Scale of water infrastructure destruction in south Lebanon: 175 reservoirs and 2,500km of pipeline damaged

Continuous Israeli attacks have severely disrupted the water supply system in southern Lebanon. Hundreds of water reservoirs, pumping stations, deep tube wells and water pipelines have been destroyed.

This has made it harder for displaced people to return home, and has also raised deep concern over agriculture, the environment and public health in the long term.

On 9 June, a worker named Bahij Abdullah was attacked at a water pumping station in the Abel al-Saki area of southern Lebanon. He is an employee of the electrical maintenance department of the South Lebanon Water Establishment (SLWE).

At around 5:30pm that day, while he was inspecting a reservoir outside the station, an object came down from the sky and struck the installation.

Abdullah said he first thought the object was a drone. But after hovering in the sky for a while, it turned and crashed onto the station. An explosion and fire followed immediately.

The force of the blast knocked the phone from his hand. Metal fragments pierced his body and he was injured in the face, shoulder and leg.

After being taken to hospital, he needed surgery to repair a torn tendon in his leg and to remove splinters lodged in his chest and shoulder. Even after two days in intensive care, he has not fully recovered. He still has to walk slowly and needs regular physiotherapy.

The incident happened just five days after a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese government was announced in Washington. Abdullah said the water supply installation was clearly marked as belonging to a government institution, and the workers' clothing also carried the institution's identity.

He said: 'I could have died within a few seconds. Yet I had done nothing wrong. I was only supplying water for people to drink.'

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 823,000 people have returned to southern Lebanon in recent months. However, around 334,000 people remain displaced.

Among the services most absent in the areas people have returned to are water and electricity. The report noted that residents cannot rebuild pumping stations, lay long pipelines or clean underground water sources themselves.

An assessment published in July by the South Lebanon Water Establishment set out the damage from two rounds of war between 2024 and 2026. It showed damage to 175 water reservoirs, 16 main pumping stations, 124 wells and deep tube wells, nine springs, 104 chlorination systems used for water purification, and 85 generators.

In addition, more than 2,500 kilometres of water pipeline were destroyed or damaged.