We refer to MEP Joseph Muscat's reaction (April 2) to our reply to his original piece that voiced concern about the loss of "fresh water" to the sea. We appreciate his continued concern but would like to put the record straight. According to the terms of the acquis, Malta must treat residential wastewater prior to its discharge into the sea - and this is the focus of the Water Services Corporation's endeavours.

However, in his original article entitled Pumping Ourselves Dry (February 26), Mr Muscat had complained that when the WSC's three new sewage treatment plants are eventually commissioned, about 20 million cubic metres of what is erroneously referred to as "fresh water" will be dumped into the sea every year.

In our reply we had explained that such claims were an over-simplification of a very complex issue. It is completely incorrect, misleading and possibly dangerous to the public to refer to treated sewage effluent as "fresh water", because wastewater still needs further treatment before it can be used in agriculture or industry.

But this extra treatment costs money. Mr Muscat must realise that the WSC cannot supply expensive treated wastewater to end-users at a loss. Someone must eventually pay for it and the WSC believes that this should be the direct end-user. After all, the corporation is merely a producer and operator, doing its utmost to reduce its dependency on the yearly government subvention.

We had clearly repeated what is common knowledge: It is much easier to drill an illegal borehole than pay for expensive treated wastewater. The WSC has been unfairly misinterpreted when our mere stating of this unhappy fact led to the accusation that this was an "argument" justifying the WSC's alleged refusal to make the best use of treated wastewater.

Our point is that the commissioning of the three new treatment plants will not necessarily solve the problem of illegal extraction of groundwater. This is a complex social problem which is why charting out a water re-use policy (the responsibility of the Malta Resources Authority) is not as simple an exercise as Mr Muscat seems to think it is.

Far from being completely oblivious to the obligations set forth in the EU Framework Directive, as alleged by Mr Muscat, the WSC is fully aware of what needs to be done. And like Mr Muscat, the WSC looks forward to and welcomes greater protection of our groundwater and an end to illegal extraction. Our projects have been designed with eventual re-use in mind and once all health and safety issues are thoroughly understood and addressed, the WSC will provide water for re-use provided this is within an equitable financial framework.

We have simply stated facts in a professional and honest manner. Our aims are to ensure that we work diligently enough to allow national progress without increasing any burdens that would go against the "user pays" principle.