The old joke about global water reserves is the only funny thing about the water crisis: The water you drink today may once have been Cleopatra's perspiration. Another version is that water coming out of our taps today contains traces of dinosaur urine.
The hydrological cycle of evaporation from the oceans and rainfall has been recycling the same water for millions of years. The amount of water on the planet today is the same as when the earth shook under the 'thunder lizards'.
Seventy per cent of the surface of the 'blue planet' we inhabit is water although not always in a readily available form. Glaciers are melting at a faster rate. Fresh water, which used to be slowly released as the ice gradually thaws, now rushes to the sea.
A resource without substitute, water is at the centre of a global crisis. Industry assumes an infinite supply as demand for water around the world is doubling every two decades. By 2025, it is estimated that about one third of the global population will not have access to adequate drinking water.
At a conference held this summer on the 'Top Five Risks' in the world today, the World Bank's former chief economist said that governments have been slow to accept the truth that usable water is running out.
People have been mining fresh water without restraint "because it has not been priced properly," said Nicholas Stern, the author of the Stern report on climate change issued earlier this year.
The less water there is available, the higher the corruption risks that arise in control over the water supply. Powerful lobbies engage in illicit activities to access water resources.
Corruption, traditionally perceived as the abuse of public office for private gain, is defined more widely these days as any departure from behaviour which is governed by rules. Failure to enforce regulations to the gain of some and the loss of others can be considered a passive form of corruption.
Ensuring the management of water resources is free from significant governance failures is fundamental to sustainable development. It is a failure for those in a position of power or authority if they fail to act to ensure water resources are sustained for future use and for the benefit of society.
Ending corruption in the water sector requires breaking the interlocking interests and relationships that are perpetuating the problem. One school of political science takes the short term view that corruption is good for the economy.
This year's annual report on global corruption released by Transparency International, a Berlin-based coalition of civil society organisations, focuses on corruption in the water sector. It is the first report of its kind to explore the impact and scope of corruption in different segments of the water sector, including covering up industrial pollution, manipulation of water management and allocation policies.
Four years have passed since a consultant involved in the setting up of Malta's national water policy urged the authorities for water resources, agriculture, industry and planning to set up a task force to eliminate any illegal boreholes.
A 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, prepared jointly with the Malta Resources Authority, concludes that Malta's core water challenge is one of governance. "Tough decisions will have to be made immediately if sustainability of Malta's aquifer systems is to be achieved."
The key to tackling corruption is transparency at all stages of water governance: policy design, project planning, tracking of expenditure and performance.
Rumblings from Labour parliamentary whip Joe Mizzi that key performance indicators of the Water Services Corporation had not been made public were dismissed lightly by Investments Minister Austin Gatt. The indicators act as a meter, measuring how well the corporation is performing compared with the previous year.
In turn the minister took the MRA to task, prescribing a wider approach to the problem of illegal boreholes. MRA was prodded to carry out inspections of industries such as batching plants, known to be heavy water users, and compare their bills with usage, possibly indicating an unauthorised tapping of ground water. To curb corrupt water practices, inspectors must stop bowsers in the streets and ask to see documentation of the origin of the water being carried.
In a judgment on the Water Services Corporation's attempt to charge steeper rates for water supplied to a high consumption denim factory, the MRA ruled that the industrial rate (which is one tenth the rate charged for water used in laundering) should apply. Some boathouse villages used as dwellings in summer are favoured with cheaper rates.
The MRA is quietly shaping up in at least one department. Draft legislation aims to empower the authority to suspend, refuse or revoke any licence related to water, energy or quarrying if there is any record of abuse.