Swimmers and holidaymakers stared in horror as a pile of sludge littered with plastic bottles and other kinds of rubbish was yesterday dumped in a bathing area and onto a quay in Qawra.

Mepa strongly condemns the behaviour of the local council for carrying out this dumping activity without the necessary authorisation

It emerged later that the dumping was an unauthorised action carried out by the St Paul’s Bay council and was condemned by the planning authority.

When they saw what was taking place, onlookers immediately called the police, who rushed to the quay situated in the inner part of Qawra, off the Salina Bay Hotel. The planning authority was soon on the scene to halt the dumping.

Some people had also protested with the driver, who claimed he had official permission for the dumping. When contacted, mayor Mario Salerno said “sand” had been dredged from another area in Salini Bay, off the Boxxla Street area, because it was obstructing a slipway.

The sand had accumulated and had to be removed because boat owners would otherwise not be able to pull up their vessels in case of a storm.

The collected material was then meant to be “cleaned from impurities, including tyres and plastic” and dumped back in a spot with the same coastline characteristics, chosen by the planning authority.

The local council’s acting secretary, George Abdilla, said the tyre that bathers noticed in the pile of sand was an oversight, while it was “difficult to notice the plastic bottles in the pile”.

Mr Salerno added that the operation was being coordinated by the local council, the Resources Ministry and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

But Mepa slammed the local council for failing to obtain the necessary authorisation for the dumping.

A spokesman said that a few weeks ago, the council had requested permission to remove the sand and the authority did not object, given that the activity was considered as maintenance work.

However, it requested “relevant details” before the work kicked off and the council failed to provide this information.

“Mepa strongly condemns the behaviour of the local council for carrying out this dumping activity without the necessary authorisation...

“At no point was the authority monitoring the activity as has been reported, since it was not informed that the activity had started.

Enforcement officers who went on site were there to actually stop this activity,” the spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Resources Ministry said the ministry’s only role was to pay the contractor who would carry out the dredging work under the supervision of the planning authority.