When you walk by the beach in Tripoli, you might want to be careful for the unbelievable proportions of pollution on the shores.
The mayor of Central Tripoli Municipality, Abdelraouf Baytelmal, considered the contamination of the capital’s beaches a national security issue and urged for swift solutions.
“Over 500.000 m3 of daily sewage pour into 42 exits. Most of that quantity goes directly into Tripoli beaches such as the ones overlooking Hay Al-Andalus, Sooq Jumua and Center Tripoli areas.” Baytelmal explained.
There should be three sewage filtering systems as it had been planned by the municipality, yet two were stolen, and the only one remaining – in Hadba, Abu Salim municipality – has originally gotten three phases for sewage treatment but is only left with one working with a very low capacity.
“There should be a political and economic as well as security stability in Libya and there should be some funding directed at completion of the wastewater treatment systems so that the sewage can be filtered correctly in a sea-depth no less than 500 km away from the shore to avoid potential diseases in the short and long run.” Tripoli mayor remarked.
The Ministry of Health and other sanitary-related entities warned the people last summer of swimming in Tripoli’s beaches after samples from the seawater alongshore Tripoli proved to have high contamination percentage due to human waste and medical waste that pour daily into the beaches through sanitary sewers.
