Malta needs to reduce dependence on aquifers

reno calleja

Jan 24th 2010, 07:16

Engineer Cremona,, a brilliant patriotic maltese, has been warning for years about the serious situation facing malta with regards to water supplyy.
His HOTTER project, an invention that won him internatoinal acclaim , has been ignored by the Nationalist Government. Why? Is it because he is not a blue-eyed baby?


What about the millions of gallons of water that are being extracted from bore-holes from soft drink companbies that are making a lot of profit from selling bottled mineral water?

The project (Risq il-Widien) was enbardxed on in the 7O's during the Labour Adminisgtraion.Mr. Minfoff was obsessed with saving the rain water, an obsession which sometimes led to shortages in water supply.

T he first reverse osmosis plant was opened during the Labour Administration forcing Mr. Mintoff to cone the populist phrase that water will cost us more than whisky if we do would preserve rain water water only from the reverse osmosis pleants.

The supply of water through the reverse osmosis plants has led to complacency in looking for alternatives to get our supply of water.

Dams should and valleys should be scurpojusly preserved and ke;pt clean and not alllowing buildings like we are doing in Bahrija valley.

Marco Cremona

Jan 24th 2010, 04:29

Continued....

To make matters worse, the recent borehole registration exercise has given the misleading impression that having a registered borehole would entitle you to pumping groundwater for free. Talk to any borehole owner and this is the impression they have. A lot of people have been/are being taken for a ride. Indeed, all the population is being taken into a ride if we're being given the impression that all's well with our water.

The problem with our water is that it's underground-a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'. It's not a sexy issue for politicians and wil take a very courageous MP/minister to take the bull by the horns and address this very unpopular but crucial problem. There are almost 10,000 registered borehole owners- enough to sway an election one way or another. This is analogous to the bird hunting problem. Unfortunately the EU laws re. water protection will not start to hit in before 2015, by which time it would have already been too late.

The FAO 2006 Malta Water-Resources Review concluded that Malta's biggest problem is that of "water governance". I think they hit the nail on the head as the problem is political, not technical.

Marco Cremona

Jan 24th 2010, 04:20

@ R.Micallef

You touch on the issue of illegal boreholes.

If you go by the law ALL boreholes (except those operated by WSC) are illegal, including those that are registered with MRA - because NOBODY has a license to extract groundwater except WSC. This includes registered boreholes operated by farmers for genuine agricultural purposes.

This situation is tantamount to government allowing you to import a car; you pay all the necessary registration fees; you get it into the country but you cannot drive it because government will not give you a license.

Same situation with boreholes. Nobody has a license to extract groundwater so anybody doing so - even through a registered borehole - is doing so illegally. This also means that any bowser supplier delivering (ground)water is doing so illegally. There isn't an uproar about this because government has decided not to enforce it.

Continued....

Marco Cremona

Jan 24th 2010, 04:04

@ Stephen Borg Cardona.

For the record, I am not the only hydrologist on the island. There are some hydrologists employed with the water regulator (Malta Resources Authority) and the public water supplier (Water Services Corporation), but you can appreciate that they are not at liberty to express their personal opinions in public.

If my arguments/hypotheses were erraneous, MRA and WSC would jump at the occasion of falling on me like a ton of bricks. My arguments are based on common sense, (scattered) official data provided by MRA/WSC from time to time and my experience in the field.

I eagerly await the publication of the the county's first national water policy - in preparation since 2004 - which will confirm and substantiate what I have been saying all along. However, at this rate, Malta's water reserves will be long gone before we get to know government's plan for ensuring the sustainability of same !

R.Zammit

Jan 23rd 2010, 22:10

More should be done to trap rain water in purposely dammed valleys. Bowsers should be utilised the day after a storm to drain most of the dammed valleys, and transport the water to other resevoirs. This would allow the dams to be ready to contain the next storm.

