Malta's water resources extremely low
Issues concerning water quality and quantity are being tackled in the Water Catchment Management Plan, launched today between the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and the Malta Resources Authority
The plan includes measures aimed to improve the quality of water, especially ground water.
It notes that most of the water in reservoirs was impossible to reach a good status by the EU’s 2015 targets because of salinity and nitrates.
Water took 40 years to filter itself to the water table and the directive too this into account, pushing back Malta’s deadline to 2027, Manuel Sapiano, from the MRA said.
While ground nitrates would be reduced, more fresh water would be pumped into the water table.
The plan also proposed incentives for rain water harvesting, the restoration of dams and valleys.
Environment Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said that while Malta’s available rate of water per capita was 58 metres cubed, the EU considered 2,000 metres cubed per capita as ‘very low water resources’.
This was a very ambitious plan for Malta and a lot of its success depended on individual cooperation
Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino noted that the €56 million flood relief project, which had been taken in hand, would double the amount of stored water in Malta.
Sewage treatment plant water, he said, was being tested in a pilot project to see if this could be used to replenish the aquifer. This should increase the amount of water in the water table by 11 million cubic metres a year.
Mr Pullicino said that there were political decisions which have to be taken.
If the Water Services Corporation, for example, had to be told to stop using water from the aquifer and rely exclusively on reverse osmosis plants, it would cost households an additional €9 million a year in water bills. The decision not to opt for such a measure had been taken, he said.
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J. Falzon
Mar 23rd 2011, 06:27
Wait, so a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea has water shortage? Even the sentence is ridiculous...
Joe Grech
Mar 23rd 2011, 01:12
''Mr Pullicino said that there were political decisions which have to be taken.''
Mr. Pullicino, the Hon. Prime Minister, Cabinet and indeed also the Opposition ALL KNOW that Malta's national water is being literally stolen through illegal boreholes. Speculation, environmental degradation, dry rot.
However, afraid that corrective measures will cost them VOTES the political parties are not willing to correct this awesome, barefaced illegality. Political decisions indeed! Shame on all those who look the other way as all this goes on and on. How can we take George Pullicino's flippant way of looking at this enormous issue?
We are bound to end up with no potable water left sooner rather than later What will happen then Hon. Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition? Simple: set up more osmosis plants - and fleece the entire population. Just let the speculators get away with the robbery that is going on! Shame on those taking these so called ''political decisions''!
William Smith
Mar 23rd 2011, 00:40
Why should we invest in enhancing that water table. First we need to stop the abuse from private water bousers from stealing our water and selling it for their own profit. I live at Merhba street Fgura where there are at least three garages with illegal bore holes. Which on daily basis water is continuasly being pumped and sold. And now the government is planning to replenish the water table so that these abusers will have there income guaranteed and in the meantime I have to continue paying inflated water bills.
I hope that this is being taken into consideration.
Mario Desira
Mar 22nd 2011, 22:33
Although I have repeated my suggestions countless times I repeat them again here.....but it seems in this island ideas are more dried up than water!
1 Use lined quarries as a reservoir to feed surround fields (once personally suggested to Minister Pullicino).
2 Develop technology powered by solar energy to extract water from thin air.......i.e. solar powered dehumidifiers to extract the water that surrounds us everywhere.
3 Feasibility study to see if we can use oil rig technology to bore for fresh water in acquifiers under the seabed.
4 Use solar panels in sea/seashore areas, even on purpose-made sea-crafts to extract potable water from sea water.
5 Enforce the ancient law whereby every house must have a well.
6 Introduce secondary plumbing for floor washing, flushing etc
7 Harvest rain water instead of building tunnels to throw it away into the sea!
8 Ban baths longer than four feet and encourage japanese style baths and showers.
9 Create channels for rainwater into the rocks.
10 Contingency plan for oil slick pollution - one oil slick and kiss water goodbye!
Alfred Cassar
Mar 22nd 2011, 22:05
I wonder how many of those commenting in here are doing their part to alleviate this problem.
Do you know that there is a law stating clearly that every household (where possible obviously) must build a well to catch rain water. If everybody abided by that law the problem of lack of water would have been much smaller.
