Lake Qaraoun is the largest artificial lake in Lebanon, covering eleven square kilometers. It was built by the dam of the Litani River in 1959, in the Western Bekaa at 800 meters above sea level, between Qaraoun and Suhmur.
The Litani is Lebanon's largest river, originating near Baalbeck and flowing 160 kilometers through the Bekaa Valley to the coast north of Tyre. The dam holding back this major river is 60 meters high and 1,350 meters long.
A 6,503-meter gallery carries the water to the underground hydroelectric plant where transformers produce a maximum of 185 megawatts. Officially, the dam should make it possible to irrigate 31,000 hectares of agricultural land in southern Lebanon and 8,000 hectares in the Beqaa Valley.