Keeping citizens in each European country up to date on the quality of their air, water, soil etc. is the task of the European Environment Agency. As a new member Malta features on the EEA Website (www.eea.eu.int). Facts that were considered taboo just a few years ago are now splashed across screens all over Europe.

Excessive nitrate levels in our ground water is a clear statistical reality. Information on groundwater is given on the agency's Website for the separate bodies of water underlying the islands of Malta and Gozo.

Reducing nitrate from farm manure is one approach to the problem. When the use of nitrogenous fertilisers on arable land is unregulated the safety levels of nitrate found in drinking water can be exceeded.

Even if we control animal waste and regulate fertiliser application today, the nitrate will continue to slowly leach from the ground into the aquifer for a long time to come. Diluting or blending our groundwater supply with costly-to-produce water from reverse osmosis plants is the current practice for bringing tap water nitrate levels down to below the 50 mg/l safety threshold.

When EU negotiations were taking place a proposal by Malta for a six-year transition period was dropped because full compliance is not considered to be attainable. We will be aiming for a lower target - nominal compliance - meaning that as long as we appear to be moving in the right direction we can avoid being fined for falling short of the target.

France was taken to the European Court of Justice some years ago for failing to identify areas of water polluted or threatened by pollution from nitrates. Malta is safe on this count as we have already declared the whole islands as a "nitrate-vulnerable zone".

Court proceedings were issued when Greece failed to adopt a code of good agricultural practice and its monitoring programmes were deemed insufficient. Austria and Luxembourg have in the past been warned that their nitrate action programmes were "insufficient" or based on laws that were too vague.

Background levels of nitrate are found in all tap and bottled waters, the product of natural decay of vegetable matter. High concentrations of nitrate in drinking water can cause a potentially fatal illness in very young children. Nitrate is converted to nitrite in the gut and interferes with the absorption of oxygen by the blood.

The EU standard of 50mg/l for both tap water and unblended ground water is based on the World Health Organisation's guideline value intended to ensure that drinking water will not cause methaemoglobinaemia (blue baby syndrome).

The UK Drinking Water Inspectorate points out that is an extremely unusual illness which is only likely to occur in young children at very high nitrate concentrations. Levels under 50 mg per litre are considered to be safe.

Milk shake for farms

Malta is not the only new EU member where animal welfare and food safety standards are a problem. Deficient sanitary conditions have been identified in all ten accession countries and improvements are underway. The sudden closing of the Gozo abattoir caused a stir a few days after accession. An upgrade in hygiene standards to meet EU requirements is in order.

Maltese dairy farms have also been found lacking. The health of the herds, hygiene and milk quality has not been up to EU standards. Tests carried out with the help of technical experts from Britain have indicated that inflammation of the udder (mastitis), is one of the main problems among Malta's dairy herds.

The importance of a clean, well-ventilated environment for cattle is being put across to local beef and dairy farmers on over 160 farms in Malta and Gozo. In the Biedja u Sajd newsletter put out monthly by the Agricultural Services and Rural Development Division, cattle farmers are advised on basic precautions such as avoiding floors which are dirty and wet to prevent pneumonia in their herds.

Traces of antibiotics in our milk have been found to be over the limit. This indicates the need for better preventative management, exercising hygienic practices instead of inviting disease then trying to control it with drugs.

An EU-funded project known as Interherd has brought about better communication between Malta Dairy Products and the producers' cooperative KPH. Thirteen farms in Malta and three in Gozo with 1,200 cows between them took part in the programme which involved the Animal Husbandry Unit and the Division of Veterinary Services. Technical assistance was provided by Reading University, known as a centre of excellence for dairy herd management.

Throughout a six-month tagging and repeat sampling programme of individual animals deficiencies were noted and corrective steps were taken. Subsequent sampling revealed an improved level of milk quality showing that the farmers' preventive actions had paid off.

The project continues with further requirements to improve fat content. By EU standards milk from Maltese cows is too low in fat to qualify as whole milk. A better diet with more fresh fodder supplementing dry feed should help boost fat levels and control mastitis.

The ministry plans to dedicate more staff to further expand the project to cover all dairy farms in Malta and Gozo.

Heritage lost

Ten years ago almost to the day an attempt was made to replace Villa Blanche, one of the beautiful old villas at Balluta Bay, with an eight-storey apartment block. I knew it would mean the beginning of the end for the neighbouring villas "Priuli" and "Cassar Torreggiani".

