Free water to farmers is a 'mistake'

A leading hydrologist has criticised a government pledge made in Parliament last week to allow farmers to extract groundwater for free.

Marco Cremona said this was a mistaken policy at a time when Malta should be doing everything possible to protect its volatile supply.

Last Thursday, Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino assured farmers during the Budget debate that it "was not the government's intention to charge any tariffs to farmers for this water extraction".

However, according to Mr Cremona, farmers should use treated sewage effluent for irrigation purposes if the island is to stand a chance of reaching its target to reduce groundwater extraction by 11 million cubic meters within five years.

"Why is the government investing funds in sewage treatment plants if the resulting effluent is not used for agricultural purposes? Farmers will not use the treated effluent if they have access to free groundwater," Mr Cremona said.

In Tunisia, half the agricultural sector depends on treated sewage water, while Israel has also been successful in converting desert into arable land using treated effluent.

However, when contacted, Mr Pullicino defended his decision: "At this point, the intention is to establish exactly how much water is being extracted from each borehole, then we'll decide what steps to take."

The minister said government was working to reach its goals and he referred to last week's press conference where he announced owners of water bowsers had to be registered by the end of this month to curb illegal extraction; just one of many measures in the pipeline.

Yet Cremona questioned how the government could set targets to protect the water table - by 2015 Malta must cut back extraction to 23 million cubic metres to achieve "good quality" groundwater - without having a proper strategy laid out in a national water policy.

The only direction the island has is coming from the Food and Agriculture Organisation's 2006 Water Resources Review.

He explained that the water table is under attack from different sides with the Water Services Corporation, beverage companies, animal husbandry, manufacturing industry, the construction sector and laundries all threatening to suck it dry; and all for free. The WSC is extracting 11 million cubic metres a year to provide tap water - down from 18 million cubic metres only 10 years ago.

If it did not do this, it would have to rely completely on Reverse Osmosis plants, burdening the power station, and in turn increasing emissions and costs for consumers.

Two thirds of the island's economic activity also depends heavily on free groundwater extraction, which Mr Cremona said raised the question over whether government has carried an economic impact assessment.

"How does the government plan to reach its targets? I don't envy the government's situation, because it is not an easy decision, but a decision has to be taken now."

The hydrologist calculates that if farmers extract 16 million cubic metres a year, and this is forecast to increase to 18 million cubic metres, then with the government's present targets of 23 million cubic metres this will leave the WSC and the rest of the users with a measly five million cubic metres.

This will be an economic blow for private industry and the WSC will become completely dependent on Reverse Osmosis plants for tap water, pushing up the already hefty water bills. Plus, if there is a prolonged power cut, the plants cannot operate and Malta will be without fresh water.

"The quality of water from RO plants may be better, but groundwater comes for free. As a citizen I would expect the WSC to extract for free, while farmers use the treated effluent.

"The situation is a mess and it's getting messier by the minute."