Animal farms in Malta are operating illegally as the facilities that had to be built by the government to treat waste from dairy, poultry and pig farms do not yet exist, six years after the original deadline.
The absence of treatment facilities for animal waste comes at a burden to the Water Services Corporation (WSC) as liquid waste continues to be dumped in the sewage system by means of bowsers.
This practice is illegal and increases WSC’s expenses by some €4 million, according to estimates in the Agricultural Waste Management Plan.
A deadline of 2008 had been set to provide the waste treatment facilities as a result of extensions agreed in pre-accession negotiations with the EU.
In a letter sent to the Director of Environment Policy in October 2006, WSC had called for “all untreated, direct and indirect agricultural waste discharges to the sewers to be discontinued”.
Last year, it launched another appeal saying the discharges were causing blockages at the treatment plants and occasional slicks of partially treated sewage in the sea off the coast of Xgħajra, Iċ-Ċumnija, Mellieħa and Ras il-Ħobz in Gozo.
The Code of Good Agricultural Practice states that farms must store solid manure in covered clamps for five months during the rainy season, and must have cesspits capable of storing liquid waste for 15 days.
Yet, these are measures for containment, not treatment: once the cesspits are full, they are emptied by means of bowsers.
The lack of facilities for farm waste treatment means that the waste either gets dumped into the sewerage network or on to agricultural fields to boost yields. Both practices are illegal.
Over the past few weeks, Times of Malta has reported on the dumping of slurry (sewage) on agricultural fields in Burmarrad.
A farmer in the area, Paul Abela, has been reporting the practice to the authorities since 2011 when he tested his water and found cancer-causing nitrates above permissible levels. The practice raises concerns on food safety and is being investigated by the Ombudsman.
The Environment Ministry said Wasteserv was doing preparatory works for a manure plant at its Malta North Mechanical and Biological Treatment Plant. It said the government was committed to issueing a tender, with a hopeful deadline for the end of next year. The plant will treat approximately 35,000 tonnes of cow manure and 4,000 tonnes of poultry manure.
While the ministry states this is “a good chunk of the manure” it falls short of the 850,000 cubic metres of manure and slurry generated in Maltese farms every year.
Questions on transportation of waste also arise since areas in the south of the island, like Żejtun, are a hub for animal farms.
With one plant in the north of Malta, farm waste would have to be transported across the island.
The same applies for waste from animal farms in Gozo since plans for a treatment plant on the sister island have now been changed to a transfer station to transport the waste to Malta.
The ministry said Wasteserv’s cost-benefit analysis for the plant showed it was not feasible.
Meanwhile, a technical working group has been set up under the Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, bringing together officials from the Agriculture Directorate, WSC and Mepa.
The group’s aim is “to draw up a report on and make recommendations on actions that can be taken in the short and long-term to ensure that the challenges involved are addressed effectively”.