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.