Updated 5.30pm - Enforcement officers from Mepa this morning swooped on the Palumbo shipyard in Cospicua following a tip-off about illegal storage of hazardous residue from grit-blasting operations.
In a statement in the afternoon Mepa said its officials had started unearthing quantities of possible hazardous waste which had been illegally buried under layers of concrete in two sites in the shipyard.
The Authority confirmed it investigating the site after it received a tip off that quantities of grit blasting material were buried under the concrete foundations. In line with established procedures the shipyard is obliged to export all the grit blasting waste it generates.
"From initial investigations it results that grit blasting waste which is generated by Palumbo’s operation had been used in the foundations of the yard and was buried under the concrete flooring. Officers also inspected a gutter which runs across the property with the consequence of possibly contaminating the inland sea," the authority said.
The Authority said it will test the samples of the unearthed waste material to determine what procedures and safeguards it needed to take.
Investigations are still ongoing.
Picture above shows one of the sites when it was about to be covered by the concrete surface two years ago. Picture by Natalie Boehm/facebook.