The deep valley behind Polidano's plant the Tal-Farrug is an ideal valley that can be turned into another Chadwick Lakes. It is a deep gourge and if water run-off from the airport, Ta'Kandja, Siggiewi and the other surrounding areas is intentionally diverted there, a substantial amount of rain water can be collected and saved. It is important not to dam valleys that lead to the sea as this could affect the supply of new sand and pebbles.

Besides the water extracted by bowsers from these valleys, a large amount will filter into the water table. If 10 or more valleys are dammed around the islands, we could see a large increase in the water that makes its way to the water table.

Mario Desira

Jan 23rd 2010, 21:44

Mr Cremona's efforts and concerns are highly appreciated by those who are knowledgeable about the matter.

It is laughable that a few years back Malta posed as an expert on water management and tried to import its brilliant reverse osmosis technology strategy to 'teach' other countries........

I again repeat two of my ideas which I regularly state, but to date without any acknowlegement or action from the Government:

1 Redesign some disused stone quarries as water catchment areas for water distribution to agricultural fields in the area;

2 Build an aircraft carrier type of ship that works by solar energy: this pumps sea water and by solar evaporation distills water, which will then be added to the potable supply.

3 Install a plant that works by solar energy that catches evaporated water from the air and condenses it into potable water. Literally, water out of thin (damp) air.

Not having any formal qualifications is sometimes an excellent help in enabling one not to miss the wood for the trees, and providie solutions that elude government experts!

Stephen Borg Cardona

Jan 23rd 2010, 21:09

It would appear that there is only one Hydrologist in Malta which means that we have no way of verifying Mr Cremona`s claims.

Gerard Cassar

Jan 23rd 2010, 20:44

Ref. Jesmond Micallef point. It is understood that some south American countries extend suspended nets to collect water. How? The nets collect the water that comes from the liquification of the morning dew, which then runs down to be collected at the extremity of each net. Tthe system needs large spaces. Naturally these are not single nets extending horizontaly but a set of parallel nets . We witness this phenomenon whenever the morning is misty and probably near the sea or rivers, lakes etc.

R Micallef

Jan 23rd 2010, 20:37

I fully support Mr Cremona´s efforts to make the people and the government aware of this issue. I think we should set up a committee in parliament on the issue and plan long term.

I would suggest imposing a tax on all properties that do not have cisterns in the next budget; they are breaking the law and should be made to pay if we are to be fair with the 10% who comply. I would also put a huge fine on illegal boreholes, with possible confiscation of land, and also charge and limit the water extracted from the registered boreholes. I think that we can detect illegal boreholes using satellite imagery with data of soil hydration.
With the money, I would adapt the sewage treatment plants to produce agricultural water, link them with a system of mains and provide treated water for free (up to a certain quota) to the farmers from special reservoirs in agricultural areas. I would also set up a subsidized market where farmers and industry can buy cistern water from houses. Residents in certain areas could form associations selling excess water from their cisterns to cooperatives if the government subsidizes the transportation.

Paul Smith

Jan 23rd 2010, 20:35

I urge all Maltese to listen to the very wise words of Marco Cremona - the situation is already very bad indeed. What happens if we get a quick Oil shock? RO will not function. That Oil shock will come in the form of very unaffordable high prices within the next 2 or 3 years at most and that is a certain! Whats not certain is if it comes in a middle east/persian war (Iran - Israel conflict) or due to a massive drop in output from Ghawar oi field in Saudi Arabia.

See the MPEG on water and energy issues by Jeff Rubin
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/01/15/jeff-rubin-at-the-business-of-climate-change/

Marco Cremona

Jan 23rd 2010, 20:33

@ Paul Smith. I cannot but agree that the collection and use of rainfall (at all levels) coupled with the maximum re-use of treated sewage effluent for agriculture as a substitute to groundwater is key to achieving any form of sustainability on this island.

Even if the price of oil remains as is ($70/barrel), the cost of water in this country is set to increase by 300% as aquifers become progressively useless and we have to resort to more and more desalination. The above calculation does not include investment costs but operational costs only.

If the price of oil were to increase to $200, the cost of water would increase 8-fold.

