Plug that hole now

Great land this of ours—I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Well not it because it’s not as if I own it. But grand as our land is, if one were to imagine it being a boat, it has a few holes too many for comfort. The buoyancy is threatened by silly holes which are never plugged or even acknowledged. And I don’t just mean our cute pot-holes.

Take our water situation.

Beyond anyone’s memory and maybe even way beyond that, Malta has experienced water scarcity. The knights built aqueducts and modern politicians miraculously changed our sea into water. And we now have enough water to flush, shower and keep sort of sane. This, unlike normal miracles, costs incredible amounts of money—turning the sea into water gets our energy bill to rocket to a mad degree. But, as long as when we turn the tap water flows, who’s complaining?

But—and here the usual but butts in—life is never that simple. Recently I heard something about water which astonished me. It seems up to 40% of all our water production is not accounted for—through leaks and other losses. The other losses, I presume, refer to water which is produced, consumed and never paid for.

The numbers are astounding. And what is more unbelievable is that no one heading the water services authority, or government, commented or asked for heads to roll or be drowned.

Nobody seemed to make much of a scene about it—not even we, the ones who pay our exorbitant bills and therefore subsidise the losses or thievery of the water. And if a big scene was made I missed it so do please excuse me. If the figures are wrong—and please God let them be wrong—let’s hear it from someone in authority. If they are right dear good God we are mad then—we have a gaping hole and all we do is move on as if nothing is the matter.

Plug the hole before we lose our buoyancy and it’s too late to do anything.