The new Nadur cemetery

The Bishop of Gozo in his homily of August 14 contradicted himself in urging the faithful of Gozo to respect the natural environment while defending the Church's development proposals on the morrow, as reported in The Times of August 16.

The building of the new Nadur cemetery is a case in point. It is located exactly overhead a centuries' old natural underground spring which provides enough water for around 30 tumoli of the finest arable land in Gozo and around 5,000 fruit trees. The farmers who till this land are right to be concerned. The building of the cemetery is a clear threat to the spring, either by contamination or to its steady flow which has never ceased even during the driest season.

If his Excellency has Gozo's fast diminishing natural habitat at heart, this new cemetery would have been located elsewhere. Our water is too precious to be laid to waste and the risk of the desertification of our remaining arable land cannot be taken lightly.