Water shortages plague Beirut as low rainfall compounds woes

People are buying water by the truckload in Beirut as the state supply faces its worst shortages in years, with the leaky public sector struggling after record-low rainfall and local wells running dry.

“State water used to come every other day, now it’s every three days,” said Rima al-Sabaa, 50, rinsing dishes carefully in Burj al-Baranjeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Even when the state water is flowing, she noted, very little trickles into her family’s holding tank.

Once that runs out,…