The water-table is being depleted at an alarming rate by illegal extraction and things will only get worse. Malta is facing a severe water shortage as a result of global warning and an expected drop in rainfall, which will deplete the water table even more, according to Charles Sammut from the university's Department of Physics. The Met Office recently reported that last month was the second driest January in the past 84 years. Malta has the highest Water Competitivity Index in the world (a measure of demand versus supply) and is ranked 172nd out of 180 countries in the world in terms of water availability per capita (FAO AQUASTAT, 2002).
Engineer Marco Cremona believes that the answer for the future is the better use of two neglected water sources: storm-water and treated sewage. Both can be used in two ways: by treatment for use as potable water or used to replenish the water table (aquifer), which in turn indirectly contributes to the potable water supply when it's extracted.
The water table today supports around two-thirds of the water supply, one-third through public extraction and the other third through unregulated (illegal) extraction with the balance being attributed to reverse osmosis (RO) production. However, the quality of groundwater is becoming increasingly brackish (containing some salt), rendering the water useless for most applications, including irrigation.
"Around a fourth of our rainfall seeps through the rock to the water table, which lies at sea level and so has a layer of seawater in it. The fresh water is less dense and lies on top of the seawater but if you draw out too much water, you start pulling up salty water.
"I believe that if we could find a way to divert storm water to disused quarries, especially hard stone ones, the water would naturally replenish the water table. But we would have to find a way to treat it before it went into the quarry to avoid contaminants finding their way into the water table.
"The problem is that, so far, no other country has needed to rely on storm water - although they might if global warming starts to affect the freshwater supplies from rivers, lakes and aquifers. So the technology does not exist and I had to come up with my own ideas," he said.
Ing. Cremona is involved in the ongoing drawing up of the storm water master plan for the Maltese islands but for the past 18 months he has been doing his own research, trying to find a simple and cost-effective way to use storm water.
"Our reverse osmosis plants use seawater, which means that all the salt has to be removed before it can become potable. This is a very energy intensive - and therefore expensive - process. And yet storm water is 99.9 per cent fresh water."
He approached the Water Services Corporation (WSC) - as his potential end client - who were very interested and are helping in various ways. The corporation allowed him to use an abandoned plant and reservoir at Ta' Qali, which gathers excess water from Chadwick Lakes.
He started off by collecting storm water samples from various places and at various times, had them tested at the WSC lab. These confirmed his theory that the water had low salt levels but was contaminated by silt and bacteria as well as by traces of other pollutants like hydrocarbons.
His first idea was to use an ultrafiltration membrane (UF) process and he got support from a German company, Herco Wassertechnik GmbH, with whom he had built a lasting relationship over the last 10 years. Herco designed and manufactured a purpose-built pilot plant costing €25,000 and loaned it to Ing. Cremona as they saw the long-term potential of his research.
However, the results of the first year were mixed as some of the particles were so fine that they were not being trapped by the pre-filtration system on the plant, and blocking the UF membrane. This was solved by using chemicals to "clump" the particles and make them coagulate. This worked well but required the need of chemicals, which Ing. Cremona was not happy with. "This is what R&D is all about; you try one thing, then another until you get a satisfactory result and a saleable product," he said.
Despite this setback, the system still consumed less than 25 per cent of the energy consumed by an RO plant.
He decided that what was needed was a pre-treatment plant to replace the need for chemicals and he yet again managed to convince the largest research institute in Europe, the Fraunhofer Institute of Germany to build a €60,000 electro-precipitation unit for testing in Malta. This second phase of the project is also supported by Malta Enterprise's EUREKA Scheme for research projects.
He is now collating his results and comparing them with last year's, with everything made just a little bit more complicated by the fact that the water temperature this year is at least three degrees higher, which has resulted in higher algae and bacteria levels.
"So far, the indications are that there is commercial potential. The pilot plant is producing 3,000 litres an hour, enough to meet the daily water needs of 760 people," he said.
The technology itself would only be the first step: Without storm water collection, the system would not work. Some disused quarries could be used. There are also a number of unused stormwater reservoirs that could easily be used, including a huge one at Corradino which could supply the whole of the industrial estate and whose size would merit a fixed plant. And therein lies the first problem: The reservoir is already being eyed by the port operator, Valletta Gateway Terminals, for its container movements.
His idea is also to have two or three mobile units which could do the rounds of the reservoirs, treating the water and feeding it directly into the WSC system.
"Of course, the reservoirs would need to be rehabilitated but this would be the perfect public-private partnership project."
Although it would clearly make more sense to turn storm water into potable water, Ing. Cremona is also suggesting an alternative, pragmatic approach: Use the treated water to recharge the water table.
"That way half of our public water supply can continue to come from ground water rather than from the RO plants," he said. "It would still be more energy-efficient.
"Of course these ideas would have to fall within the framework of a national water policy, which as far as I know is still being worked upon by the Malta Resources Authority. In the absence of a water policy there isn't even the basis for a start of any discussion on these issues".
Ing. Cremona is clearly impatient.
"On a per capita basis, Malta has the most scarce water supply of any country in the world. We have read in the papers last week that Australia has legislated for treated sewage effluent to be used as potable water. We are in a much worse off situation and water is not on the political agenda. There is plenty that can be done if the government decides what direction it wants to take," he said.
20070208-business--biophoto.jpgBio notes
Marco Cremona was fortunate enough to be able to read a masters in hydrology and water studies, a one-off course run at the University of Malta in the mid 1990s. "It is amazing that there were no more courses as this is an area of particular relevance to Malta - water is a resource of enormous strategic, social and economic importance.
He set out on his own at the age of 26 for a short while before joining a firm as a mechanical/water treatment/environmental engineer, working on water treatment plants in industry and hotels, and on various Environmental Impact Assessments.
In 2002, he decided to go it alone and set up Sustech Consulting. He moved into the Kordin Business Incubation Centre (KBIC), lured by the good facilities, the subsidized rental charges and the secretarial/administrative back-up. He, like many other KBIC tenants, was at first resentful of the need to draw up a business plan but, like the others, lived to thank the staff there.
"It really helped me to focus and is still relevant today," he said.
Setting up was relatively easy as he did not need any large equipment and had a number of clients lined up.
He is passionate about his subject and writes regularly in the media on a number of issues, which also helped to raise his profile. In fact, over the years, consultancy has taken up more and more of his time.
He has been on three scholarships, to Singapore (Water Management), Japan (Environmental Management) and Norway (Sanitation in Developing Countries), and is also involved in voluntary work, including the construction of a biogas (fuel) plant in Kenya that obtains cooking gas from cow-dung and water treatment/rainwater harvesting systems in Kenya and in Sri Lanka's post-tsunami villages.
"There was a huge rush to build homes for the people displaced by the Tsunami but no one thought of water provision so hundreds of houses remained uninhabited. Given rainfall patterns, they can be self-sufficient just by collecting water from their own roofs," he said.
He believes firmly in putting his money where his mouth is and has designed a rainwater collection system for his own home, which means he has been self-sufficient uninterruptedly for almost two years.
"We use five times more water per capita in Malta than a household in Sri Lanka, and we only get one-fifth of the rainfall so if we can do this in Malta, it can be done anywhere."
Water from his well is pumped up to a roof tank from where it is passed through a Lm130 disinfection unit and used for his cold/hot water supply. A separate system collects so-called grey water, discharged from basins, showers and the washing machine, and filters it so that it can be re-used for toilets, which represent a fourth of most households' water consumption.
"People think of saving water in terms of saving money but it should be seen from a wider perspective. The water we collect and re-use is not being drained onto the street where it causes flooding or overburdens the drainage system. So not only are we not using groundwater and reverse osmosis water, we are also not overloading the stormwater and sewerage infrastructure. I actually think we should ask for compensation from the government," he said with a grin.
He followed the Kenya Biogas project by undertaking R&D on the treatment of animal manures and slurries in Malta. Digestion tests were carried out at KBIC during 2002-2003 while simultaneously lobbying ministers and public officials on the benefits of the biogas process. The treatment of wastes for the biogas production is now firmly entrenched in Malta's waste policies. Electricity generation through biogas production can reach 3-4 per cent of Malta's total generation capacity in the future.
Sustech is now operating from the Guillaumier Group of Companies premises in Sta Venera, with a number of joint projects in mind. Among the projects he has lined up is the development of a water recycling system for hotels so as to make the hotels 80 per cent self-sufficient in water use. A proposal for funding of this research project has been submitted to the Malta Council for Science and Technology's 2006 R&I Programme.
Engineer Marco Cremona believes that the answer for the future is the better use of two neglected water sources: storm-water and treated sewage. Both can be used in two ways: by treatment for use as potable water or used to replenish the water table (aquifer), which in turn indirectly contributes to the potable water supply when it's extracted.
The water table today supports around two-thirds of the water supply, one-third through public extraction and the other third through unregulated (illegal) extraction with the balance being attributed to reverse osmosis (RO) production. However, the quality of groundwater is becoming increasingly brackish (containing some salt), rendering the water useless for most applications, including irrigation.
"Around a fourth of our rainfall seeps through the rock to the water table, which lies at sea level and so has a layer of seawater in it. The fresh water is less dense and lies on top of the seawater but if you draw out too much water, you start pulling up salty water.
"I believe that if we could find a way to divert storm water to disused quarries, especially hard stone ones, the water would naturally replenish the water table. But we would have to find a way to treat it before it went into the quarry to avoid contaminants finding their way into the water table.
"The problem is that, so far, no other country has needed to rely on storm water - although they might if global warming starts to affect the freshwater supplies from rivers, lakes and aquifers. So the technology does not exist and I had to come up with my own ideas," he said.
Ing. Cremona is involved in the ongoing drawing up of the storm water master plan for the Maltese islands but for the past 18 months he has been doing his own research, trying to find a simple and cost-effective way to use storm water.
"Our reverse osmosis plants use seawater, which means that all the salt has to be removed before it can become potable. This is a very energy intensive - and therefore expensive - process. And yet storm water is 99.9 per cent fresh water."
He approached the Water Services Corporation (WSC) - as his potential end client - who were very interested and are helping in various ways. The corporation allowed him to use an abandoned plant and reservoir at Ta' Qali, which gathers excess water from Chadwick Lakes.
He started off by collecting storm water samples from various places and at various times, had them tested at the WSC lab. These confirmed his theory that the water had low salt levels but was contaminated by silt and bacteria as well as by traces of other pollutants like hydrocarbons.
His first idea was to use an ultrafiltration membrane (UF) process and he got support from a German company, Herco Wassertechnik GmbH, with whom he had built a lasting relationship over the last 10 years. Herco designed and manufactured a purpose-built pilot plant costing €25,000 and loaned it to Ing. Cremona as they saw the long-term potential of his research.
However, the results of the first year were mixed as some of the particles were so fine that they were not being trapped by the pre-filtration system on the plant, and blocking the UF membrane. This was solved by using chemicals to "clump" the particles and make them coagulate. This worked well but required the need of chemicals, which Ing. Cremona was not happy with. "This is what R&D is all about; you try one thing, then another until you get a satisfactory result and a saleable product," he said.
Despite this setback, the system still consumed less than 25 per cent of the energy consumed by an RO plant.
He decided that what was needed was a pre-treatment plant to replace the need for chemicals and he yet again managed to convince the largest research institute in Europe, the Fraunhofer Institute of Germany to build a €60,000 electro-precipitation unit for testing in Malta. This second phase of the project is also supported by Malta Enterprise's EUREKA Scheme for research projects.
He is now collating his results and comparing them with last year's, with everything made just a little bit more complicated by the fact that the water temperature this year is at least three degrees higher, which has resulted in higher algae and bacteria levels.
"So far, the indications are that there is commercial potential. The pilot plant is producing 3,000 litres an hour, enough to meet the daily water needs of 760 people," he said.
The technology itself would only be the first step: Without storm water collection, the system would not work. Some disused quarries could be used. There are also a number of unused stormwater reservoirs that could easily be used, including a huge one at Corradino which could supply the whole of the industrial estate and whose size would merit a fixed plant. And therein lies the first problem: The reservoir is already being eyed by the port operator, Valletta Gateway Terminals, for its container movements.
His idea is also to have two or three mobile units which could do the rounds of the reservoirs, treating the water and feeding it directly into the WSC system.
"Of course, the reservoirs would need to be rehabilitated but this would be the perfect public-private partnership project."
Although it would clearly make more sense to turn storm water into potable water, Ing. Cremona is also suggesting an alternative, pragmatic approach: Use the treated water to recharge the water table.
"That way half of our public water supply can continue to come from ground water rather than from the RO plants," he said. "It would still be more energy-efficient.
"Of course these ideas would have to fall within the framework of a national water policy, which as far as I know is still being worked upon by the Malta Resources Authority. In the absence of a water policy there isn't even the basis for a start of any discussion on these issues".
Ing. Cremona is clearly impatient.
"On a per capita basis, Malta has the most scarce water supply of any country in the world. We have read in the papers last week that Australia has legislated for treated sewage effluent to be used as potable water. We are in a much worse off situation and water is not on the political agenda. There is plenty that can be done if the government decides what direction it wants to take," he said.
20070208-business--biophoto.jpgBio notes
Marco Cremona was fortunate enough to be able to read a masters in hydrology and water studies, a one-off course run at the University of Malta in the mid 1990s. "It is amazing that there were no more courses as this is an area of particular relevance to Malta - water is a resource of enormous strategic, social and economic importance.
He set out on his own at the age of 26 for a short while before joining a firm as a mechanical/water treatment/environmental engineer, working on water treatment plants in industry and hotels, and on various Environmental Impact Assessments.
In 2002, he decided to go it alone and set up Sustech Consulting. He moved into the Kordin Business Incubation Centre (KBIC), lured by the good facilities, the subsidized rental charges and the secretarial/administrative back-up. He, like many other KBIC tenants, was at first resentful of the need to draw up a business plan but, like the others, lived to thank the staff there.
"It really helped me to focus and is still relevant today," he said.
Setting up was relatively easy as he did not need any large equipment and had a number of clients lined up.
He is passionate about his subject and writes regularly in the media on a number of issues, which also helped to raise his profile. In fact, over the years, consultancy has taken up more and more of his time.
He has been on three scholarships, to Singapore (Water Management), Japan (Environmental Management) and Norway (Sanitation in Developing Countries), and is also involved in voluntary work, including the construction of a biogas (fuel) plant in Kenya that obtains cooking gas from cow-dung and water treatment/rainwater harvesting systems in Kenya and in Sri Lanka's post-tsunami villages.
"There was a huge rush to build homes for the people displaced by the Tsunami but no one thought of water provision so hundreds of houses remained uninhabited. Given rainfall patterns, they can be self-sufficient just by collecting water from their own roofs," he said.
He believes firmly in putting his money where his mouth is and has designed a rainwater collection system for his own home, which means he has been self-sufficient uninterruptedly for almost two years.
"We use five times more water per capita in Malta than a household in Sri Lanka, and we only get one-fifth of the rainfall so if we can do this in Malta, it can be done anywhere."
Water from his well is pumped up to a roof tank from where it is passed through a Lm130 disinfection unit and used for his cold/hot water supply. A separate system collects so-called grey water, discharged from basins, showers and the washing machine, and filters it so that it can be re-used for toilets, which represent a fourth of most households' water consumption.
"People think of saving water in terms of saving money but it should be seen from a wider perspective. The water we collect and re-use is not being drained onto the street where it causes flooding or overburdens the drainage system. So not only are we not using groundwater and reverse osmosis water, we are also not overloading the stormwater and sewerage infrastructure. I actually think we should ask for compensation from the government," he said with a grin.
He followed the Kenya Biogas project by undertaking R&D on the treatment of animal manures and slurries in Malta. Digestion tests were carried out at KBIC during 2002-2003 while simultaneously lobbying ministers and public officials on the benefits of the biogas process. The treatment of wastes for the biogas production is now firmly entrenched in Malta's waste policies. Electricity generation through biogas production can reach 3-4 per cent of Malta's total generation capacity in the future.
Sustech is now operating from the Guillaumier Group of Companies premises in Sta Venera, with a number of joint projects in mind. Among the projects he has lined up is the development of a water recycling system for hotels so as to make the hotels 80 per cent self-sufficient in water use. A proposal for funding of this research project has been submitted to the Malta Council for Science and Technology's 2006 R&I Programme.