I use rain water for almost all my everyday needs for a period of 3 to 5 months a year, depending on the yearly rainfall.
Eto Demerzel
Mar 22nd 2011, 20:20
Excuse my ignorance, I remember hearing somewhere that treated waste water contains high levels of salts, not to mention other organics from detergents, toilet sanitisers and other chemicals such as medicines, or unused pesticides.
Is this water going to be used for recharge?
The majority of chemicals might be degraded in the treatment plant but how are salts going to be managed?
regards.
carmelo borg
Mar 22nd 2011, 23:39
Bil makkinarju li hawn illum facli w mallajr jithaffru jibjuni kbar fejn hemm inzul bhal per ezempju in-nizla tar-Rabat tan -Naxxar tal-Mosta tal-wied ta Birkirkara u hafna ohrajn. Dawn il-qieh tahhom jkun anke imtaqqab bore holes biex b'hekk l-ilma ma jibqax sejjer fil bahar imma jinzel gol-water table. Anke dawk il water galleys li jkun hemm mal gnub tat-toroq kull tant tul jkun hemm bore holes biex ukoll jiskula fil-water table immagina kemm insalvaw ilma tax-xita milli jibqa sejjer il bahar.
Claire Busuttil
Mar 22nd 2011, 20:02
Missu ilu li sar pjan nazzjonali, ghal gbir ta ilma tax xita.....imma hawn kollox bid delay....
Joseph E Briffa
Mar 22nd 2011, 18:42
The Eur9 million a year rise in water bills is peanuts; it is a measly Eur60 per household. If the figures quoted are correct and if my arithmetic is not in any way flawed, I can't understand for the life of me why a decision has been taken against stopping the pumping of water from the acquifer for some time. . This would have done wonders for the acquifer; and the costs to households is negligible. I have a lurking suspicion that the figures quoted are not correct: if, on the other hand, they are correct I am sorry to say that the political decision that has been taken is indeed absurd.
M.Camilleri
Mar 22nd 2011, 18:11
The topic isn't new and we are as much to blame as our governments as we hold the parties vote in ransom against any change, an example is the hike in water bills which still don't reflect the true price of the resource. Change requires investment and commitment. In the mean time there are loads of things we can all do that would have more impact than any single decision taken by the government.... http://eartheasy.com/live_water_saving.htm
http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/index.php
GiovDeMartino
Mar 22nd 2011, 17:41
The great Dom told us what to do some 30 years ago. If we did what he said we would have solved the problem for good. His solution? Build stone cisterns on the roof...he told us!
Marco Cremona
Mar 22nd 2011, 18:48
I find it disgusting that you use this opportunity to ridicule somebody who's bed-ridden and unable to respond. At least Dom Mintoff, with all his defects, had sustainable concepts in his mind and did what he preached - yes, he built a reservoir one storey below the roof, to save the electrical energy needed to distribute the water within the house. What's there to ridicule? What have you ever proposed with regards to water sustainability, Mr. DeMartino? For the record, way back in 1983, Dom Mintoff also had the foresight to build a wastewater treatment plant (Sant Antnin) to use treated sewage effluent for irrigation in the south of Malta. Indeed, agriculture in the south largely exists because of this renewable source of water. And what about the tens of roadside reservoirs and soakaways which prevent flooding and enhance groundwater recharge built in the 1970s? And the fact that Dom Mintoff introduced reverse osmosis technology in 1982 on which we still depend (I say over-depend) today. I am not a supporter of Dom Mintoff, but probability no other politician in Malta comes close to his vision on water sustainability.
C Scerri
Mar 22nd 2011, 19:35
Intant kulhadd bit-tankijiet fuq il-bejt baqa fl-2011.....
Ahjar jghidilina meta se jaghmel xi haga sura fuq din il-problema mhux kollna vizjonijiet u azzjoni XEJN.
Joseph Carmel Chetcuti
Mar 23rd 2011, 05:19
Well, we in Australia are encouraged to have water tanks on properties. Why does it always have to go back to Mintoff? Because he put you little shits in your place and no leader has come anywhere near him. The ruling elite in Malta enjoy the spoils while the country suffers.
