It is "shameful" that people were ignoring the law laying down that all houses should have wells and that some people extracted water from the ground illegally, seven-year-old Cherise Spiteri said in Parliament yesterday.

"I hope we won't have to come here next year and repeat the same things. Something needs to be done to save water... We are very serious as this is our future," she said in a tone of concerned determination one would not expect from a young girl with long plaits.

Her six-year-old friend, Kay Darmanin Farrell, agreed, adding: "We are doing our best to save water by collecting it at schools... If you (politicians) do not do anything we will suffer and it's not fair."

The girls, both attending St Ġorġ Preca College primary school, were among the students from various schools who shared their environmental concerns on climate change during the sixth edition of Eco School Parliament.

Focusing on the need for better water regulation, the girls echoed concerns raised earlier this year by former Water Services Corporation chairman Tancred Tabone who said the lack of political will was partially to blame for the unregulated over-extraction of groundwater.

About 11 million cubic metres of water are over-pumped from the aquifers annually. Malta has more than 8,000 registered boreholes and, possibly, a few thousand more that are unregistered.

Last year, the government issued new regulations to monitor bowsers transporting groundwater. The aim was to eventually regulate boreholes and install meters to curb abuse.

Students representing nine schools told MPs present that a lot had to be done to help the environment. They suggested information billboard campaigns on forms of alternative energy, encouraging people to save water and electricity and enforcing laws that prohibit illegal water extraction from the water table.

Nationalist MP Philip Mifsud stressed the fact that everyone's contribution, no matter how small, was important in ensuring a better environment.

"We need to get rid of the anything-goes mentality where people think that allowing their tap to drip or leaving their light bulb on will not impact the bigger picture," he said.

The Eco School programme, organised by Nature Trust, includes 102 participating schools from Malta and Gozo with more than 41,000 students as active participants.

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