Libya’s 2024–2025 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey detected Escherichia coli in drinking water used by 46.4% of people in surveyed households, with variations between rural and urban areas. The result reflects the level of exposure recorded by the survey but does not, on its own, identify the sources or causes of contamination.
Drinking-water contamination rates vary between regions
She explained that the survey provides indicators of water quality at the source and point of use, but is not a diagnostic study capable of identifying the origin of each contamination case or the party responsible. She added that detecting bacteria among several people using the same well could point to a single source affecting many consumers, rather than to separate contamination sources corresponding to the number of cases.
Differences in sample sizes between regions also require careful statistical interpretation of the results. Water may become contaminated at the source, during transport through distribution networks, or inside household tanks and storage containers. According to al-Ahmar, locating the contamination requires testing water at successive stages, starting at the source, then examining transport and distribution networks and tanks, and finally the point of use inside the home.
She noted that shallow wells may be more vulnerable to seepage from sewage, soakaway pits and waste, particularly when groundwater lies close to the surface. But she stressed that detecting Escherichia coli in a sample alone is not enough to attribute the contamination to sewage; additional testing and source tracing are required.
Differences between regions may be linked to factors including water sources, well depth, the nature of geological and hydrogeological formations, the level of source protection and proximity to sewage, as well as transport and storage methods and the type of tanks used. Verifying the impact of these factors requires follow-up studies linking test results to water and sewage systems and the characteristics of each region.
Man-Made River Authority explains water-monitoring system
The director general of the Man-Made River Authority said the authority operates three departments monitoring water quality across the main production and transport systems, along with field laboratories and teams tracking water in well fields and collection tanks in Ajdabiya, Sirte and Suluq.
The official said the teams conduct chemical and microbiological tests and compare their results with the guideline values in Libya’s standard specifications for drinking water. They also send samples to two central laboratories to confirm the results. He added that the authority monitors chlorination operations in Sidi al-Sayeh and Al Talhiya, maintaining a concentration of 0.5 milligrams per litre of residual free chlorine, and confirmed that the Man-Made River’s water was free of contamination according to the authority’s tests.
Household tests reveal additional stages of contamination
The authority’s procedures cover specific stages of water production and transport, while the survey tested household water at inspection and use points, including stages that may follow the water’s arrival from the main systems. The survey also detected bacteria among 32.8% of people in households relying on bottled water.
This finding does not prove that contamination occurred at bottling companies, as bacteria may enter during transport, storage or household handling. The presence of Escherichia coli indicates that water may have been exposed to faecal contamination. Some strains can cause diarrhoea, abdominal pain and vomiting, with greater risks for children, older people and groups more vulnerable to complications.
Not every positive sample indicates that illness has occurred, and the survey results do not measure the number of water-related illnesses. The findings also showed that only 38% of people in surveyed households had access to water classified as a safely managed service. This classification requires water to come from an improved source, be available when needed and accessible inside the premises, as well as being free of faecal contamination.
Call for a continuous national water-monitoring system
Al-Ahmar called for the survey findings to serve as a starting point for a continuous national system to monitor water quality. The system would rely on periodic sampling from sources, networks, tanks and points of use, linking test results with sewage, geological, hydrogeological and land-use data to trace the sources of problems over time.