GiovDeMartino
Mar 23rd 2011, 11:27
Of course Mintoff did what he preached! He labelled himself as professors of democracy and we all know what kind of democracy we had then!
Mintoff did a lot to solve the problem: He gave us a telephone no where we could contact the water bowser!
He also threatened to dismantle the desalinasation plants and sent them at the door of the Minister.
I do hope that all readers know that tanks on the roofs are not filled directly from heavens.
Marco Cremona
Mar 23rd 2011, 16:06
@ GiovDemartino
I repeat - What have you ever proposed with regards to water sustainability, Mr. DeMartino? With the benefit of hindsight as to Dom Mintoff's mistakes, what are YOU proposing with respect to water management? Very easy and convenient to be an armchair critic isn't it (Not that you're good at that either!) ?
F. Borg
Mar 22nd 2011, 17:16
It is a matter of priorities. In the past our forefathers preferred to cultivate the valley beds as they are good breadbaskets. Had they transformed the valleys into artificial rivers like Chadwick Lakes, rain water would have been harvested and today we would not have ended up with built up valleys and empty aquifers. May be Msida, in this perspective, would have become our Venice and not our Problem.
This problem has been with us since time immemorial and now because of the E.U. things are gaining momentum. I just hate the management by crises strategy!
Antoine Vella
Mar 22nd 2011, 20:38
F.Borg, valleys are not 'artificial rivers" they are natural ones. And the Chadwick lakes are not a river.
Moreover, deep narrow valleys were never cultivated intensively because they are not "breadbaskets" at all. In fact you would not be able to grow any cereals in them.
Edward Mallia
Mar 22nd 2011, 17:15
Minister Pullicino always takes care to remind us that 'there are political decisions to be taken'. However, the ones he mentions are usually the wrong ones. I have never heard of anybody suggesting that WSC stop using borehole water. But I have heard 'suggestions' that private sales of borehole water should be stopped as that represents misuse of public property. After all overpumping is a major cause of salinity increase. But that is one political decision Minister Pullicino has run away from. Other politcal decisions have been taken: for instance the siting of the Cumnija sewage treatment plant in a place far removed from potential use of second class water for agriculture. 'You need energy to pump the water over the hill to Pwales' was the anguished cry of Minister Augustine Gatt, the person directly reponsible for the siting for easy disposal into the sea. Speaking of Minister Gatt, has he decided to reprieve the Miziep water table, threatened by his Ten-T network road tunnel? Come to think of it, Cumnija treated water can be pumped through a tunnel to Miziep, avoiding Minister Gatt's uphill.
Antoine Vella
Mar 22nd 2011, 20:32
Prof Mallia, the comments section is not the right place to discuss the siting of the sewage treatment plants so i won't go into the matter at length but I can tell you that you and your friends should think much harder about the implications of what you suggest. You need to let go of preconceived ideas and look at the matter more rationally and, to use a buzzword, 'holistically'.
The siting of the plants was actually the best decision that could be made.
Astrid Vell1
Mar 22nd 2011, 21:36
The mistake of siting the sewage treatment plant at ic-Cumnija, beyond Mellieha, was repeatedly pointed out by Marco Cremona during the planning stage. He stressed all along that it should be close to end-users of 2nd class water, like the farmers at Miziep. Sure enough our best brains on this matter were ignored (as was always the case, thankfully now changing), and now we're told that it's too far to pump it back to the farmers. How Antoine Vella can conclude that "The siting of the plants was actually the best decision that could be made." is a mystery.
I also need help understanding "Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino noted that the €56 million flood relief project, which had been taken in hand, would double the amount of stored water in Malta." At the MEPA session I attended we were told that the project as presently proposed makes no provision for water storage which MAY (or may not) come at a later stage. So far all that's planned is to throw the storm-water in the sea at Ta' Xbiex. So where does doubling the amount of stored water come into it?
Marco Cremona
Mar 22nd 2011, 23:45
@ Antoine Vella.
