The contamination of Ħal Farruġ valley with cement wash and cow urine shows how rampant environmental illegalities are and how powerless the planning authority is, green lobbyist Antonio Anastasi said.
He was reacting to a report in The Sunday Times of Malta exposing the contamination of the scenic valley by gallons of leaked cement wash and dumped cow urine.
The contamination, stemming from a cement factory, owned by Polidano Brothers and a neighbouring cow farm, was so extensive the valley had to be given a new layer of soil.
Mr Anastasi, a spokesman for the lobby group Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar, said he was disgusted but not surprised by the state of the valley.
Anyone that damages the environment is also damaging the construction industry
“This latest incident is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s a free for all at the moment. A walk in the countryside will quickly reveal just how many infringements are taking place every day,” he said.
Mr Anastasi said that all the good intentions in the world could not help the Malta Environment and Planning Authority in the face of constant non-compliance.
“The regulator needs assistance, in terms of resources, both human and financial, to be able to cope,” he said.
The FAA had previously suggested bestowing environmental enforcement officers with a legal authority similar to that of the Italian guardiani forestieri (green police). These, he said, had a legal authority to actually effect change. “They can issue fines and even arrest those who break the law. This is what is required if anything is going to change,” he said
Malta Developers’ Association president Sandro Chetcuti, on the other hand, advocated an approach whereby contraveners were encouraged to fall in line rather than be penalised outright.
“Anyone that damages the environment is also damaging the construction industry and we condemn this. However, I don’t think that Mepa is powerless. I feel that it is obliged to try and find the way forward, to help contraveners to come in line with regulations, rather than to punish them,” he said.
Back in Ħal Farruġ, it turned out that Mepa officials had previously been tipped off about the leaked urine, of which there was enough to fill a large swimming pool but never managed to prove that an infringement had ever occurred. A site inspection last week revealed a long pipe from the farm’s cesspit to the fields in the valley several metres away.
Biologist Alan Deidun said the cow urine could cause serious problems to the water table. “Malta already has a problem with excessive levels of nitrates in its table water, so much so that some boreholes have been shut down. Urine is full of nitrates and, if it gets into the water table, it could compromise a water source,” he said.
The concrete spill had resulted from the Polidano Bros failing to adequately maintain culverts designed to drain the cement into a separate reservoir.
Dr Deidun said that the scale of the pollution from the cement had certainly affected the fertility of the soil. “At best, the soil’s fertility will be reduced and, at worst, it would have been rendered completely sterile,” he said. Maltese soil has a tendency to be high in alkalinity and cement would push those levels further.
A spokesman for the Polidano Bros told Times of Malta that the company had started cleaning works and would be reinstating the area with fresh soil in the coming days.
Dr Deidun also raised concerns over the proposed cleaning exercise. “Soil is a non-renewable resource and, in fact, we have legislation that protects it. If, say, you dig out soil at a site that is being developed, normally you are expected to state what you are going to do with the soil you excavate,” he said.
Tomorrow’s edition of Times Talk on TVM will discuss whether Mepais toothless when faced with illegalities.