Dingli, Rabat residents get water thanks to creative engineering

The water supply to areas in Dingli and Rabat continues to hinge on independent tests, following sabotage to a reservoir, almost a week after its quality was considered safe by the Water Services Corporation.

Ordered by a magistrate after spent engine oil was dumped onto the borehole equipment next to the Fiddien reservoir, the tests have no deadline, leaving both the corporation and residents in the area frustrated and in limbo.

“We have good water but we cannot release it,” said the WSC, whose hands are tied.

Following a report last week, the reservoir, one of Malta’s biggest, was immediately isolated from the water distribution network as a precaution, the authorities were informed and a magisterial inquiry launched.

Almost a week has passed since the WSC was ready to release the water after samples were analysed at its laboratories, others were sent abroad for more detailed analysis and the health authorities were asked for clearance.

In the circumstances, the WSC was busy “experimenting, with some success” by cutting off water in parts of Qormi and Attard for short periods to try and feed the higher affected areas, said a WSC spokesman, pointing out the “enormous efforts, juggling and tricks by our engineers to shift water around”.

The “fundamental problem” remains that the Fiddien reservoir cannot be used until the independent testing is carried out by the health authorities and the matter is now in their hands. The WSC had been putting pressure on them in the hope they would give the green light, the spokesman said of the “waiting game that is beyond us”.

“We carry out thousands of tests a year and scores of times. The health authorities, with whom we work closely, give us the go-ahead,” the spokesman said.

Although complaints dropped drastically and the situation was “slowly getting under control”, some residents were still being affected as their window of opportunity to replenish their water tanks was shorter than others, he said.