"The siting of the plants was actually the best decision that could be made." Made in the context of what? On what criteria is this claim based? Economic ? Financial? Sustainability? Environmental? Or because we cannot think outside the box? and couldn't think beyond what the EU Urban Water Directive obllges us to do - when as Hon. Mario DeMarco correctly pointed out we only have 58 m3/capita/day or renewable water sources when Europeans consider any country having less than 2,000 m3/cap/day as a country suffering from 'water scarcity' ?
It is probably one of the least 'holistic' decision ever taken in the history of water management in the country.
r.camilleri
Mar 22nd 2011, 17:14
@ Franco Farrugia.
Sur. Franco jien nghidlek mhux il-Caps li kiteb bihom sehiebna huma paztazata, imma dak kollu li kellna u tkisser f'dan l-ahhar 20 sena , kollox isir minghajr hsieb u hadd mhu Accountable ta' xejn.
Jesmond Micallef
Mar 22nd 2011, 17:08
This overall development is extremely positive and congratulate the Government of Malta for the ongoing efforts in this regard. I am still curious about what the end energy balance looks like here too, if I may. The RO plants which will reintroduce the reclaimed water from the sewage system still need an energy supply eventhough one understands that the aim here is to preserve the acquifer for future generations. Still, whatever the energy case maybe, sewage water needs energy input for it to be reclaimed back into the acquifer. This whole new scenario is still in its infancy and further development will ensue with the passage of time. Its one bold step in the right direction, but one which needs to be taken and so I wholeheartedly wish these ongoing efforts full success. Nice to read and hear Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino talk about these vital interventions. Well done, no doubt about it.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101207/local/pilot-project-aims-at-recharging-the-aquifer
http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/features/story.aspx?id=320
Robert Calafato
Mar 22nd 2011, 16:56
If my memory serves me well, the short lived Labour Government of 1996 had drawn up a national storm water collection plan. Why was it not implemented?
mar cunning
Mar 22nd 2011, 16:40
watch jame's bonds quantum solace
Claude Lacoste
Mar 22nd 2011, 16:12
For agricultural use of water, it would, perhaps, digging ditches along roads and fields and, indeed, transforming old quarries into water supplies.
C.N.AQUILINA
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:50
SINJURI TAR-RISORSI TA’ L-ILMA, INSELLMILKOM,
TAFU LI IN-NAĦAT TAS-SIĠĠIEWI, IL-QRENDI, U L-IMQABBA HEMM NUMRU KBIR TA’BARRIERI TAL-FRANKA LI L-ĠEBLA MINNHOM DIĠA ĠIET ESTRATTA KOLLHA U ISSA QED JINDRADMU?
TAFU LI DAWN FAĊILMENT JISTGĦU JINTLEW BL-IMA TAX-XITA u LI JIBQA JISKULA U JISSAFFA SAKEMM JISPIĊĊA NADIF LEST GĦAX-XORB FIL-MINI TA’ TA KANDIA?
TAFU LI DAWN IL-MINI TA TA’ KANDIA JINSABU EŻATT TAĦT DAWN IL-BARRIERI?
GĦALLURA GĦALFEJN SER INKOMPLU NORDMU DAWN IL-BARRIERI ĠIBJUNI U NARMU L-ILMA TAX-XITA FIL-BAĦAR?
DAN MHUX DNUB SAGRILEĠ LI ALLA MA JRIED LILL ĦADD JAGĦMLU, GĦAX IMUR KONTRA L-INTERESSI U L-ĠID KOMUNI TA’ L-UMANITA?
JEW HEMM XI GUSTUS LI JAQBILLU PERSONALMENT IŻJED, LI DAWN IL-BARRIER LI ĦADU IS-SNIN BIEX TĦAFRU, ISSA JINTRADMU?
ONOREVOLI DR DEMARCO IDĦOL PERSONALMENT U HU ĦSIEB INVESTIGA, U ARA LI DAN IL-POTENZJAL TA’ DAWN IL-BARRIERI PROVIDENZJALI JINTUŻAW FL-AĦJAR INTERESS TA’ MALTA U L-MALTIN! GRAZZI
Franco Farrugia
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:57
Tista' forsi, jekk joghgbok, tnehhi dawk il-CAPS? Pastazata kbira li tikteb kumment shieh hekk. Ikber u tghallem, jekk joghgbok.
