Explaining the steps being taken by the government in the management of water resources, Minister George Pullicino said that 34 million cubic metres of water were extracted annually from the aquifer, mostly by the Water Services Corporation. The gravity of the situation could be gauged by remarking that the aquifer could really afford only 28 million cubic metres.

Mr Pullicino said water management had to be the result of a team effort. On becoming responsible for resources he had explicitly ordered the continuation of the borehole registration project started by Labour Minister Charles Buhagiar in 1998. The combined result had yielded over 8,000 boreholes.

After their registration, the second step was to ensure that all water bowser suppliers must have a specific licence from the Malta Resources Authority, with a tracking system on every bowser to show where water was being extracted from and where it was being taken, as well as volume. This system, supervised at all times, would eventually give a complete picture of what was really happening.

The government was currently having talks with the GRTU in representation of the bowser owners, but it would never allow the theft of a national resource that had been going on for several years with nobody doing anything about it.

It was everybody's duty to have a system safeguarding the common wealth, said Mr Pullicino.

The government was in complete agreement with Mr Buhagiar that registration of boreholes must be followed up with the installation of meters to calculate extraction. This was already being done.

The first priority was to meter commercial boreholes, of which 23 had already been metered as Mr Pullicino spoke.

Farmers might not have understood that boreholes on soil were exempt from having metres if there were no pumps extracting more than one cubic metre of water a day.

All other boreholes, which made up the vast majority, must have meters installed. But the government had also been careful to exempt water extraction by farmers if it was for their crops.

The installation costs of meters for farmers' boreholes were being footed by an EU programme. The government would also halve the combined cost of their electricity meters to €250.

Mr Pullicino said the government wanted to arrive at a formula with each farmer to reach a quota according to the expanse of land he tilled. Farmers' claims in this respect could be monitored by satellite, and their water needs would be calculated according to the crops.

If a farmer was found to be extracting water not just for his agricultural needs but also for commercial purposes, his extraction would no longer be free because he would be using vital resources belonging to the people.

He disagreed with the opposition's spokesman on agriculture, Joseph Sammut, who had written in l-orizzont that farmers stood to suffer with the new system. No honest farmer extracting water for his crops would suffer, he said.

A new national policy in the water management sector would soon be issued for public consultation.

On the use of waste water, Mr Pullicino said a pilot project was being prepared for the waste water plant at Ras il-Ħobż, in Gozo, to allow farmers to use treated water while recharging the water table.

As far as sewage was concerned, Malta would be the first Mediterranean signatory of the Barcelona protocol that would be fully compliant with the full treatment of waste water before discharging it into the sea. This was being done because the government was committed to much more than words.

A wider programme was being prepared for the treatment of sewage effluent for farmers in upper Malta. A plant at Qammieħ would be polishing the water to make it available for farmers. The use of this waste water also called for a programme of action, and Malta was in talks with other countries to learn from their experience.

On storm water, Mr Pullicino said Mepa had already issued two permits for the reduction of problems at the Żebbuġ component and at Marsa and Qormi. Two other applications, one for Xgħajra and Marsascala and one for Birkirkara, Balzan, Msida and Ta' Xbiex, were still pending.

The government was really addressing the problems of the valleys, even though there were still irresponsible people who continued to vandalise the system.

Concrete action was also being taken on the level of nitrates in the aquifer. A national plan of action to tackle this problem had been launched with stakeholders just a few days ago. Malta was now suffering from the use of bad fertilisers up to 40 years ago. The new plan would soon be issued for consultation.

Concluding, Mr Pullicino said the government was working for a national consensus to safeguard the resource of water for future generations.