Incorrect borehole applications returned
Applications for water borehole notification are being submitted either incomplete or incorrectly filled, the Malta Resources Authority said yesterday.
The MRA said the submissions included incomplete technical details on the groundwater source location, depth to groundwater, depth of borehole and borehole diameter. The authority is considering such applications invalid and is returning them to those who submitted them.
The MRA drew the attention of architects on the importance of submitting the correct technical details in the application for notification.
It has invited all applicants to resubmit their application with complete and correct information as required by the Notification of Groundwater Sources Regulations within the period established at la or at most within seven days from the postmark date of the returned application.
The government has published legal notices providing that no new boreholes can be drilled for groundwater extraction and all unregistered boreholes have to be registered within a month.
The government is trying to crack down on borehole drilling -extraction of groundwater is estimated at about 34 million cubic metres a year, 11 million cubic metres more than the MRA's recommendations for sustainable extraction.
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Joseph Ellis
Oct 23rd 2008, 20:15
This is a typical example of how bureaucracy works in this blessed island. The government sleeps on the problem for years on end and then, one fine day, it wakes up and expects that everyone complies with its diktat within one month. When this month of extraordinary activity is over, in all probability, government or its side-kick, MRA, will sleep on the data till God knows when.
The application forms require extensive technical information which is beyond the reach of most applicants to provide. Wouldn't it have it been wiser to get all bore-holes registered so that MRA can then send its technical teams (assuming that it has or will have any) to survey these bore-holes and assess the situation. But that is not how the public service works in Malta : it expects the people to do all the work and if it decrees that the applications are not in line with what it deems should have been submitted, it simply rejects them. No effort is spared to help the applicants provide the requested information, outright rejection is the safest route for civil servants who are accustomed not to shoulder any responsibility.
Rita Spiteri
Oct 23rd 2008, 09:41
Is this the case of professional people (architects) trying to find loopholes or is it incompetence?