In a recent letter published in The Sunday Times (December 6), I put forward a number of inconvenient questions to the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs about the pitiful state of Malta's water resources.

Given the minister's recent declaration that Malta would have to reduce its groundwater extraction from 34 million to 23 million cubic metres a year, I queried as to where/how these cuts will be made. From agricultural boreholes? From boreholes supplying industrial concerns? From the groundwater being pumped by WSC for the public water supply?

One of the solutions available to Malta to mitigate this shortfall is to use treated sewage effluent, particularly for agriculture. However, Malta has invested tens of millions of euros (and will be investing more over the next two years) to construct treatment plants that cannot recover water for re-use.

Even if the quality of the effluent were rendered usable for irrigation (through additional investment), how would this water be delivered to farmers if the treatment plants have not been strategically located close to the main agricultural areas? How will the government encourage farmers to use this recycled water, when only three weeks ago Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino promised that farmers could continue extracting groundwater for free?

The ministry failed to reply to these questions. Instead, we were regaled with a contribution from a certain Antoine Vella, writing on behalf of the University's Institute of Agriculture (The Sunday Times, December 13), who came to the ministry's defence but did not provide any answers to my questions.

Instead, he tried to ridicule my lobbying for the re-use of treated effluent by saying that my recommendation was not original. The Sant'Antnin sewage treatment plant has been churning out treated effluent for irrigation for 25 years, he said. Indeed it has - and this is my point exactly!

In 1983, the government of the day had the foresight to recognise treated effluent as a source of water for irrigation; 25 years later, the powers-that-be, with millions of euros of EU money at their disposal and myriad modern treatment technologies to choose from, built treatment plants that do not as yet even meet the quality standards attained by the 25-year-old Sant'Antnin plant!

Mr Vella informs us that the high salinity of sewage can limit the application of the treated effluent, and that government entities are now carrying out trials to irrigate olive and forestry trees, while trials on fruit trees and vegetables "will be undertaken at a later stage".

Such research is commendable, but given that we knew we would be installing new treatment plants since 1992 why did it take the government 17 years to start conducting these trials? Do we have to wait for the completion of these years-long trials before we recycle the first drop of water - while the aquifers continue to be pumped dry?

Even if we were to produce effluent of a quality suitable for irrigation there is the massive issue of transporting this water to the agricultural community.

The use of treated effluent from the Ċumnija treatment plant (located in the middle of nowhere behind Għadira) in the main agricultural areas of Burmarrad, Għallis and Pwales would necessitate the transportation of more than 500 bowser trips over three 100-metre high hills every day.

Once the Malta South treatment plant is constructed, this figure will shoot up to almost 5,000 bowser trips a day from one end of the island (Xgħajra) to as far as Rabat. Is this sustainable? Especially when we should be reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and are being obliged to reduce traffic emissions by the EU?

Mr Vella and the authorities/officials responsible for Malta's agriculture and water resources would have done better to join ex-AD chairman Harry Vassallo and myself when we brought these facts to the attention of Mepa at the EIA public hearing concerning the Malta North sewage treatment plant some years ago.

We were ignored, and the treatment plants were built to dispose of sewage and not to produce water. The consequences of these mistaken decisions will result in the demise of Malta's agriculture within 15 to 20 years.