The following Sunday found me on the steps of the parish church with a petition to preserve these three historic jewels which lend so much character to the bay. It was signed by a good number of residents and two mayors. The St Julian's council was particularly helpful, taking note of the residents' concerns and forwarding them officially to the Development Control Commission.

Imagine our joy when a little while later the Planning Authority took out a full-page colour advertisement announcing that the villas and various other buildings of note in the bay area had been given protected status ranging from Grade One to Grade Three.

Joy can turn so easily to despair at the stroke of a ministerial pen.

One of the buildings featured in the advertisement, a house of architectural merit which complemented the villas was systematically descheduled at a public hearing held earlier this month.

Contrary to the fanfare of a decade ago, when the scheduling of the house was heralded together with several other properties in the area, MEPA chose to play it down. The authority avoided mentioning that the application for an apartment block posed a serious threat to a protected building. In the notice issued to the press, which gave three days notice of the meeting, there was no indication that the property in question was a listed one. That was the first mistake.

MEPA then proceeded to permit what can only be described as devious manipulation of the only condition on which a scheduled building of this grade can be redeveloped. That is, it must blend in with the surroundings. Persisting in their malice, those entrusted with preserving our heritage put on their blinkers and gazed up at the hotel which has since sprouted in No. 7's backyard and the flats next door, saying "Hallelujah! There shall be a descheduling today and none shall get in our way."

I hazard to tell you the honest truth but the only valid interpretation of the condition that No. 7 could be demolished and replaced by something that would "blend in" was to first consider the surrounding Grade One and Grade Two properties next door (the villas), across the square (Balluta Buildings), down the road (symmetrical rows of houses), on the point (building housing Barracuda restaurant) and in the opposite direction ( several other protected buildings of note).

God creates and God taketh away. Instead we saw the DCC recommending that the minister approve the ripping out of the protected houses from this cluster of heritage so admirably put together at a time when integrated planning looked as if it might have a hope. With the passing of No. 7 it is now all down hill for whoever wants to snap up No. 8. The villas may yet follow. Balluta has plunged back into the pit where piecemeal development is the order of the day.

Curious to determine what other Grade Three properties in my locality might fall under the same axe, I checked the MEPA Website for scheduled buildings in the area.

Another Grade Three protected building featuring a central arched doorway and flanking doors with small circular apertures over the lintel is at risk of being pulled down to "blend in" with surrounding buildings in repeat of this twisted interpretation of the MEPA scheduling rules. It appeared in the advertisement (of which I have a copy) ten years ago but is nowhere to be found on the Website. Another mistake?

MEPA had better upgrade its Website which still lists No. 114, St George's Road as a Grade Three listed building. It was pulled down last year when no one was looking. Wake up, Heritage Advisory Committee! Shame on you.

Burning our bridges?

The average landfill capacity in a number of European countries is eight years. The EU countries which incinerate municipal waste form an axis from north-east to south-west of Europe. This reflects the profound distrust in incineration in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in most south European countries.

Since enlargement Europe has more waste to handle. Waste companies with an eye on lucrative incinerator contracts are wooing decision-makers and industry. Exhibition conferences are being held in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to promote the game of leapfrog toward incineration. At worst this means jumping over the reduce-reuse-recycle formula to incineration with or without energy recovery.

One such traveling conference, WASTE 2004 - "Worldwide Advantages Sustained by Transforming Excesses" - highlights the difficulty of obtaining pure waste fractions essential to the success of recycling schemes when so much depends on user behaviour and envir-onmental awareness.

Incineration, with or without waste recovery, is referred to in the Solid Waste Management Strategy for the Maltese Islands:

"The Government intends to defer the final decision on the construction of such a facility for as long as possible. Work on the construction of such a facility will need to commence by no later than the end of 2011, possibly sooner..."

Delays mark the implementation of the strategy. Public outcry over almost any development to manage waste from the setting up of a civic amenity site to a containment landfill have put the targets even further out of reach.

Commenting on the waste dilemma, Christopher Ciantar of WasteServ Malta Ltd says: "Unless these targets are seriously addressed by one and all - not WasteServ, not Government - then all possible options have to be considered to make sure that we break our dependence on landfilling taking up the much needed valuable land around us."

European waste management favours incineration with energy recovery above landfill. The possibility of managing Maltese waste on a floating platform at sea is a proposal expected to surface in the near future. It is not so much a question of if but more a matter of when.