Billing of groundwater - government says it will protect farmers

C.Agius

Sep 11th 2010, 14:38

" "This will be done through the allocation of quotas to individual farmers which will ensure that agricultural land has the sufficient allocation of water to remain sustainable," the Ministry said. "

Agricultural land would still HAVE sufficient allocation of water for sustainability if all of the ILLEGAL boreholes are closed for good. Why impose such a bill on farmers who have registered their boreholes long ago?

John Azzopardi

Sep 11th 2010, 13:40

What does the law say. Is underground water - 200- 600 feet deep part of your property or does it belong to the whole nation. Maybe, society needs to clearly define this. We know cases where in the US oil is found and people become instant millionaires even though the oil is deep in the ground.
My take on this is that underground resources belong to society as a whole and no one should be tempering and depleting this resource. Let's stop the abuse, do appropriate studies and take action. At the end of the day, there is a lot of abuse on the ground water and yes people should be billed for this water as it belongs to all Maltese citizens. However, my fear is that our Big EU brothers also want a cut from this. Europe is too greedy.

Mark Camilleri

Sep 11th 2010, 12:47

Why aren't farmers given incentives to use recycled water instead of extracting precious underground water for agriculture ?

Alfred Pace

Sep 11th 2010, 11:28

What about swimming pools filled with fresh water. this should be stopped like in the old days where pools had to be filled with sea water only, and this would save a lot good water going to waste.

P.Cassar

Sep 11th 2010, 10:37

BUT DON'T JUST PICK ON AGRICULTURE;
LET'S BE SERIOUS..............AS MRA AND GOVT KNOW THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF ILLEGAL BOREHOLES, ALL EXTRACTINGS BILLIONS OF LITRES OF WATER.
CAN THESE CARRY ON................ON OUR BILLS?????

Francis Buhagiar

Sep 11th 2010, 10:31

Is this the way the EU. is trying to solve the problem of water shortage. Do they think that by increasing the price of water in the water table will increase? If the EU. Really wants to improve the capacity of our underground water they should give us money to clean our valleys repair the reservoirs and create more water catchments.

l fenech

Sep 11th 2010, 10:05

Why didn't the government protect the home counsumers when the rates for electricity and water went skyhigh?

gcForte

Sep 11th 2010, 08:44

Quote........" The Ministry for Resources this evening referred to calls BY BRUSSELS for ...bla..bla..bla " without interfering the government with my comments, may I ask what are we going to celebrate in one weeks time ? WHAT !!!! Independence ? Ha...Ha...Ha.

J Fenech

Sep 11th 2010, 08:44

But doesn't this encourage illegal water extraction? Before billing I think it's better to ensure that there aren't any illegal boreholes first.