On the Need for Including Groundwater Allocation in Future Negotiations on the Orontes

Abstract

A series of treaties between Lebanon and Syria on the use of the Orontes (‘Assi) River’s flows emerged in the mid-1990s, being reformed twice to result in a finalized 2002 agreement allocating Lebanon 96 million cubic meters (MCM) out of 403 MCM as measured at the Hermel Bridge gauge. Focusing on the area south of Ar-Rastan, Syria, this article seeks to explore these treaties’ treatment of groundwater, ultimately demonstrating that it is not sufficiently accounted for. This allows for intensive groundwater abstractions—which may be beyond the aquifer’s recharge rate—to be undertaken in Syria. The paper concludes with recommendations to better manage the basin’s groundwater resources, which include improving groundwater data, using these data to calibrate improved hydrologic models, and a renegotiation of the treaty to better account for groundwater use.