Anthony Formosa
Mar 22nd 2011, 16:53
@ Franco Farrugia, Pastazata kbira hija l-hela ta ilma tax-xita u mhux il-caps, pastazata kbira hija l'istorja ta "jekk tkisser sewwi" li tant fahhart int. Jekk joghogbok tilghabix tas-surmast grazzi, sewwa jaghmel jikteb caps forsi xi darba xi hadd jisma ghax hawn kullhadd trux.
Antoine Vella
Mar 22nd 2011, 17:20
It is not at all easy to turn quarries into water reservoirs. First of all, disused quarries are being used for agricultural purposes, after being partly filled with rubble and topsoil.
The rubble now being placed in quarries would have to be placed somewhere else: another landfill.
Thirdly, it is very costly to transport water from places like Msida valley and Marsa to the Qrendi area. How is the floodwater going to be collected and transported?
With all due respect, C.N,Aquilina,technical solutions and decisions should be left to trained technical personnel. You probably have good intentions (apart from your sorry attempt to invent some 'ulterior motive' story) but very poor understanding of the situation.
Marco Cremona
Mar 23rd 2011, 00:08
@Antoine Vella.
You absolutely baffle me. You say that "it is very costly to transport water from places like Msida valley and Marsa to the Qrendi area" but then you say in Prof.Mallia's post that "the siting of the(sewage treatment) plants was actually the best decision that could be made".
For the benefit of who's not informed on the subject-matter, the powers that be decided to treat 90%of Malta's sewage in a single sewage-treatment-plant at one end of Malta, when Malta's agricultural land lies at the other end.This plant had the potential to provide 20 million cubic-metres of treated effluent in all-year-round, whereas stormwater is only available in winter when agriculture doesn't need water. For all this water to be used we now will need to pump it all the way back to Siggiewi and further. Agriculture needs (and today pumps up) 20 million cubic metres of water a year. Any secondary school student could have made 1 plus 1 together and come to the conclusion that agricultural water demand can only be met through the use of this alternative source of water, but this is beyond the intellect of "trained technical personnel" of the likes of AntoineVella.
Alfred Grech
Mar 23rd 2011, 01:07
Antoine, unfortunately the "trained technical personnel" don't seem to have a solution and/or knowledge so suggestions from the public should not be ignored and discarded.
A lot of rain water ends up in the sea. So far no one has been able to find a way how to catch a big chunk of it.
Antoine Vella
Mar 23rd 2011, 12:41
Marco Cremona, someday I'll get round to writing an article about the siting of the sewage treatment plants.
Antoine Vella
Mar 23rd 2011, 12:42
When I mentioned trained professional personnel I was not referring to myself.
DVella
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:48
OH DEAR what a surprise . . ! I wonder if MRA, MRRA AND MEPA have just woken up but there are learned people that have been saying this for more than a decade and these esteemed institutions never listened . . . . actually, come to think of it, I seem to remember that they did more ignore the warnings, they actually attempted repeatedly to ridicule and discredit the persons putting forward the thesis . . . !
Good luck gentlemen and well done! If it were not for the pompous idiots that ignored the warnings and tried to rubbish the warnings by peoople who knew what they were talking about we wouldn't be in such a lousy predicament today . . .!
P Sciberras
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:36
We have been hearing about the water situation in Malta for years,but it stops there.Then we have to fork more money to pay our our water usage. MEANWHILE, the selling of our ground water by the bowsers,is already going in full swing.
Alfred Grech
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:27
It's time the government finds a way to collect and conserve the bulk of rainwater that ends up in the sea.
jesmond zammit
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:26
mhux bilfors jekk qatt ma sar xejn f dal pajjiz bis serjeta. anzi tara xi cucata bhal wied ta hal qormi bit tarmak kif tridu jaghaddi l ilma . marco cremona ilu jghid , bla hadd jaghati kasu anzi kwazi gie mzeblah minn min suppost jaf ahjar. kollox mituq ,management by crisis.
