Private sector extracting 40,000 litres of water from boreholes...per minute

(Adds ministry's statement)

The private sector is extracting 40,000 litres of groundwater per minute, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and this all for free, the Malta Water Association said this morning.

In a statement, it said that the apparent lack of a clear government policy on the control and metering of private water boreholes was a major concern.

The association, launched in March this year, is made up of  water professionals who have got together in an effort to raise awareness of water issues in Malta.

It said that groundwater has, for the past years, been exploited well beyond sustainable levels of extraction.

Groundwater was generally less expensive to produce than desalinated water and it was therefore the Water Services Corporation's duty to exploit this natural resource to the benefit of water consumers, provided that the resource was managed sustainably.

The association said it was, however, deeply concerned on the apparent lack of a clear government policy on the control and metering of private water boreholes.

"A clear example is the indication given by the Ministry of Resources and Rural Affairs that all boreholes had to be registered by 2010, while the Malta Resources Authority issued letters to 200 registered borehole owners to close them."

There are presently 7,800 registered boreholes but only 109 have been metered.

"Still, it is clear that the extraction of groundwater by private consumers today exceeds the level being extracted by the WSC. The private sector is extracting 40,000 litres of groundwater per minute, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and this all for free..."

The MWA said it was deeply concerned about such over-exploitation of free groundwater for commercial purposes, and the matter was clearly not being given urgent attention by the government.

It proposed a plan of action to address this situation including the immediate closure of all non-agricultural boreholes and the metering of all agricultural boreholes by 2012 to fine-tune estimates for agricultural water demand.

Another proposal is for investment in 'polishing' plants at all three waste water treatment plants aiming to achieve five million cubic meters of polished effluent per year by 2015, increasing to 15-20 million cubic meters per year in the long term.

This would be accompanied in the necessary infrastructure so that this water could be used in agriculture and industry.   

It said that a National Agricultural Policy should immediately be drawn up to establish, among other things, irrigation requirements.

"The MWA is of the opinion that there cannot be an effective comprehensive National Water Policy without a National Agricultural Policy.

"Urgent measures are needed to control and manage the already alarming over-extraction of groundwater," it said.

Installations of meters in farmers' boreholes to start soon

The installations of free meters in boreholes owned by farmers and growers is due to start following the installation of metres to commercial boreholes, the Rural Affairs Ministry said.

It said in a statement that farmers and growers would be getting their metre free of charge as this would be financed through EU funds under the Rural Development Programme.

The government wanted farmers and growers to have a sustainable guarantee of water without agriculture being badly affected because of these measures.

The monitoring process of what was really being extracted would help so that quotas would eventually be worked out for the sector permitting sustainable extraction. In this regard, farmers and growers would benefit from substantial savings on the meter rental.

The ministry said that in the past 20 years the WSC had reduced underground water extraction through investment in the improvement of infrastructure reducing water losses from 1,020 m3 per hour in 2004 to 460 m3 per hour last year.

Water production through the reverse osmosis was also reduced from around 30 million metres3 a year to around 17 million m3 a year.

The ministry noted that drainage was already being treated before it was dumped into the sea and the fovernment was committed to use the second class water produced in this process. Pilot studies were currently being held on the quality of this water and how this could again be used in a sustainable manner.