The essential work of cleaning and maintaining valleys and reservoirs is carried out in summer. For obvious reasons, in such sector work that can be done in winter is very limited. The situation, however, changes in summer when the valleys and the reservoirs dry up, allowing work to be done in them; mostly that sort of work associated with cleaning.

The collected material is divided into two portions: material that has eroded naturally and has been deposited by the flowing waters and material dumped by individuals into the valley.

One would be amazed to learn about the large amounts of material removed from valleys over the last few years: 7,200 tons of material was removed from Maltese valleys in the past three years. In addition to this alarming amount, one must include about 600 truckloads of soil, which, approximately, amount to about another 6,000 tons! These figures do not include the material that is being removed this summer.

The material is disposed of but the soil is re-used, either in the Agricultural Research and Development Centre at Għammieri or is given back to the farmers that have fields in close proximity to where the cleaning is being carried out. Over the past years, extensive work was done at Wied il-Kbir, in Qormi, Wied Ħesri and Wied il-Luq, both in Siġġiewi, Wied Qannotta and Wied Għajn Riħana, both of which are located in Burmarrad, and Wied Bidni in Marsascala.

This work is done and led by the Valley Management Unit section, which is part of the Cleansing and Maintenance Department within the Ministry of Resources and Rural Affairs.

I would like to take the opportunity to salute those workers and their executives who do a lot of valuable work, particularly during the summer days.

The programme of work for this season is highly ambitious and includes work in various valleys in different localities, particularly in Rabat, Siġġiewi, Qormi and Żebbuġ.

Surely, many are those who have noticed the cleaning that is being done in Wied il-Qlejgħa, in the limits of Rabat. The place is part of the Chadwick Lakes and the work is quite visible from the main road. Over the past few days, work has also been done at Wied il-Baqqiegħa in Żebbuġ, which is an important valley over which bridges the main road that leads to Siġġiewi.

Wied il-Morfu is found Żebbuġ, between Żebbuġ and Rabat to be precise, close to the zone known as Ta’ Ġanpula. Here, large amounts of surface run-off coming from the Rabat hill is collected. In the beginning of the last winter season, great damage was done to the valley and the surrounding fields due to a large storm that struck the island. Many farmers lost most of their crops. A lot of soil was also lost and fields where overflowing with materials such as big stones that were carried by the water. Therefore, and to ensure that this situation does not repeat itself, this valley was included in this summer’s cleaning programme. This work shall commence in the coming days.

The work mentioned above is part of a much larger scheme. Here we are speaking about work that forms part of the plan of conservation of water.

The more our valleys and reservoirs are kept clean, the more water they can hold, water that can either be used directly or which percolates gradually into our bedrock becoming what is known as groundwater. By having cleaner valleys we’re also ensuring more passage for water to run through in big storms. This assists greatly in the national project against flooding.

Although, as stated above, a good percentage of the material collected from our valley beds originates naturally, I am still unable to conceive how in the year 2011 we are still finding rubbish being dumped in valleys. Items such as mattresses, fridges, old furniture, dead animals… the list of what is thrown in valleys is never ending.

Considering that nowadays various alternatives are being offered, including free collection of such unwanted items from our doorstep, forgive me for I can’t understand the reasoning behind the irresponsible disposing of such unwanted items in the country’s picturesque valleys.

The author, an architect by profession, is a Nationalist member of Parliament.