RMangion
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:21
The plan also proposed incentives for rain water harvesting, the restoration of dams and valleys
About timmmme we are in 2011
Paul Barrett
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:08
Quote: If the Water Services Corporation, for example, had to be told to stop using water from the aquifer and rely exclusively on reverse osmosis plants, it would cost households an additional €9 million a year in water bills. The decision not to opt for such a measure had been taken, he said. Unquote.
Apart from the unknown possible rise on fuel for reverse osmosis, the €9 million a year in water bills works I believe works out to roughly €20 per head per year. As my TV Licence is currently due for payment (€ 55.90) I would rather have clean water and ditch the TV. Another plus to that of course is I would not then need Melita Cable and would be better off by yet another € 359.82 per year. Mmmm all a mater of priorities - I could afford to have a bath - whether I needed one or not LOL.
Claude Lacoste
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:02
You can recharge the groundwater by treated sewage and collected rainwater ... instead of sending the precious water to the sea.
Paul Bezzina
Mar 22nd 2011, 14:45
Did I hear correctly on the news last week, when the news caster announced that the government was planning a tunnel to channel off storm water from the B'Kara and Naxxar area and dump it in the sea at Ta Xbiex through this tunnel? Cannot such a tunnel be drilled to throw storm water into Wied L Isperanza ( Mosta- Burmarrad) or Wied is Sewda (Siggiewi -Qormi) , but these have to be properly dammed so that water is not lost to the sea.!
E Galea
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:25
Mosta is on higher grounds. You will need large pumps to transfer that amount of water to higher grounds since by gravity it would move towards the sea. Nevertheless, I agree with you. The problem is the capacity of the pumps needed and their efficiency.
joseph degabriele
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:47
Same is happening from zabbar to m'scala.A tunnel is being dug from m'scala road to the sea between m'scala and xghajra.When shall we start digging large underground reservoirs??
Joe
Stefano Cremona
Mar 22nd 2011, 14:43
BONGU MALTA!!!!
My brother, Ing. Marco Cremona has been harping on for over a decade about this problem but obviously the people with the ability to take decisions always ignored him.
Maybe finally something will be done about this mess.
P.S. Do you recall him telling the government that the sewage treatment plant should not throw treated water into the sea.... issa x'se jigri?
C Gatt
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:29
"the people with the ability to take decisions always ignored him."
Therein lies the problem: incompetent and/or couldn't-care-less people taking short-cut decisions (or no decisions) because a) it is safer ( quote: isn't that what my predecessor did? unquote), b) its less work (quote: let someone else do the thinking tomorrow, after all I probably won't be around anyway, unquote) and c) they don't have to face the music later as their backsides will be covered by those around them (quote: you scratch my back or I won't scratch your unquote)
And the best news is you can see it happen in all sectors: education, vat department, the legal sector, the irresponsible private sector, etc.
Alfred Grech
Mar 22nd 2011, 15:30
Your brother is Maltese and he offered his advice for free so it won't satisfy the authorities. He has to be a foreigner charging thousands of euros in order that his advice will be considered.
Raymond Cutajar
Mar 23rd 2011, 06:08
On parallel lines ;Serious air pollution, mainly by trucks and cars on the road.
Camouflaged talks and as they say bla bla bla and still those responsabile still at their undeserved posts after years of proof that for example one of the real issue of the VRT was to tackle exhaust gas smoke /emissions.
The in intr. of the smoke alert SMS issue is proof of that and still LTD / TM managed to mock it with imunity and complete disregard to whoever was responsabile to launch it Pathetic
And heads instead of rolling are allowed to ignore the inteligence of the p!ublic
"Hallihom huma jgergru u ahna naghmlu li RRIDU "
that is the norm of public service tragically so far
Here both issues can literally be touched , their negative affects are being felt on a daily basis and those responsabile are Never made to answer and dealth with accordingly
This clearly shows lack of professionalism at the highest level of Governance