Abundance of rain, tomatoes

I could not but laugh when hydrologist Marco Cremona spoke about the water from the aquifer having been “wasted” to produce two tons of tomatoes for use in the planned Tomatina fight at Fgura last week, which was disrupted by the heavy rain.

The amount of water that was used to produce these tomatoes was more than naturally replaced within 24 hours from Sunday evening to Monday afternoon.

I measured 120 millimetres of rainfall during that period, equal to more than 25 per cent of our annual consumption.

The problem lies in the incompetence of the authorities who have never raised a finger to save this water. They could have helped even by enforcing the law that lays down that every building must have its own well.

The ministry boasts that it has cleaned the valleys. What should be done to the valleys is to damn them in places to prevent storm water from running on and perhaps carrying coffins along with it yet again. Of course there was the €50 million project to help water flow towards the sea, which was redesigned after harsh criticism.

Speaking of valleys, I saw rainwater flowing in the valley that runs between Rabat and Attard – it was all foamy white. No, it was not the Rabat housewives who had just washed their dirty clothes, it being a Monday.

It was the overflow from the drainage system coming down from the Rabat and Mtarfa areas. That shows we could not care less about polluting the aquifer.

And what about the crocodile tears shed by John Magro, who said those tomatoes could have been turned into tomato paste instead of being wasted. Could Mr Magro tell us how many tons of tomatoes his firm refused from farmers because, according to the company, they reached their contracted quotas?

I encourage the people of Fgura to enjoy their Tomatina next year. We have enough water and more than enough tomatoes.