Cabbage sniffing, island spawning and transports of delusion

My fruit and vegetable man refuses to buy produce originating from certain areas of the island. His customers complain that these give off a bad smell once they are chopped up and cooked. It is this kind of bad experience that casts a black shadow over irrigation of crops with water originating from sewage or, as it is often vaguely referred to, "second-class water."

Are we stuck with the use-once-only-and-throw-away formula when it comes to our fresh water resource? Will the proposed sewage treatment plants result in any significant recovery of water? High quality drinking water produced by reverse osmosis (RO) is being poured down our toilets. Is there any way we can make use of this water a second time around or more?

Two sewage treatment plants are due to come on line in Malta and another in Gozo by 2007. But has the location of the treatment plants been properly thought out with reuse in mind? A recommendation on this made at the environment impact assessment (EIA) stage for a treatment plant serving the northern part of Malta has been brushed aside.

The site currently earmarked for treating sewage generated in the north of Malta is Ic-Cumnija, near Popeye Village. This runs contrary to a recommendation made at the EIA stage of the plant. Ic-Cumnija was originally ruled out since it is still rich in ecology. Instead an already degraded area near the landfill was recommended at Ghallis as it provided the best opportunity for reuse. The Ghallis site is close to the main point of sewage generation in Qawra/Bugibba. Hotels could also benefit from the recycled water.

For some reason this sound piece of advice was turned down and the decision was taken to site the treatment plant for the north at Ic-Cumnija. This will mean greater expense if supply pipes are to be laid all the way to Pwales, the nearest farmland at Pwales. Burmarrad farmland is closer to Ghallis and in a better position to make use of any suitably treated water provided by the plant.

Up to now there are no EU standards on the reuse of treated sewage effluent. A number of countries have developed their own standards independently. Among these are Cyprus, Israel, Australia, some regions in Italy and the state of California. The World Health Organisation has also produced its own standards.

It is about time the Malta Standards Authority came up with national standards for treated effluent. Without them there is no guarantee that sewage treated at the new plants will produce an effluent of sufficient quality to be safe for re-use.

Water consultant Marco Cremona observes: "In the absence of specific standards for Malta, there is no doubt that as a minimum, treated effluent must be to tertiary treatment (superiour quality to primary and secondary treatment) and be completely free of bacteria and viruses. Sprinkler systems send the bacteria airborne. Effluent must also be free of nitrogen/nitrate and should definitely not be saline."

He adds: "Apart from using treated sewage effluent for second-class water uses in industry and agriculture, effluent from the treatment plants can be used to indirectly augment our groundwater supplies by means of artificial recharge. The quality of treated effluent that may be used for this purpose is very site-dependent. I strongly suggest that pilot tests be carried out in Malta so that we may be in a position to make the best use of this fresh water resource."

Once we are treating our sewage according to standards and producing recycled water with potential use in irrigation and industry this has a value. But what are the chances it will not be recognised when illegal extraction of free groundwater is so rampant?

The Malta Resources Authority consultation document "A Water Policy for the Future - April 2004" estimates that a sustainable level of extraction would be around 15 million cubic metres of groundwater per year. Total extraction, including many illegal operators, amounts to more than twice that figure.

Treating sewage effluent works out cheaper than buying water from the Water Services Corporation at commercial rates. But why purchase any water from WSC when extracting groundwater for free is so easy? Of course, like dumping and hunting, it is illegal but still it goes on.

A water policy document which was due to be published by the MRA in August has yet to see the light of day.

September bathing

In the first week of September the number of bathing sites in the Class 2 category went up to 27. These bathing areas were still in line with Barcelona Convention requirements but not as clean as the 60 remaining monitored sites which were all found to be well above the safety limit and accordingly listed as Class 1 throughout most of the summer.

Among the monitored sites which saw a dip into the Class 2 category towards the end of summer are the "private beach" at Mgarr ix-Xini, Golden Bay and Fond Ghadir. At St Paul's Bay (rocks near Sirens waterpolo club) and in Gozo (the slipway at Qbajjar) a drop from Class 1 to Class 2 was also observed. Two more sites where a decline in water quality was noted are situated near public conveniences in Birzebbuga and Bugibba.

Over the past two weeks a further drop continued to be registered in bathing water quality although the sites are still compliant with the approved safety level of 50 micrograms per litre of coliform bacteria (normally found in untreated sewage). Week 18 readings taken by the Environmental Health Unit (EHU) of the Health Department on September 15 showed changes in bathing water quality at three more sites. By the following week another seven sites had edged closer to the Barcelona Convention limit and were changed from Class 1 to Class 2. The sites are at Qawra, Bugibba, Sliema and Birzebbuga.

This is not necessarily cause for alarm, simply an observation of some fluctuations in the quality of the sea at our favourite swimming spots. Local councils receive a weekly report from the EHU.

There is one small concern which should be kept in mind. Despite autumn sea temperatures over 20°C, and the possibility of swimming nearly until Christmas, the bathing water quality monitoring program comes to an end in the third week of October and does not resume until the third week of May the following year.

With the flash floods we get at this time of year at almost every rainfall the infrastructure is unable to cope with the volume of rainwater entering the sewerage system. After the storm the sky clears, the sun is warm and the sea is calm once more and enticing. But whether or not your favourite bathing area is within the safety limits is your own guess at this time of year with no more monitoring of sites until next summer.

