Marco Cremona, Mosta
Perpetrating myths about water
By now, we should all know that 30,000 households are exempted from paying the surcharge on their electricity and water bills. This "fact" has been drummed into our heads ad nauseum. Given that the average Maltese household comprises 2.7 persons, the "30,000 households" statement would imply that some 81,000 citizens are actually benefitting from this exemption. It has now been revealed that there are only 29,569 persons benefitting from this exemption (October 21). So why does the Prime Minister continue to perpetrate the "30,000 households" myth when this is completely incorrect?
A few weeks ago the government announced a 12-month moratorium for new borehole permits. This implies that the Malta Resources Authority (under the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs) will not be issuing any permits for the drilling of boreholes for the extraction of groundwater during the next year. However, the fact of the matter is that since it was set up in 2003, the Malta Resources Authority has never issued a permit for the drilling of a borehole for groundwater extraction.
So in reality, the moratorium is superfluous as there never was the possibility of anyone getting a permit to drill a borehole anyway. If the government is serious in tackling illegal groundwater extraction, it should have taken immediate action on the thousands of existing boreholes sucking our aquifers dry as I write.
It is about time that the government stops playing petty propaganda games that insult our intelligence, and focuses on addressing the very serious problems facing this country today.
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Reuben Caruana
Oct 28th 2008, 23:07
Wow, very true.
we await you explanation Ministru! if you dont have one, we would be happy to accept you resignation!
mark tanti
Oct 28th 2008, 20:59
Correct, the govt. should find and close illegal bore holes and heavily
fine owners. Water is a national resource and these people are STEALING our water
which then we have to pay heavily to produce.
Without generalizing, but swimming pools owners, water providers, luxurious villa's
owners and concrete plants, mostly commit this shameful crime against
Maltese citizens. Shame on all of them
The general public should also help to stop this crime by reporting it to
the authorities when noticed. The bore whole drillers should be severely
fined for each bore hole drilled.
This is a serious crime which should be addressed immediately because it has been
ongoing for a long time.
Paul Smith
Oct 28th 2008, 14:27
wow agreed
You would think that the state of water resources in Malta would prompt an emergency situation making headline news. I never understood what the purpose of the Malta resource authority was? I wrote to them about peak oil and peak Gas as well as water resources over 5 years ago - not even a response. Now all the chickens are coming home to roost we have panic stations in local government.
Malta without a fresh supply of clean water will cease to exist and will become an inhabitable island. I always said, that under the current leadership Maltese would be the next boat people asking for refuge in another country.