Fuel spill damage not as bad as feared

Preliminary investigations indicate that the environmental damage to the Birżebbuġa valley where 31 tons of aviation fuel were spilled "is not as bad as one would expect".

Tests are still under way and the survey is still a preliminary one but the immediate efforts to draw back the spilled fuel and the fact that the leak occurred at the edge of the aquifer means that the contamination of ground water may not be as great as feared, sources have told The Times.

The spill, which occurred on August 14, was only reported to Enemalta's senior management and the government a week later, on Thursday.

The corporation suspended the two employees directly responsible for manning the plant and put their manager on forced leave as soon the incident was reported.

The manager, who had nothing to do with the spill, actually followed the corporation's procedure in terms of recovering the fuel but failed to report the matter higher up the ladder immediately and decided to investigate first.

On Thursday afternoon he filed a detailed report on the whole matter to the shock of senior Enemalta staff, who then reported it to Investments Minister Austin Gatt.

An independent investigation was ordered immediately.

Just as hydrologist Marco Cremona had predicted when commenting to The Times on Thursday, since the facility is on the periphery of the aquifer, the spill appears to have been pushed out to sea rather than into the water table.

However, the scale of the contamination still has to be properly established even though, sources say, it was drastically contained when the fuel was drawn back into the facility.

Mr Cremona had said that water contamination in these cases is gauged in milligrams, which means that despite the clean-up, a spill of this scale still presents a huge potential for contamination of the aquifer, especially considering that the facility is underground.

At the site there is no visual evidence of any contamination, but the tanks from which the fuel spilled are underground, well beneath the fields. Similarly, nothing seemed odd on the coast further down from the valley yesterday afternoon. But there have been reports from people saying they have seen a film-like substance in the water inlet there.

Contacted by The Times yesterday, a spokesman for the Resources Ministry would not comment on what has been found so far but confirmed that officers from the Malta Resources Authority were at the plant this morning carrying out a first survey.

The officials were there with counterparts from Enemalta, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and the Civil Protection Department.

The fuel, estimated to cost around €28,000, was spilled into the valley from an underground storage facility during a fuel transfer from another installation not too far from the valley.