'Ignored' law on reservoirs to be enforced by January
The government is once again setting a deadline for the enforcement of a law on energy efficiency and reservoirs in buildings that has been ignored for several years.
One of the measures listed in the pre-Budget document states that all new residential and industrial developments must include a water reservoir proportionate with the building's size from January 2011.
"While the legislation for this measure already exists, it has, so far, been largely ignored. This situation will not be allowed to continue and the executive powers to enforce such legislation will be vested in the appropriate government entity," the pre-Budget document goes on.
According to the Resources Ministry, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority is meant to enforce energy efficiency laws related to buildings introduced in 2007.
However, with the Mepa reform, this responsibility will be passed on to the new Building Regulation Office, which will be given more powers to enforce and monitor the regulations.
The pre-Budget document points out that property developers are constantly trying to cut costs and maximise profits, at the expense of those who end up buying the properties.
"Tenants, who are usually not very well informed about energy-efficiency, end up footing the bills for the lack of resource-usage efficiency and face higher costs to retrofit than would otherwise have been the case had such items been embedded during the undertaking of the construction project. This is an area that the government would like to tackle."
Very few modern apartments have the facility of collecting rainwater, particularly because of maintenance inconvenience and ownership issues.
Even owners of many terraced and detached houses are more likely to opt for a garage or basement instead of investing in a cistern.
The lack of wells or cisterns contributes to the flooding problem because instead of finding its way into reservoirs, rainwater continues to flow to the streets, contributing to the overflowing of the sewage systems.
According to engineer and hydrologist Marco Cremona, the law must be enforced because Malta is so dependent on rainwater.
"If there is some form of disaster that halts our reverse osmosis plant, we will only have around two days of fresh water reserves."
He believes the government should consider providing subsidies to build wells, because in the long-run it will save money that would otherwise have to be spent on maintaining the flood protection system or subsidising the mains supply.
The best thing about storing rainwater is that it is clean and can be used immediately at source, without the need to treat it or transport it, he said, adding that a large percentage of treated water was lost during transportation.
He said that families could use up to 40 per cent of their daily water requirements from a reservoir.
18 Comments
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Sandro Agius
Oct 31st 2010, 23:24
Lili li haffirt il-bir minn buti kemm ser itini, jekk id-dar hija Maisonette tal-Gvern?
Peter Cardona
Aug 2nd 2010, 08:41
Let us hope that where there is water that nature provided us it will be protected specially from the Church and the Authorities
Joseph Magro
Aug 1st 2010, 21:33
About time....fl-ahhar stenbah xi hadd? And what about the Energy Performance Rating of Dwellings in Malta (EPRDM)? Hemm xi cans li jiccaqlaq xi haga jew kollox rieqed? Hallasna EUR800 ghall kors u s issa lanqas sinjal ta caqliqa! Basta ghamilna legal notice u haxxina l but ta 4 persuni.
Tippridkaw haga u taghmlu totalment bil kontra.
Imisskom tisthu
J S Borg
Aug 1st 2010, 19:31
The size of the well depends on the roof area and not the size of the building. It is roof area by 60cm.
One time a friend of mine was ordered by a so called building inspector to have the size of the reservoir according to the surface are of each and every room of the house, this amounted to the size of ta' Qali reservoir.
Paul Said
Aug 1st 2010, 19:20
If disaster halts our reverse osmosis plant we will only have two days of fresh water reserevs,!!!! water flowing from Ghajn Qasab Aquifer , you will find it every day the pure mounten produse portabel fresh water all year round
Maria Zammit
Aug 1st 2010, 16:10
I was in Gozo this weekend and yes what a SHAME about the cemetery being build in Nadur, more land being allocated to the departed then to the living!!!
Hope the Church wakes up NOW and not when the cemetery is finished and stops this waste of land and landscape for MONEY. Doesn't the Church know that
K Vella
Aug 1st 2010, 14:41
ONLY IN MALTA....amazing....a law which was ignored!!!
I hope that MEPA will not turn a blind eye on those cisterns which miracously turned into a living apartment. MEPA wake up and look around and you will find some surprises in our countryside,,,,and where are the NGOs???
lgalea
Aug 1st 2010, 14:07
Stembħu fl-aħħar Tantx tgħaġġlu.
James Polidano
Aug 1st 2010, 13:45
WATER, No living thing can servive without water,
Water has a unique surface tension and can flow upwards bringing nutrients to the top of very tall trees....
It would be a crime against nature if the Roman Catholic Church and Planning Authorities ruinning that place of Ghajn Qasab Valley with all is portabel spring water.
The Nadur Church, must learn through past mistakes, and stop that constraction of the Cemetery.
Johanna Pullicino
Aug 1st 2010, 13:39
part 2
When it comes to water conservation, the Knights did a lot. Before we try to reinvent the wheel, we shall go back and build on what we already have and use the resource to implement and actuate, before we reach a point of no return. We’re already rather late in the day since my grandfather, who passed away in 1982, used to voice his concerns about over extraction from the water-table since the quality of the water changed in his lifetime.
Johanna Pullicino
Aug 1st 2010, 11:58
Finally! The knights of St. John were already enforcing this LAW, but for many years we thought we were wiser.
It's very positive that Marco Cremona brought up the argument of flooding. For a while I used to live in a newly built up area, where we owned one of 3 wells in the whole neighbourhood. All the rainwater drained from the roofs of the mentioned neighbour contributes to the flooding in the area around San Anton Gardens and of course B'Kara Valley and not to forget to mention the drainage system. The irony of all this is that underneath the soil of the only remaining field in the area there are massive reservoirs. This field happens to belong to the joint office and these reservoirs are historical going back to the times of the Knights and are still in good condition to be used. Attard local council took the initiative to do a water culvert connected to the mentioned reservoirs, but unfortunately most of the water goes over the water culvert!!! This was of course reported!
C. Camilleri
Aug 1st 2010, 11:50
In a water thirsty country like Malta proper water management has become urgent.
We, farmers at Nadur,remind the MRA authorities to preserve and proctect the spring at Ghajn Qasab Valley, the only remaining natural safe spring water left in our village.
Water from this natural aquifer opens up into eleven strems collected into reservoirs and field wells, lately a New Cemetery project is being constracted on this water.
Maria Zammit
Aug 1st 2010, 11:48
The laws are there but the Authorities fail to enforce them rendering the work done by our predecessors futile. The we face a crisis and we suddenly wake up!!! Better now then later, but would have been better to enforce before. Had that been done we wouldn't have a problem we have to solve now!!!
And this about all laws!!! Traffic enforcement comes to mind, always not after an accident. That is what traffic police are for!
Ian Bugeja
Aug 1st 2010, 11:47
Unfortunately I don't think that this will result in any benefits. Many dwellings being built at the moment (usually apartments/flats) do have a well or water reservoir for the whole block and this is left there unused, since when you buy an apartment you won't get the ownership / use of this water reservoir.
joseph grech
Aug 1st 2010, 11:36
About time!! Fejn kien il-ministru koncernat mela dawn l-ahhar 20 sena? U x'kienu qed jghamlu l-enforcement officers u il-building inspectors tal-mepa matul dawn is-snin kollha minn meta twaqqfet il-mepa?
George Azzopardi
Aug 1st 2010, 11:24
Totally agree to be enforced .. moreover incentives to others who currently don't have should be made. Why are we so late and lack of ideas of such necessary things!!
tony abela
Aug 1st 2010, 11:22
About time too! After we have all these blocks of apartments all over Malta most of them empty.
The government should also ensure that the wells are not contaminated with drainage leakages and industrial waste. When I built my house in the 70's I ensured that I have a self sufficient water supply by constructing a large well, but today it is contaminated from Bulebell Industrial estate 2nd Class water leakages. Even within Zejtun Town I know of a number of persons who have their well contaminated, mainly due to drainage leakages due to lack of maintenance on the main sewage infrastructure.
Joseph E Briffa
Aug 1st 2010, 10:38
Finally! Very well done! ,,,,,When I had my house built I made sure that a cistern was included. I realise it cost me a packet but today I don't regret it. With a capacity of 95 000 litres and a surface area of 1/5 of the rooftop's, the cistern gets 5 times the amount of rain that falls on the rooftop i.e. 125mm for each 25mm of rainfall. An everage annual rainfall of 500mm of rain results in 2500mm in the cistern. This practically fills half the cistern, that is almost 50m3 of water.