Carob graveyard, rapid alert and the smell of doughnuts

Six good reasons for refusing a permit at the top of a valley running down to Marsaxlokk have been thrown out of the window. A spokesman for MEPA confirms that although the application for development at Marsaxlokk Valley was recommended for refusal by the planning directorate. the DCC board turned the decision on its head.

Grounds for the upturning of the original decision are feeble. The structure is a residence, the proposal will improve the existing structure and the street façade will be retained. This has little to do with the six points (see box) justifying an earlier recommendation for refusal of the development permit.

An e-mail from MEPA to this column insists that "the approved plans indicate that none of the carob trees are to be removed due to the proposed development." The photographs on this page show otherwise.

Action is called for. Blatant disregard of conditions should be met with immediate and permanent withdrawal of the permit. The DCC board in question appears to be in need of a serious review in view of the many bypasses currently being engineered regarding planning decisions. A long cool post-electoral gaze cast over what is happening inside MEPA is in order.

MEPA's reaction

Environment inspectors carried out an inspection on the site on Tuesday, MEPA PRO Peter Gingell has now informed me. He added: "It was established that trees had been felled in the land area adjacent to the site upon which development permission (PA6634/01) had been granted. The trees were carobs which are protected by the Trees and Woodlands (Protection) Regulations, 2001 (L.N. 12 of 2001). Further investigations are being carried out by the Nature Protection Unit Inspectorate in order to proceed with the necessary enforcement procedures."

After the landfill

Hats off to Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Alternattiva Demokratika, Din l-Art Helwa, and so many others who fought the battle to stop quarries near the prehistoric temples being used as landfills. But was it by a fluke that Mnajdra was saved from sliding into landfilldom?

The decision flipped when MEPA's desire to harness the stone resource underlying Ghallis hit quicksand. Samples have shown that, contrary to what was previously believed, the stone was of inferior quality and not worth mining. The news came at an auspicious pre-election moment as a graceful mode of exit from a position entrenched earlier on by Minister Ninu Zammit who had pushed the Mnajdra quarries bid until he could push no further.

Minister Zammit carries on regardless. At a conference on renewable energies hosted in Bonn earlier this month he indicated that Malta's future strategy would include the use of solar energy to produce drinking water. In the same breath he referred to the development of waste incineration and that comes as a by-product of thermal treatment.

A German research and development institute with an impressive list of environmental technologies and analyses under its belt visited Malta last week with a clear agenda. CUTEC is looking to implement pilot projects working with SMEs to set up, within the next ten years, a fully integrated process dealing with waste treatment, renewable energy and alternative fuels.

Early soundings indicate that Government is interested in co-operating in the development of Malta as a role model for these technologies. Once government shows a solid commitment the EU is likely to open up a budget line to support these projects.

For a start there are seven pilot projects that CUTEC would like to see set up in the next year. Roughly speaking, these include a wind park, solar desalinisation of seawater for drinking, hydrogen as fuel and incineration of waste to produce energy. The German institute is backed by some big companies interested in investing in Malta. Setting up its own strategy for sustainable development in Malta would enhance CUTEC's reputation in the rest of Europe.

The Germans enthused over incineration. "It is good to think about burning your waste and using it for electricity production and water distillation." At this point a director of a Maltese waste recycling firm asked whether recycling and incineration could exist side by side. No help has been given by Government to control extortionate port handling fees for recyclable materials despite pleading.

Finding the best solutions for Malta will certainly not be easy. Barbara Hemke of CUTEC claims that having a technical base "does not mean we forget about soft strategies", adding that the public would be consulted over the projects.

The thing with incinerators is that the better the air pollution control the more toxic ash you have to dispose of in landfills. Incinerators are banned in the Philippines. In Japan 500 incinerators were shut down due to public pressure. UK environment minister Margaret Beckett has stated that incineration should be the last resort.

Going by the EU yardstick, incineration is given preference over landfill in a waste hierarchy that claims to give the first three votes to reduction, reuse and recycling. Incineration does seem a high price to pay for energy that could be harmlessly produced by sun and wind.

Will WasteServ succeed in its plans to mobilise the Maltese public and fully introduce reduction and recycling of waste? Will this be enough to deflect incineration as the option that looms ever nearer if we fail? That is the next question.

Best solar buy

Students from James Madison University working under the guidance of Charles Yousif, Institute of Energy Technology at the University of Malta, have carried out a technical analysis on solar water heating systems in use on Maltese rooftops. Their findings help dispel some negative myths about solar energy while showing room for improvement in installation and maintenance to maximise efficiency and reduce costs.

The first thing to consider when buying a solar water heating system for your rooftop is that there are three different types on the market. The vacuum tube model will enhance any building with a high tech look and the greatest efficiency but comes with a price to match. Cheaper but less efficient batch integrated systems are prone to heat loss during the night. These problems can be avoided if you shop carefully since a third type of solar water heater has been found to be the best choice.

Somewhere in between the two, the best combination of low price and good efficiency is the flat plate solar collector. Both direct and indirect systems of this type are simple and efficient enough to make this an attractive investment for future energy savings while doing your bit to put global warming on hold.

