A dangerously popular misconception is that water, just like the air we breathe, is free and that we only pay for the cost of having it delivered to our homes. This fallacy is possibly one of the biggest economic and social threats that we will be facing in the next few decades.
Hydrologists have for long been advocating a paradigm shift in the management of our water resources as we can no longer ignore the fact that this natural commodity is scarce and that its quality is deteriorating.
Past short-sighted policies on water preservation have resulted in the buying of expensive desalination equipment that, at one time, consumed as much as a third of the electricity we produce at a very high cost.
While investment in reverse osmosis plants was, and still is, a wise move, we need to revise our water management policies in order to address both old and new issues that are threatening the sustainability of the water supply to meet present and future human and agricultural demand.
The announcement that the Minister for Energy and Water Conservation, Konrad Mizzi, has set up an interministerial committee to coordinate efforts for a long-term strategy for the preservation of water resources is a significant watershed in public policy on water conservation.
The committee needs to move fast to define what needs to be done to preserve this scarce commodity and to guarantee its quality to consumers.
Perhaps one of the first priorities should be a sensible revision of the rules that allow people to extract water from the water table through the use of boreholes. Illegal extraction from the water table is only part of the problem. The registration of boreholes is only a very partial solution.
The authorities need to decide whether water extraction in certain areas should be allowed at all. According to the Malta Water Association, 50 per cent of ground water was over-exploited. Deterioration in the quality of the water extracted is inevitable in certain parts of the country.
Chemicals used in farming as well as increasing salinity raise the question as to whether farmers should continue to be allowed to extract water from the water table, even if they are made to pay a fee for doing so.
It is not inconceivable that water extraction will soon lead not only to depletion of our reserves but also to the deterioration of the quality to the extent that it will make our underground water unfit for human consumption or even for agriculture.
Domestic consumption of water may be lower than that of industry and agriculture but it is still a crucial element in the national strategy for water conservation. While tariffs for domestic water consumption are not low, many consumers still use water with apparent little consideration of its value. In this context, schools need to inculcate in the minds of the young the importance of preserving water by using it very judiciously.
Those who fret about the lack of collective awareness on the fragility of the water supply must now feel relieved that, at last, public policy on water management appears to be moving in the right direction.
Raising awareness is an important first step that needs to be followed up by a challenging and ambitious action plan devised by all those who have an interest in this issue. Such a plan has to define a sustainable programme of reforms that will ensure that water preservation becomes a top economic and social priority for all.