Water leakages halved in six years

While water leakages from the distribution network in Malta were halved over a six year period, the leakages in the sister island increased by six per cent. Last year 4.9 million cubic metres were lost in the distribution network in Malta, 51 per cent less than the almost 10 million cubic metres lost in 2002.

The effort by the Water Services Corporation to curb leakages was less successful in Gozo, where they increased from 416,100 cubic metres in 2002 to 440,881 cubic metres last year.

The figures were published by the National Statistics Office on the occasion of World Water Day, which will be celebrated tomorrow.

The NSO statistics also show that the amount of groundwater extracted by the WSC increased over the last two years while water produced by reverse osmosis plants decreased.

Groundwater extraction by the WSC had been on a downward trend since 2000. But in 2008 just over 14 million cubic metres of water were extracted, which represented an increase of almost 120,000 cubic metres over 2007.

However, it was still a far cry from the 18.6 million cubic metres extracted in 2000, the only year when groundwater production exceeded that produced by reverse osmosis plants.