Efficiency can be kept high if pipe length is kept short to cut down on heat loss. Some pipes were found to be dispersing heat because they were unnecessarily wide. Once your system is installed there are further points to watch. The use of pumped systems may have an effect on performance. Some pumps might need adjustment as they create turbulence inside the tank when refilling with cold water. The students found that thermostats on electric-boosted models were often set higher than needed which pushed up running costs.

An individual report with tailored recommendations for each house visited was drawn up and distributed to every home taking part in the survey.

Clean choice for roads

That brown haze you see hanging over the islands on calm days indicates the amount of emissions, mostly from car exhaust, which we expel into the air. Cheaper by one cent, four times more efficient while lower in emissions, bio-diesel as an alternative fuel would help reduce the high rate of respiratory problems on the island. It is even said to smell not unpleasantly of doughnuts.

An estimated top figure of 7,000 tonnes of waste cooking oil is mostly sent to landfill or poured down the drain. Edible Oil Refining Company, the only company collecting the discarded oil to produce bio-diesel, has so far managed to tap about seven per cent of this potential supply. To meet demand the company has been forced to import used cooking oil from Sicily and Libya at a higher price although the cost of the bio-fuel still works out cheaper than diesel.

Particulate matter, which blackens our stone buildings and our lungs, is reduced by 32% by using bio-diesel. Hydrocarbons, some of which can cause cancer, are 37% less and the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is 78% lower than diesel. Only nitrous oxide is slightly higher than in conventional fuels but the absence of sulphur in fuel enables its removal.

Bio-diesel, made from animal fat or vegetable oil, can be blended in any amount with standard fuel in all engines manufactured after 1993. A filter change is recommended after 200 miles in particular if bio-diesel B20 is used. If in doubt check with your car manufacturer.

EU directives require that standard fuel must be replaced by at least 2% bio-diesel by next year. On January 1, 2005 all fuel stations must be in a position to supply this alternative fuel. In another five years it must be nearly three times that amount as we move slowly toward more environment-friendly renewable fuels. By that time the 30-year Enemalta monopoly on provision of fuels will have come to an end allowing competition in the market.

Introducing the use of bio-diesel on public buses would considerably reduce tailpipe emissions. The James Madison University students at the end of a month-long workshop noted that more accurate and standard collection of air quality data would allow Malta to apply for EU funding to better promote the use of this alternative fuel. Their proposals for a strategy to implement this clear choice for clean air, will be handed over to the Maltese government.

Beach alert

What is the citizen to do when dirty water fouls bathing beaches on a long weekend and government offices are closed? Is the response from local councils, the environmental health division and the drainage department adequate?

On June 1 Sliema council received the first report of water leaking through the promenade wall onto the rocks below. A few metres away raw sewage oozed out in a stream finding its way into the sea. By the weekend it was still flowing.

A call to the police station regarding sewage leaks onto public bathing areas should normally reach the switchboard at St Luke's Hospital. It is from here that wheels are set in motion and phones begin to ring off-hours as engineers are roused to the call of duty no matter the holiday.

But it wasn't until a week later, on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 8, that the first report of the leaks reached the Environmental Health Unit (tel: 2182-7146). The Water Services Corporation says it did not receive word of the leakage until the next morning, when a call came in from the health authorities although some activity by men in fluorescent waistcoats was noted from Tuesday onwards. Once the message finally got through to WSC the response was swift.

"Investigations took place immediately," chief executive officer Anthony Rizzo told The Sunday Times. "A blockage was found in sewers in the area close to Fond Ghadir and was removed within two hours of it being reported to the WSC."

Samples taken by the Environmental Health Unit at the leakage site, two Wednesdays in a row, did not reveal any coliform bacteria levels higher than permissible. This was said to be possibly due to high salinity in the Mediterranean and the ultra-violet action of the sun which both have an effect on bacteria.

Any water leak, whether sewage or fresh water, needs to be seen to quickly. It was a full ten days before a bowser appeared to remove the stagnant green pond which had collected under the promenade.

The Sliema council, which cited "red tape" at the Drainage Department, may need to co-ordinate more closely with the Environmental Health Division which seems to have built up a good working relationship with the department engineers.

A clear chain of response needs to be made evident to the public. Usually the first to notice a drainage leak, beach goers play an important role in reducing response time providing they know who to call.

Now that the Drainage Department is part of the WSC, the public may wish to try the emergency number on freephone 8007-2357 (technical) to reduce time lost in passing on information to those most likely to take immediate action over sewage hazards in or near bathing water.

Small is beautiful

There was an experimental foray in the early days of the planning authority to consider expansion of the sport. With land and water our most scarce and precious of resources, and the hard times farmers are going through, a second golf course is becoming less and less attractive. Environmental arguments still outweigh the economic arguments.

Improvements at the Marsa golf course add weight to the argument against another golf course being built on these land-hungry islands. Those in the industry will always bay for more even as it becomes clear that developing sustainably translates as moderation in all things, the ability to respect physical constraints and work rather than against what is merely perceived as limitation.