An engineer at the WSC comments: "The reasons for deterioration in the sea water quality does not only fall on the overflows of raw sewage from the sewer mains. A case in point is the oil spills that the Birzebbuga council allegedly says occur near the Enemalta's depot in this locality. The presence of nearby fish farms could be another reason for sea water deterioration. Besides even in cases of sewage overflows, this does not mean that there is any defect in the sewerage system, as this could be a result from leakages from any third party sewer main connections."

Island spawning

There is land reclamation and then there is sea reclamation. The two are often confused. A proponent of the former when he means the latter, writing in The Malta Independent last Sunday, adds his name to the list of one-size-fits-all mongers when it comes to the ubiqitious quick fix.

The author seems unaware that the posidonia sea grass meadows off our north east coast, where he proposes his "new landfilled island", are the cradle for much of our coastal biodiversity. He dismisses them as "only a micro area of the Mediterranean Sea."

No doubt MEPA's director-

general will put the poor man straight. The unveiling of the author who it now emerges was behind years of media promotion backing dumping at sea was ultimately provoked by an article Dr Cassar himself wrote affirming that dumping at sea would only be considered as a last resort.

There are very strong reasons based on principles of landscape and habitat that rule against filling in bays to gain extra land from the sea. Whether beach nourishment projects would fall within this category is an interesting point for discussion. Sea reclamation by means of depositing material at a considerable distance offshore is another thing we may have to consider one day. However offshore windfarms benefit little from rubble islands as they need to be anchored to the rocky seabed.

Riddled with clangers, the article goes on to endorse as beneficial the "stretching of our roads by adding new ones on this new island to accommodate the increasing numbers of vehicles on our roads." The wishful island comes across as ancillary to the play-golf-on-an-ex-landfill roll, fast becoming a popular notion among a section of the public and some politicians.

I have given up trying to get hold of the Maghtab X-ray report from the Ministry of Infrastructure. It is possibly considered far too toxic for public release. If I am mistaken then do let us know.

Wasted ticket

If car-free day has not been as popular as hoped then it is partly because it was tripped up by a previous flop. The real bus-ticketing scandal was not about the allegations which surrounded the tender and were subsequently cleared. Underlying the general malaise that accompanied the arrival of the ticketing machines, after all was said and done, it was the sheer clumsiness of the system that really took us for a ride.

A Ministry of Transport leaflet issued in 1995 heralded a "Computerised ticketing system with Buscard eliminating all problems associated with the process of payment of fares".

It took eight years, throughout three successive governments, for the new bus ticketing system to be introduced in the face of strong resistance from the bus drivers. Their protest struck out at the most vulnerable with a directive not to accept passes entitling elderly passengers to a reduced fare.

Three months after the system was introduced then Transport Minister Censu Galea announced that 6,000 bus cards were in circulation. At the same time the Public Transport Association claimed that it had lost Lm160,000 in revenue since the system was brought into operation. In February of this year two bus ticketing machines were reported "stolen" but it was discovered that they had been thrown into the sea.

The original idea had been that after a period of grace the fares were to go up by one cent. This was a measure meant to make the use of the bus cards or pre-paid tickets from vending machines more attractive. In the case of bus cards the incentive was cancelled out by the price of Lm1.50 one had to pay for a rechargeable card in the first place.

People using public transport were not prepared to invest in a card and the one cent disincentive charge on fares purchased on the bus never came into being. Today the bus card dispensing machines at City Gate terminus stand virtually idle.

If I remember correctly the EU membership package once contained an offer that public bus transport could be subsidised if consumers benefited directly. At any rate the pre-paid bus tickets should have been made as easily obtainable as mobile phone cards, sold from thousands of outlets all over Malta and Gozo.

Why did the powers that be have to fall for such an outlandish bus ticket format, unheard of in the rest of civilised Europe? To have chosen such a complicated method which ultimately failed to meet the promises made in the Public Transport Reform leaflet all those years ago is the real fiasco.

Government seems hardly likely to perform any better when it comes to the many waste technologies currently on parade. If we have learned nothing from the bus-ticketing flop then we are about to see more of the same.

An ill-advised decision in favour of unfriendly technologies for dealing with waste will have a long-term effect on the health of the Maltese population for decades to come. The decision-makers are cautioned to tread carefully before committing us to another botched system, this time with grave implications for the well-being of future generations.

Organic course

A four-month course on organic horticulture is being held at the Social Centre, Triq San Pietru, Kirkop, every Friday at 6 p.m. The course has been made possible through the help of the Leonardo educational programme and is free to all. Bookings can be make with Mario Salerno on 9942-5029.

Apology

The mention of Dr Michael Frendo in my fortnightly column "Natural Reaction" under the title "Danish pastries, lost funds" (September 26) in connection with technical assistance from Denmark regarding waste treatment should not be taken to imply in any way that anything untoward or improper has occurred or is in any way expected to occur.

I fully withdraw any allegations and implications made in this article with regard to Minister Frendo which I declare to be unfounded.

I hasten to apologise to Minister Frendo for attributing or implying any doubts about his absolute good faith in his endeavours, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, to seek Denmark's assistance in environmental matters during a visit in Malta by the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs. Minister Frendo was only acting as a catalyst in this matter.

I declare my full faith in Minister Frendo's honesty and integrity.

razammit@hotmail.com