Update 2: Hospital reservoir 'violates permit conditions'

(Adds Mater Dei's reaction)

AMater Dei Hospital reservoir in an outside development zone at Wied Ghollieqa was not built according to permits, it was revealed this morning.

The case came to light when the Mepa board discussed and turned down an application by a villa owner for the rescheduling of the valley so that he could build a swimming pool in his back garden within the valley.

The hospital reservoir is located near the back garden.

The Mepa case officer said that although a permit had been issued for the reservoir, construction had not followed the permit conditions.

He said the reservoir was meant to be underground, and it was not. Furthermore, the reservoir was bigger than laid down in the permit, and the boundaries were not respected.

He said the matter had been referred to the Mepa enforcement section.

The board also approved a full development application for the construction of a distribution centre at SmartCity Malta.

The centre will connect the keen Delimara high tension cable to SmartCity for the provision of the necessary power.

MATER DEI'S REACTION

In a statement, Mater Dei said that the information that emerged from this morning’s hearing at Mepa was rather surprising in that the Foundation for Medical Services never received any notification from the authority to this effect; let alone any enforcement notices - and this during both the development and post-development stages.

The information as reported, the hospital said, could alsoalso have been misleading in that the reservoir in question wasnot a ‘water-containment reservoir’ but is a specialised soak-away retention basin designed to temporarily retain rainwater; filter it naturally; and recharge the water back into the water-table.

This soak-away retention basin is licensed and directly contributes towards Malta’s sea-level aquifer, the hospital said.

Mater Di Hospital has an additional five underground incoming mains-water reservoirs. Four of these (which have a collective capacity of 2, 870m3 ) are used for potable water. The fifth reservoir (with a capacity of 600m3) feeds the hospital’s fire-fighting installations including sprinklers; hose-reels; and hydrants.

In the meantime the Foundation for Medical Services has contacted Mepa to seek further clarification on the issue.