Philip Grech wrote about the fact that Water Is Everybody’s Business (January 3). Although, as rightly pointed out in the article, the regulations, entitled Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations 2012, published through Legal Notice 376/ 2012, are repealing article 97 (1) (f) (i) of part V of the Code of Police Laws, the same legal notice provides for the introduction of new requirements that are indicated in Technical Guidance (Document F) – Conservation of Fuel, Energy and Natural Resources (minimum requirements on the energy performance of buildings regulations, 2006) that was published through Government Notice 1002 of 2006.
The harvesting of rainwater has always been of concern and a priority- Christopher Ciantar
In fact, sub-regulation 42 (2) of Legal Notice 376/2012, which Grech failed to mention in his article states: “Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulation (1), the revocation of the regulations and the repeal of the article of the Code of Police Laws mentioned therein, shall not effect the validity of the Technical Guidance Document F on the EPB as published by means of Government Notice 1002 of 2006 and, or any subsequent amendments made therein.”
The provisions contained in Document F not only keep the requirement that every house (as in the Code of Police Laws) has to have a cistern to collect rainwater but also provides that every building has to have such a cistern.
Apart from having requirements to harvest the rainwater that falls on roofs and paved areas, the new regulations makes it also mandatory to have the rainwater that is collected in the cistern/s used for the flushing of toilets and for irrigation.
Such a requirement was not present in the Code of Police Laws and, therefore, one could actually have a cistern to collect rainwater, allow it to be filled up with rainwater but then not use this water.
Technical Guidance Document F also retains the requirement that rainwater systems cannot be connected to the sewer systems but have to discharge into a cistern to harvest the rainwater and that such cistern has to have an overflow onto the street or, if present in the area, a rainwater culvert system.
It is pertinent to point out that Technical Guidance Document F has the same legal powers as the regulations in the Code of Police Laws or any other legal notice because the issuing of technical guidance documents have been cited in the Building Regulation Act and, in this particular instance, in sub-regulation 42(2) of the legal notice.
This ‘new’ legally-binding guidance, as Grech chose to call the new regulations in his article, does not contradict the fundamentals of every sustainable policy the Government has subscribed to but in fact reinforces such policy because it expands on the requirements of the old regulations of the Code of Police Laws.
The proposal made by Grech and the Malta Water Association with regard to the imposition of a unilateral condition requiring a cistern to store a year’s average rainfall is not actually required because the building regulations mentioned earlier already impose such an obligation on developers.
In issuing new building development permits, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority can now refer to the provisions contained in Technical Guidance Document F instead of the Code of Police Laws.
The coming into force, in November 2011, of the Building Regulation Act has now given executive powers to the Building Regulation Office to take action against defaulters of the above-mentioned regulations.
The new building regulations also throw the responsibility on the architect who is designing a building to see that his design meets the requirements contained in the building regulations.
Until the coming into force of the Act, it has been unclear as to who was responsible to see that regulations on the construction of houses/buildings that are present in the Code of Police Laws are actually adhered to and this lack of ownership has been one of the reasons for the lack of enforcement in the last 50 years or so.
The Building Regulation Act now gives the power to the legislator to have rules on the construction of buildings that are presently in the Code of Police Laws repealed and to incorporate these with the necessary updates according to technical progress in the new building regulations.
The harvesting of rainwater has always been of concern and a priority to the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs and that is why it chose to include the requirement for having wells in buildings and to add to that requirement the use of the harvested water in issuing regulations concerning the Minimum Requirements for Energy Performance of Buildings because we firmly believe that such requirements can improve the environmental performance of buildings.
The projects that have been undertaken in the last years by the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs to clean valleys, build new infrastructure to control flooding and retain rainwater and the issue of the new building regulations, making water everybody’s business and a cornerstone of our environmental action and survival, has been, and will continue to be one of our main objectives.
Christopher Ciantar is permanent secretary at the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs.