century. the gaps at the lower levels were partially filled with temporary laborers. but there are also important gaps in managerial positions. the average number of staff is less than 2 per 1000 connections, much below the regional average. the beirut-mount lebanon utility has only 1.6 staff per 1000 connections. utilities are thus unable to perform some of their basic functions. the board members of the water establishments are nominated by the cabinet upon the proposition of the minister of energy and water. municipalities have no say in the nomination of board members. there have been only limited attempts to involve the private sector in operating water and sewer systems. a management contract for the city of tripoli with a french firm has not been renewed after it expired (see history section). the operation and maintenance of sewer systems remains under the responsibility of municipalities. the council for development and reconstruction and other national agencies the council for development and reconstruction (cdr) plays a major role in the sector, because it is responsible for the planning and construction of much of the public water investments and all wastewater investments in the country. it is also the implementing agency for most investment programs financed by external agencies. in addition, the council of the south and the central fund for the displaced have financed almost half of all investments in water supply in lebanon during the late 1990s and early 2000s. the council for the south, nominally under the primer minister's office, is controlled by the mostly shiite amal movement of nabih berri, the speaker of lebanon's parliament since 1992. financial aspects and efficiency tariffs tariffs are set at different levels for each of the four regional water establishments. within each service area tariffs are the same, although costs differ significantly. for example, beirut receives most of its water by gravity, while in some other localities water needs to be pumped. the following table shows residential water tariffs for the four regional utilities per year and per connection for 1m3/day, excluding vat. annual water tariff in 2008beirut-mount lebanonnorthbekaasouth lebanese pound235,000210,000160,000200,000 usd159108108135 usd/m3 equivalent assuming a consumption of 100 liter/capita/day and 4.5 persons per household0.970.860.660.82 the level of consumption is limited to 1m3 per day by a gauge installed on all residential connections. however, actual consumption is typically lower because of intermittent supply and low water pressure. the price of water per cubic meter obviously depends on the level of consumption, which varies and is not well known. assuming an average-size household with 4.5 members that receives 100 liter per capita per day, the price of water is almost us$1/m3 in beirut and us$0.66/m3 in the bekaa. tariffs in lebanon thus are higher than in jordan (us$0.65/m3 including sanitation) and much higher than in syria or in egypt (us$0.05/m3). the water bill has to be paid in full in advance for an entire year, which imposes a heavy burden on the poor. a household in the poorest quintile connected to the network paid an average of lbp 421,000 for water in 2008, corresponding to 3.7% of its income. more than half of these expenditures are for alternative water sources such as bottled water or water from trucks. cost recovery cost recovery varies between utilities. the collection rate (i.e. the shares of bills actually paid) in beirut-mount lebanon has been consistent at almost 90%, so that the utility had accumulated over us$170 million as cash surplus in 2010. however, as of 2010 it was estimated to be only 62%. in the three other regional water establishments collection rates are lower at 58% in the north, 52% in the south and only 18% in the bekaa. in the three establishments not even operating costs are recovered. the government often steps in to pay for operating expenses in addition to financing investments in water infrastructure. cost recovery is lowest for the bekaa water company. according to a world bank report, "there appears to be an informal understanding between water companies and households: many households don't receive their water allotment, and the water companies often don't pressure households to pay their bills." given the current conditions and alternatives, households have stated in surveys that they are reluctant to pay more for better public service. even where meters have been installed, there is no volumetric tariff. flat fees are charged regardless of the existence of the meters. there thus is no financial incentive to save water. there is also no wastewater tariff. investment and financing public investment for water and wastewater sector amounted to 0.4 percent of gdp in the late 90s and early 2000s. this includes us$97m for water supply and us$32m for sanitation every year. investments are to a large extent financed by external grants and loans. for example, 73% of cdr-executed investments in the water sector were financed by external donors and 56% of its wastewater investments. external cooperation many external partners have supported and continue to support the lebanese water and sanitation sector with financial and technical assistance. these include the arab fund for economic and social development, the european investment bank (eib), france, germany, italy, japan, kuwait, saudi arabia, the united states and the world bank. the donors in the water and sanitation sector tend to focus on particular regions of lebanon: the arab fund focuses on the south and beirut, the eib on mount lebanon and the north, france on the north and the south, germany on beirut and mount lebanon, japan on mount lebanon and the south, and the u.s. on the south. the world bank is one of the few donors active in the bekaa, in addition to beirut. most external financial assistance is in the form of loans, while technical assistance is typically in the form of grants. in the aftermath of the 2006 israeli-lebanese war the country received substantial additional financial assistance, including grants from countries and agencies that normally provide only loans for infrastructure development in lebanon, such as germany and the world bank. most external assistance is channeled through the government, except for u.s. assistance, which is provided directly to consulting firms working in cooperation with the government or ngos. the united nations also plays an important role in the lebanese water