And this does not include the cost of operating the sewage treatment plants, which costs we have to incur even if we treat the sewage for disposal into the sea.

The level of short-sightedness in this country is simply unbelievable. It's either because the population has absolute faith in its politicians or they do not give a damn about the future. Probably a bit of both.

Marco Cremona

Jan 23rd 2010, 20:20

@Frank Anderson

"In any case, such water treatment plants would be the first to fold in case of a devastating earthquake!". Who suggested that treated sewage effluent be used for drinking anyway?

If you read my comments carefully, I suggested that treated effluent should be used for agriculture as a substitute to groundwater as a matter of course - and not as an emergency source of drinking water in the course of an eathquake. I wonder where you got this idea.

Marco Cremona

Jan 23rd 2010, 20:17

@Frank Anderson

You claim that I am trying to sell Malta sewage-treatment plants "which are neither sustainable nor so environmentally safe and may pose a long-term contamination threat to the aquifer"

'not environmentally safe'? What then is environmentally safe? The huge amount of CO2 emissions released by our power stations to keep our RO plants going? And what about the brine being discharged by the RO plants? What, in your opinion, is an "environmentally safe" source of water ? I'm listening.

'long term contamination of the aquifer'. Firstly, treated effluent can be treated to any quality of water you require, and even if treated to a very high level (i.e. drinking water quality) it is still more cost-effective than seawater desalination.

If you want to know what's contaminating the aquifer I suggest you look at the contaminated runoff being diverted to valleys during storm events, and the manure being washed into the valleys, and the leaking sewage network that is discharging thousands of cubic metres of raw sewage into the aquifer every day, and the waste oils discharged by garages, and the salinizationof our soils through the use of brackish groundwater for irrigation - I could go on and on.

Marco Cremona

Jan 23rd 2010, 20:10

@ Frank Anderson

As to your comment re. my intention of selling sewage treatment plants I have to inform you that government has already purchased sewage treatment plants for the treatment of all of Malta's sewage (for disposal into the sea) - and, for the record, I was/am not involved with any of the contractors who were awarded the contracts.

And if, for the sake of an argument, I did have a commercial interest in selling sewage treatment plants to government, what makes you think that government would buy such plants from me after I have been so vociferous of government's dismal record in the management of our national water resources? You know where large contracts such as the construction of sewage treatment plants go - certainly not towards environmental activists like myself - who get the flak and no thanks.

My argument is for government to treat the sewage to a quality that it can be used for agriculture and distribute it as a substitute to groundwater. Mr. Andersen will now suggest that I have a vested interest in the sale of pipes or pumps. Try another one :)

Marco Cremona

Jan 23rd 2010, 20:03

@ Frank Anderson
It seems that you completely missed my point (intentionally or not). My argument is that Malta is very quickly heading to a situation where its strategic source of water will be gone in a few years time - which implies full dependency on RO production - the latter having huge vulnerabilities of its own - which I have described in an earlier post.

Assume for a second that, for one reason or another (earthquake, power outage, massive fault with the RO plants, oil spill near Malta's shores), our RO plants cannot operate and that this situation continues for more than 2 days - by which time of freshwater stores would have run dry. What do you do then? If we still have an aquifer that contains freshwater, one can drill a borehole within hours and have an emergency supply of freshwater.

Mr. Andersen, developed countries prepare contingency plans. In this regard, Malta is no better than Haiti.

Marco Cremona

Jan 23rd 2010, 19:32

@ E. Muscat

Some clarifications on the numbers you have provided. Malta get's around 35% of its water from RO; the rest from groundwater. The 65% includes the approx. 20 million m3 of freshwater pumped by private boreholes and the 12 - 14 million m3 pumped up by WSC.

The composition of our tapwater is around 55% RO water blended with 45% groundwater. At present, some 7% of our electricity production is consumed by RO production. This said, your arguments remain perfectly valid, as do your suggestions re. construction of cisterns in houses, reservoirs under roundabouts and the use of treated sewage effluent for agriculture.

