United States Acts Quickly to Provide Water to Villages

USAID: Humanitarian Assistance to Lebanon

U.S. Embassy Beirut
October 31, 2006

The village of Wazanieh is one of more than forty villages heavily bombarded during the recent conflict in South Lebanon. The village’s water and sanitation infrastructure was seriously damaged and hundreds of water tanks being destroyed. When the hostilities finally ceased, the area was completely without water. The United States responded immediately to replace every one of the 61 destroyed tanks with new ones, each with a capacity of 2,000 liters. Implemented by World Vision Lebanon, the program replaced more than 6,800 destroyed water storage tanks with new ones in more than forty villages in the South. More than 45,400 residents of the area currently benefit from this assistance.

This activity falls under the portfolio of the Lebanon Emergency Response and Assistance Project (LERAP), which is being implemented by World Vision Lebanon. Funded at a level of $1,806,746, the grant responds to the water and sanitation (WATSAN) needs of more than 40,000 villagers in more than 40 villages distributed in the areas of Marjeyoun and Bint Jbeil. The project is responding to the most immediate needs of the severely affected villages of the South through the provision of water tanks, hygiene items, water tankering services, generators that pump water and diesel fuel. World Vision Lebanon also addresses the long-term needs of area residents by rehabilitating water systems in affected villages and providing hygiene education to children.

October 31, 2006