Over 4 mln people in Lebanon risk losing access to water

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned Friday that more than four million people, including one million refugees, are at immediate risk of losing access to safe water in Lebanon, a statement by the UNICEF reported.

The organization estimates that most water pumping will gradually cease across the country in the next four to six weeks given the rapidly escalating economic crisis, shortages of funding, fuel and supplies such as chlorine and spare parts.

"The water sector is being squeezed to destruction by the current economic crisis in Lebanon, unable to function due to the dollarized maintenance costs, water loss caused by non-revenue water, the parallel collapse of the power grid and the threat of rising fuel costs," said Yukie Mokuo, the UNICEF Representative in Lebanon.

The UNICEF estimates that water costs could skyrocket by 200 percent a month when securing water from private water suppliers if the public water supply system collapses.