing the concentration of the species in the samples
APPENDIX D
Landfills
 APPENDIX D - LANDFILLS

Figure E.1. Location of Landfills in The Qaraoun Study area

Landfill Site Received waste(t/day) Distance from Litani

river(m)
El Manara 4 4900
Soultan Yaaoub 1.5 4700
Ghazze 4 120
Jeb Jannine 15 5
Khirbet Qanafar 5 800
Lala 6 540
Kamed el Louz 3 3360
Saghbin 5 350
Mdoukha 0.5 7800
ElBIre 2 6000
Lala Inactive -
Baaloul 1 1900
Aitanit 1 440 m from Qaraoun lake
Qaraoun 9 1450 m from Qaraoun lake
Table E.1. The Landfills found in the Qaraoun Area (Business Plan for Combating Pollution of
the Qaraoun Lake, UNDP 2011)