sector, particularly through unicef and the united nations development program (undp). donor coordination in lebanon is the responsibility of a donor coordination unit in the ministry of finance, which itself is supported by undp. in many countries where multiple donors provide aid to the water and sanitation sector there is some form of a water-specific donor coordination mechanism. this does not seem to be the case in lebanon. arab fund for economic and social development the arab fund for economic and social development financed a water project in sidon and sour (kuwaiti dinar 10m approved in 1996), beirut (kuwaiti dinar 17m approved in 2002) and for water and wastewater in various other areas of lebanon (kuwaiti dinar 25m in 2006). european union and european investment bank the european union supported a national water dialogue on integrated water resources management as part of the mediterranean component of the eu water initiative. the dialogue, which included ngos and the private sector in addition to government representatives and donors, was kicked off by a meeting in november 2005. its numerous objectives included to "identify insufficiencies and bottlenecks in key prerequisites posed by donors for national investments on the water sector", the "establishment of a permanent platform for cooperation between key involved partners at the national level including donor agencies" and the endorsement of a "national roadmap". a second "consultation seminar" in april 2009 did not mention any more the objectives of the 2005 seminar, but instead offered numerous recommendations for the future, such as "to plan together the follow-up steps that can constribute to an integrated water resources management resources management process in the country". the european investment bank financed a wastewater treatment plant in tripoli and water treatment facilities in the touristic keserwan district. france france provided a loan to rehabilitate the water supply system of jezzine after the retreat of the israeli army in 1999. the french development agency (afd) supports numerous water and sanitation projects in lebanon. under a 2m euro loan the water distribution network in the southern town of jezzine was rehabilitated after the retreat of the israeli army in 1999. another 12m euro loan was approved in 2001 to build an "emergency" bulk water supply line and to rehabilitate distribution networks in the southern towns of nabah el tasseh and jabal amel. in 2007 afd approved a small grant to rehabilitate the water network of the southern town of bkassine with co-financing provided by the french city lille. in tripoli a 20m euro project supported the extension of a water treatment plant and the strengthening of the distribution network since 2001, supporting the public-private partnership with the french company ondeo initiated subsequently. a 30m euro sanitation loan approved in 2004 allowed the construction of sewers in tripoli. in october 2012 the ministry of water and afd signed a us$90.7 million project to contribute to the financing of a us$200 million wastewater project in keserwan district in mount lebanon. germany germany has committed funds to improve sanitation in localities close to the jeita springs to reduce bacteriological pollution of this important spring that is the main water source of beirut and other localities. it also supported sanitation in beirut and a reconstruction project in the south it also provides technical assistance to support water sector reform through a project that ran from 2008 to the end of 2013, implemented by giz (ex-gtz). the project aimed to strengthen the regulatory capacity of mew, the technical and management capacities of the four water establishments and to improve relations between customers and the establishments. among other activities, it systematically collected data on performance indicators (benchmarking), prepared business plans, valued fixed assets and identified all customers. the project also established water balances in pilot areas where customer meters had been installed, carried out customer satisfaction surveys in the same areas, and prepared the ground for the adoption for consumption-based tariffs. however, these tariffs are not yet applied. it also tried to prepare the establishments for taking over their responsibilities in wastewater management through a "declaration of principles towards sustainable wastewater management". however, the establishments have not yet taken over this responsibility. the german public disaster relief organization technisches hilfswerk (thw), which works mainly through volunteers, provided emergency assistance in the south only days after the 2006 hostilities ended. it first installed a laboratory and carried out drinking water analyses. afterwards it installed chlorination equipment in 30 tanks benefiting 15,000 people, constructed a water tower and repaired three other water towers. thw worked on behalf of the german government, the humanitarian aid department of the european commission (echo) and unicef. islamic development bank the islamic development bank has agreed to finance the construction of bisri dam in 2008. the dam on the awali river will store water that is to be supplied as drinking water to beirut. italy italy supports the lebanese water and sanitation sector through various technical assistance grants, including a us$1.8m grant approved in 2010 to create a "lebanese center for water management and preservation" and a hydrological study in an unspecified area in cooperation with undp. the center for water management and preservation, to be located in the ministry of water and energy and to be established with the help of undp and italian funding over a 2-year period, is supposed to "coordinate on-going water programmes", "develop an action plan on sustainable water policy" and to achieve "national public awareness raising", among other things. lebanon also received water monitoring equipment from italy to be installed on the orontes river, as well as the hasbani river and the wazzani spring. the two latter flow into israel. japan japan supports the expansion of water supply facilities in the keserwan district, including the city of jounieh shown here. japan provided a soft loan (25 years maturity, 7 grace years, 2.5% interest) of about us$120m for wastewater collection and treatment in sidon and water supply in keserwan district in 1996. in sidon the project was to finance a sewer network with a length of 38 km, a trunk sewer with a length of 7 km,