@Charles Micallef. The aquifers are being exploited by all sectors - mainly agriculture (which is being encouraged to go towards irrigated agriculture), by WSC - which groundwater goes towards keeping our mains water tariffs affordable, by industry (manufacturing, beverage, construction), by animal farms, by bowser water suppliers and indeed also by affluent households to fill up their swimming pools.

Fact of the matter is that Malta has to reduce its extraction by 11 million cubic metres a year (or around 30% of current extraction) as from YESTERDAY if the aquifer is to continue to exist.

Marco Cremona

Jan 23rd 2010, 19:19

@ Paul Barrett. My point re. earthquake was to illustrate the very vulnerable situation we are getting into if/when we lose our strategic water resource that is the aquifer. If (or rather when) the aquifer becomes useless because of salinization (a result of over-extraction), we would become completely dependent on desalinization - which in turn requires a clean source of sea water and an uninterrupted and reliable source of electricity. Any situation that results in the interruption of RO production of more than 48 hours (delay in fuel supplies to power station, power outage, oil spill in the seas around Malta, major problem in the RO plant itself etc.) would plunge the country into a situation of no fresh water, anywhere. Malta has only 2 days storage of freshwater....that's not even enough time to mobilise a supply of water by water tankers from sicily. Imagine having a population of 400,000 + tourism + industry without fresh water. Terrifying !

Paul Smith

Jan 23rd 2010, 19:09

Over the next decade, oil will become very very expensive, $250 to $300 a barrel, maybe even higher. By 2014 the world will need to find 20 million barrels of extra oil a day just to stand still (just to produce the 85 million barrels the world uses a day) The IEA Says that oil demand will increase over the next decade and it will mainly increase in the middle east, the worlds largest oil suppliers and that is without BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) demand increases, 100% expect a situation where the price sky rockets and expect supply shortages driving you and i off the road. There is nothing quite like oil for it's energy density - if you think Tar sands and CTL will change this situation you are mistaken. Without massive investment in water capture and storage from rains, Malta's population of 400,000 + is unsustainable - FACT
This is the most important issue of the day for any government sitting in office - if you fail to do something about this situation - then plan to leave the island, i say this as a person that wants to see a sustainable island

E.Muscat

Jan 23rd 2010, 18:56

@F.Anderson:we need more engineers like Ing. M.Cremona to warn and tell us what is sustainable;we have far too many lawyers who pride themselves about knowing nothing about technology.
The Chinese people are making such great progress because in their politburo they have 9 engineers( out of 9).They have even been able to adapt communism to take in their stride capitalism and beating the west at its own game.
We basically need a partial technocratic government to enable us to live in a very technological world.Maybe it is time that a certain small percentage of ministers should be reserved for technocrats who have shown by their track record that they are competent.

Tony Stivala

Jan 23rd 2010, 17:14

Mark Bishop
I just returned from Potugal, and we experienced an eartquake (4.0 on the richter scale) while we were there. Each village have their own water tower and not a drop of rain water goes to waste. I have been told that The EU helped them building these towers. Mark, you know how much water goes to waste i.e in Sannat Gozo and Munxar and all of it ends up in the sea at Xlendi

Frank Anderson

Jan 23rd 2010, 17:12

Is Mr Cremona now comparing Malta to Haiti, which has been a failed state for most of its sad history? The comparision is ridiculous.

Mr Cremona is a water treatment engineer who is trying to sell Malta more sewage treatment pants which are neither sustainable nor so environmentally safe and may pose a long-term contamination threat to the aquifer.

In any case, such water treatment plants would be the first to fold in case of a devastating earthquake!

Mark Bishop

Jan 23rd 2010, 16:11

Do any quake-proof water towers or reservoirs even exist anywhere in the world that might remotely sustain this 'expert' opinion?

