All water under the bridge for WSC

Zurrieq mayor Ignatius Farrugia has claimed that the water mains tap in the village square was not buried during embellishment works by the council but by the Water Services Corporation.

Nationalist councillors Mario Ellul and Melvyn Mangion on Tuesday blamed their Labour counterparts, saying a mains tap in the village had been buried by new pavements. As a result, council workers could not stop a water leak.

But the Labour-led council replied that the Nationalists' claim does not hold water, insisting that the PN councillors were taking advantage of a "genuine" mistake by WSC employees.

The council said the leak had occurred when a resident accidentally burst a water pipe.

The water tap, it continued, had been buried by the WSC and not during embellishment works carried out in the square last year.

The council said it would be seeking financial redress from the WSC.

Contacted, the WSC's head of public relations, Stephen Zerafa, called the council's statement "extremely convoluted".

"It's difficult to make heads or tails of what the council is trying to say. What is a fact is that on February 8 at 11 a.m. we received a report that water was running out at Mattia Preti Square and the leak was fixed. End of story."

The WSC communications office had not received any request for information from the local council even if, in a statement, the council claimed that a corporation official "had refused to provide information requested by the council.

"We have a job to do and have no time to waste with petty internal arguments between councillors," Mr Zerafa said.

The PN councillors held their ground, insisting that the pavements that "covered" the tap had been built in a frenzy before last year's local elections, adding that road works and embellishment projects were still unfinished.