Looking into Bourj Hammoud from over the bridge is a flashback to 19th century industrial Europe. It is black, heavily polluted and just plain depressing. Here is a dump for neighboring towns to abuse, a place that has emerged from nothing and still fights on, a welcoming host in a situation gone bad.

Lebanon has been a gracious host to many peoples and cultures. The country is vibrant with the colors of diversity, and everywhere you go here the story is different. But the story of the Armenians that cluster around the eastern side of Beirut cannot be kept silent anymore. Bourj Hammoud is perhaps one of the most densely populated cities in the Middle East and the overwhelming majority of its inhabitants are Armenian. In almost a hundred years since coming here the Armenians have established a refuge of their own, but today things don’t look so good.

The Armenians came in 1915 to escape the tyranny of the Turks and settled in the land when it was little more than a swamp. Over time the Armenians have put up a city, mostly in small 3 or 4 story buildings built over commercial stores. The picture of Bourj Hammoud at the start of the 20th century and of the 21st is overwhelmingly different. The sorry looking tin houses have evolved into sorry looking apartments but despite everything, the area is a productive bustling stretch of honest working people who just want to get by.

There are a few problems that hinder the place, however, issues that run deep and are being ignored. The Bourj Hammoud area is characterized by the Beirut River, an immobile almost dried up stream that runs from middle Metn (around Broummana and Beit Meri), all along Bourj Hammoud and eventually onto the Bourj Hammoud shore. According to the police section of the area’s municipality the river poses no threat to the locals.

Captain Elias, who deals with all real estate violations in the area, says that “the river is clean. Would not a running river be clean?” He went on to explain that cleanup sessions are frequent and the real cause of any bad smells and pollution in the area is the Beirut slaughter house located in the Karantina area, next to the forum de Beyrouth.

A more informed source told a very different story about the river. Mr. Raffi Kokoghlanian is the deputy mayor and has been following the matter for a long time. Mr. Kokoghlanian told me that the river has many problems. For one thing many towns in the region have small networks for sewage treatment and thus waste from Broummana to Sin el Fil to Mar Elias and many other places finds itself in the river.

That is not to mention what gets thrown in by random passersby. The river is host to 2,200,000 people’s waste. The river is also stagnant contrary to what Captain Elias said. It doesn’t flow and it’s dried up during most of the summer months.

Another problem with the river is the flooding that affects mostly the homes and stores next to the river. The municipality explained that no flooding has taken place since 2000 because that is when they enlarged the networks. Before then the water would rise to your car window during the wet winter season. The only time flooding did occur after 2000 was in 2005 when a bridge, during very heavy storms, broke and blocked the river passage.

The flooding problem is not totally fixed, however. Raffi explained that the river eventually gets clogged when it reaches the shore as the waves push sand to form a sand mountain that blocks the river's flow. It doesn’t take an expert to know that there are health hazards ailing the Beirut River, however. Eliane Bassil, a mother of three from Ashrafiyeh has taken over her deceased husband’s coffee store in Bourj Hammoud. Her little coffee shop is located at the very start of Armenia Street and she crosses the bridge over the river everyday to get to work. “I have to put my hand over my nose and stop breathing as I cross” she explains and covers her nose to show me. Many locals feel the same way, the river smells and denying it is unreasonable.

There was an agreement in 2008 to stop the discharge of sewage into rivers. This was signed by many European and Arabic countries. Lebanon was among them but unlike the others does not abide by the agreement because it cannot afford to. To find sewage alternatives is too expensive.

If the cause of bad smells in the area was limited to the river it might not be so bad. But there is much more to be said about the slaughterhouse that spreads its stink from Sin el Fil to Ashrafiyeh. There, cows are slaughtered for meat but there is a crisis over what to do with the bones and other waste left behind. According to the municipality the bones are burned. Samir, who shares the neighboring store to Eliane’s and has been her friend for years, remarks, “No-one really knows when they burn. The whole thing is undercover, but usually you can tell when the smells get worse”.

“The way to the slaughterhouse is easy. Just follow the smell,” says the first man I stop on the Dora highway to inquire for directions. The place is inaccessible without a license. The gateman, who preferred to remain unnamed, can’t let me in but he does explain that no burning takes place, the bones are all ground down and taken away by a foreign company. The name of this company he claims he doesn’t know, he who sits at the gate and lets vehicles in and out. This must be a company that saves money and doesn’t produce its logo on the shipping vehicles.

Perhaps closer to the truth is Mr. Kokoghlanian account which is a compromise between that of the municipality’s and that of the slaughterhouse staff. The bones are both ground and burned which is still unhealthy.

There is a safe and profitable solution, however. They should cook the ground discharge at very high pressure so that it becomes chemically harmless and then it can be sold as fertilizer for plants. The slaughterhouse was supposed to be a temporary settlement. It’s been a temporary settlement for the last 15 or 20 years and will continue to be “temporary” for the next 20 or 30 years according to Kokoghlanian.

In this uncertain state sits the slaughterhouse with solid, liquid, and gaseous discharges. The gas is just let out into the air. If you visit the slaughterhouse it will take you a week to wash the smell from your clothes. It is so polluted that it clings to you and no one is doing any thing about it.

A Sukleen plant for recycling is located where the river discharges. This plant is illegal but the municipality will deny this. This plant is also affected by the river’s flooding. Waters can rise up to 6 meters past the walls of the plant.

Environmental issues in Lebanon can be picked out of a hat. The Bourj Hammoud scene is only one scenario. Other issues arise everywhere else in Lebanon and all we can do is watch. The ministry of environment is the poorest and smallest in Lebanon. In developed countries the environment is given high priority, but here nobody cares. There are great plans to tackle pollution in Lebanon but they only look good on paper. No money is being allocated for such changes. We would do well to tip the scales. It’s for our own good in the end.

Rate: