Enough is enough!

I found the article Parched Australia Becomes A Nation of Water Misers (February 19) most interesting - not least because Australia's present water crisis sounds very similar to Malta's in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Australia is today facing a water crisis, with all major cities having imposed restrictions on water use. In Sydney, householders face fines the equivalent of Lm55 if they are caught watering gardens outside the permitted times. And, mind you, this when the householders are using town water they have legitimately paid for and not water they have illegally extracted. In Melbourne, 100 water officers in cars are on patrol around the clock, issuing fines to people who waste water. Repeat offenders stand to have their water supplies cut.

Many households in Australia are now resorting to rainwater harvesting, that is collecting water from their roofs - a thousands-of-years-old idea which the Maltese developed to perfection over the centuries. Sadly, the Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology introduced in 1982, killed off this most sensible, sustainable "free" source of fresh water and spawned the "water-no-problem" syndrome which prevails today.

We are inclined to think that in Malta we do not have to resort to any drastic water saving measures because we have no evident water problems. Or do we? The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) Aquastat statistics rank Malta as 172nd out of 180 countries worldwide in terms of water availability per capita. This means, we're in the 10 worst ranked countries in the world - together with "desert" countries like Saudi Arabia, Libya and Kuwait. By contrast, Australia ranks 40th. That's 132 places better than us. So who's got the water crisis, us or the Aussies?

And yet, in Malta, we live as though water scarcity is a thing of the past. We've got water in our taps, haven't we? But is the situation sustainable or are we heading for another water crisis?

Some alarming facts will put the situation in its right perspective. Two-thirds of our fresh water still comes from groundwater reserves, the other third coming from (expensive) RO. Our groundwater reserves are dwindling, becoming increasingly saline, and useable groundwater will become a thing of the past during our lifetime.

The State of the Environment Report 2005 states that "Malta's ground waters are seriously at risk from over-exploitation and pollution, risking the loss of Malta's only renewable freshwater resource". Climate change will aggravate the situation, with higher temperatures and significantly less rainfall.

And yet, the Maltese government is not tackling water management in an integrated or holistic manner. This country does not yet have a water policy. Even the very shocking news that one-third of Malta's economic activity depends on unregulated (read illegal) water (The Times, February 9) failed to induce a reaction from the authorities.

The amount of illegally extracted water is estimated to be at more than 18 million cubic metres a year. At an average sales price of Lm0.50 per cubic metre, illegal water extraction is estimated to be a Lm9-million-a-year clandestine activity.

You don't have to be a detective to catch water perpetrators in the act. The authorities need only follow one of the numerous water bowsers making their daily rounds to and from their illegal water source to get the necessary incriminating evidence. The Yellow Pages will also help with contact numbers and addresses. How's that for a quick win for the police force?

More importantly, immediate action will be a win for each and every one of us. Each litre of groundwater extracted illegally is one more litre which has to be produced by the Water Services Corporation through the expensive and energy-intensive desalination process. There is no other way. Groundwater is a finite commodity. Water production by the Water Services Corporation is heavily subsidised by the government, which essentially means that the taxpayers' money is making good for somebody's illegal activities. And yet the authorities remain decidedly passive.

Groundwater is a public resource, not a private one. We have entrusted our government and its authorities to safeguard this important resource and to ensure its sustainability.

It is not enough for the Malta Resources Authority to state that "illegal abstractions from unregistered boreholes, as well as stealing of water remain matters of some concern" (SOER, 2005). Law-abiding Maltese do not want these very serious issues to "remain matters of some concern". They expect the authorities to take appropriate and immediate remedial action. Water theft is a crime. The fact that it is widespread does not de-criminalise it. Moreover, it should be punishable by law, and the authorities should take the necessary enforcement action to stop water theft.

If the authorities concerned are unable to cope with the illegal extraction of water, they should inform the public and the government of their difficulties. Ultimately, the Prime Minister has the duty to ensure that the government's administrative and law enforcement entities start tackling Malta's looming water crisis in an effective manner. Law-abiding Maltese citizens deserve and expect no less.