Jesmond Micallef

Jan 23rd 2010, 15:11

When I was at college in Malta during the late seventies, I remember during one of our biology classes, an exercise given to us by our teacher. We were to divise a sytem with which we could collect water from the surroundings. A fellow student of mine simply come up with the idea of a simple hemisphere made of glass which would then be placed over seawater. As the sun heats up the water surface, water evaporates, leaving the salt behind. This water vapour would then hit the glass surface and the water would start running down the side walls of the sphere. Channels on the side of the sphere would then collect this water and by means of suitable pipework directed towards a collection point.

I never forgot that really and tought it was pretty cool. Even our school teacher, Dr. Tano Rolle', thought so.

I just wonder why shouldn't natural evaporation be given a chance here. Its clean and nearly independent from any energy inputs.

Interesting reading, Mr. David Schembri, indeed Ing. Marco Cremona conitinues his struggle to make people aware of the very vital water situation in Malta !!

With my very best wishes.

James A. Tyrrell

Jan 23rd 2010, 14:27

@E.Muscat. Actually your figures are a bit off. Malta gets 60 per cent of its water from reverse osmosis and the percentage of electricity devoted to this process is 7 per cent not 25. By the way those figures come from Professor Charles V Sammut of the University of Malta in case you were worried it was some British thing.

Karl Axisa

Jan 23rd 2010, 13:50

"The hydrologist added that even though the law laid down that every building had to have a well, only about 10 per cent of units built in the last 10 years had one".


This comes as no surprise. I live in a block of maisonettes built by the Housing Authority way back in 2000/2001. On paper the plans stated that there had to be a reservoir beneat the block that collects at least 60% of rain water from our roof tops. But alas, this reservoir was not to be. When through concern, HA personel were queried about this, I never got a satisfactory reply. Thanks to whoever was involved in building this block and to whoever was involved in supervising the building of this block, we have to fork out money for water that is potable and produced through an expensive means of extraction....to amongst other things flush it down the drain, when good quality rain water is left to drain out in the street. Attempts to make provisions for a reservoir after the building was ready proved very expensive.

Mr. Cremona, we excell in wasting resources...and it seems that for some weird reasons we are proud of doing so.

Charles Micallef

Jan 23rd 2010, 13:06

Aquifers in Malta are abused by the sector of our community who can afford to pay for it and this is done with the authorities' blessings, some are even allowed to extract (steal it) it and then sell it on at exhorbitant prices, imagine if this was done with electricity supply and you will then see the authorities coming down hard (rightly so) on this sector who at the end of the day cannot afford to pay for it...one law for one and another for the less well off!

E.Muscat

Jan 23rd 2010, 12:03

Malta gets 75 per cent of its water from reverse osmosis:how many reverse osmosis plants did Haiti have?We are more at risk from oil becoming very expensive since 25 per cent of our electricity is used by the reverse osmosis plants and/or a massive oil spillage near Malta that will foul up the intake of the reverse osmosis plants.
That said Mr.M Cremona is very right in insisting that we must recover all the water from sewage for use for agricultural purposes.We must also insist that all new houses must have a well and that water reservoirs should be dug under roundabouts both for water storage and flooding control.
Get the immigrants to do it instead of wasting their time at the Valletta terminus and the Marsa roundabouts and bleeding us dry in the process!Tell them they must set up a small work co-operative under the supervision/instruction of maltese workers.

Paul Barrett

Jan 23rd 2010, 12:01

Quote: What would happen if an earthquake struck and our water supply was cut? If our aquifer was intact, Unquote.

There is a very big IF as an earthquake the size of the one that hit Haiti would be unlikely to leave the aquifer untouched - if indeed we still had an island at all.

That apart, there is a lot of sense in what has been said in the article and it is a criminal waste that so much rainwater goes straight back into the sea. As for the building regulations regarding wells - why on earth the rules were not enforced I really do not know; even for flats, well water could be used for the common parts and washing of cars etc. Good rules made by sensible law-makers totally ignored.

S.Darmanin

Jan 23rd 2010, 11:55

And Coca Cola have been awarded an environment award... for extracting tonnes of cubic water per year for free!