Screenshot from a video circulating on social media showing the greenish water of Ramlet al-Baida, Beirut's only public beach, on July 14, 2026.
BEIRUT — Videos circulated Tuesday showing the panic of swimmers who noticed that the water at Ramlet al-Baida beach in Beirut, the capital’s only public beach, had turned a greenish-yellow color. The Factcheck Lebanon team from the state-run National News Agency (NNA), under the Ministry of Information, received a response from Environment Minister Tamara Elzein.
Zein stated she had sent water samples from Ramlet al-Baida to the Marine Studies Center of the National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) for analysis. "It turned out that this color is due to an excessive proliferation of algae, a phenomenon mainly caused by the increase in sea water temperature accompanied by an excess of nutrients, specifically nitrate and phosphate, which are the key elements that trigger the photosynthesis process," explained the ministry's statement published by NNA.
The statement notes that this phenomenon was temporary because of the topography of the Lebanese coastline, which is "open and thus constantly exposed to the hydraulic forces of marine currents and wave movement, which enables a permanent circulation of coastal waters and prevents their stagnation or the appearance of an eutrophication phenomenon." Eutrophication is an excess influx of nutrients (nitrates and phosphates) into an aquatic environment, which can lead to the proliferation of sometimes toxic aquatic plants.
According to the annual report from the CNRS Marine Studies Center on the state of beaches in 2026, Ramlet al-Baida beach, although one of the most popular, is also among the most polluted in the country by several sources of bacteriological pollution (sewage outlets).
