Manholes were yesterday spewing with a mix of rainwater and sewage for the second time in as many weeks. Photo: Paul Zahra

Balzan will continue to overflow with sewage every time it rains unless the piping system in the surrounding area is substantially reworked, Balzan mayor John Zammit Montebello warned yesterday.

“Unless something is done, we will continue to see this problem time and time again. Whenever it rains heavily Mosta, Naxxar and Iklin will continue to flush down on Balzan and we will see this overflow repeated,” he said.

Dr Zammit Montebello was commenting after the central locality was flooded with a cocktail of untreated excrement and rainwater for the second time in as many weeks.

The Balzan stretch of Valley Road and a number of other connected streets were yesterday filled with sewage as the day-long downpour uncovered manhole covers under the pressure of the heavy sub­terranean stream.

“The problem is that the rain­water that falls in Naxxar and Iklin and so on isn’t being diverted into wells or reservoirs but instead is going into the sewage system and flooding it,” he said, adding that this had been a problem for years.

Two large Water Services Corporation bowsers were yesterday sent to clear out the streets in Balzan as well as another smaller outflow that sprung in Iklin after residents complained to the local council.

WSC employees were seen hosing the streets that had been left reeking of sewage.

The locality was hit worse than normal last Friday when construction works near the Lija roundabout saw a huge backlog of stagnant sewage form a thick stream along a large portion of Balzan.

Mosta, Naxxar and Iklin flush on Balzan every time it rains

Last week’s outflow had seen cars, house facades and pedestrians sprayed with dark liquid as road maintenance workers tried frantically to clean away the mess.

Many residents had told Times of Malta they had been forced to leave home for the day because of the putrid stench from the water.

Dr Zammit Montebello said efforts to seal the cause of last week’s eruption had seen gallons of rainwater and sewage diverted to a number of other manholes normally unaffected by the gushing stream.

“Today, we had around four or five different manholes over­flowing that are normally not problematic. It’s just not acceptable,” he said.

Dr Zammit Montebello had predicted such an occurrence when contacted after last week’s downpour.