Qaraoun Dam
Dam and hydroelectric scheme, 220 million m3 reservoir; 195 MW installed across four hydroelectric plants in Lebanon.
Operational
Landmark Lebanon's largest reservoir, built on the Litani for power and irrigation, and now the focus of a national depollution effort.
The record
- Country
- Lebanon
- Location
- Qaraoun
- Coordinates
- 33.548, 35.690
- Technology
- Dam and hydroelectric scheme
- Capacity
- 220 million m3 reservoir; 195 MW installed across four hydroelectric plants
- Capital cost
- —
- Stage
- Operational
- Owner or client
- Litani River Authority
- Contractor
- —
- Operator
- Litani River Authority
- Finance
- —
- Award or start year
- 1960
- Commissioned
- —
Record last checked 2026-09-18.
History
- 1960
Dam completed on the Litani and reservoir impounded
- 1979
Water stop rehabilitation of the concrete facing
- 1989
Second water stop rehabilitation
- 2010
Third water stop rehabilitation against leakage
Sources
6 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- Litani River Authority, Measures to remove pollution and protect water and environmental resources. litani.gov.lb.
- Water reserve 220 million cubic meters, height 62 metres, crest 1,100 metres, rockfill dam with a 50,000 m2 concrete facing; four hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of 195 megawatts; intake tunnels and pipelines 31 km long at 3 metres diameter.
- Litani River Authority, Dam break modeling for Qaraoun Dam, Volume 1. litani.gov.lb.
- Concrete faced rockfill dam with a maximum capacity of 220 million m3, at a narrow point at the southern end of the Bekaa plain at 800 m elevation.
- Litani River Authority, LRBMS project page. litani.gov.lb.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
Gives 60 metres height, three plants and 190 MW, and dates the water stop rehabilitations to 1979, 1989 and 2010. The two authority pages disagree on height and installed power; the fuller depollution page is used here. Coordinates from the OpenStreetMap node for Qaraoun Dam.