Farmers cultivating land on the outskirts of Żejtun and Marsascala want the authorities to incorporate the upgrade of an old second class water distribution system within a new €25 million project.

The system – built in the early 1980s and based on kilometres of open-water channels – used to transport second class water from the Sant’Antnin sewage treatment plant in Marsascala directly to their fields for irrigation.

However, over the years, the system became derelict and lack of maintenance led to farmers ditching the system and instead digging their own boreholes, mostly illegal, to irrigate their crops directly from the water table.

Żejtun Mayor Joe Attard.

Żejtun mayor Joe Attard said his council was inundated with calls from the farming community to restore the project.

Now that the government had obtained EU funds to turn treated sewage into second class water, the pioneer Sant’Antnin facility and its distribution system should also be restored, Mr Attard said.

We stopped using it in the early 1990s because the salinity became so strong it was killing our plants

“The project of turning treated sewage into second class water is a blessing in disguise for our farming community,” he said.

“We want the government to restore the kilometres of water channels we already have and once again start pumping water to farmers’ fields. It does not make any sense to start building a new system when we can upgrade what we already have,” he noted.

Part of the gravity-dependent distribution system.

Farmers in the south have expressed their eagerness to start re-using their irrigation system even though many are sceptical about the quality of the second class water that could be available. A 63-year-old farmer, who mainly grows vegetables, said the system used to work perfectly well for the first 10 years and the farmers had plenty of good quality water at their disposal.

“The water we had was almost potable,” he pointed out. “However, we stopped using it in the early 1990s because the salinity became so strong it was killing our plants,” he complained.

Confirming this, another farmer, who also rears pigs, said that although he would find it difficult to stop using his borehole he would give the new system a chance, if restored.

“They [the Water Services Corporation] will need to repair the whole system and make sure that water is flowing on a regular basis. After the first years, water was not arriving on a regular basis and this was a big problem to us.

“At that stage, we switched to boreholes and we never looked back,” he said.

Despite the scepticism of the farmers, Mr Attard is certain that, if restored, the farming community would again start using the water and turn their backs on boreholes.

“Water is a scarce commodity here. I am sure that, with a minor investment and good maintenance, the Sant’Antnin project could be revived,” he said.

Following the approval of funds, WSC is expected to build three polishing plants adjacent to the new sewage treatment facilities – two in Malta and one in Gozo – and start producing second class water to be used for agriculture, industry and to replenish the water table. The second class water is expected to become available in two years’ time.

Although no details are available yet on how the water will be distributed, the government said it intended to consult all stakeholders.

The Sant’Antnin story

• In 1983, a sewage treatment plant was built in Sant’Antnin, Marsascala, to provide second class water to irrigate agricultural land in the southeast of Malta and to provide second class water to the Bulebel industrial estate.

• The water was delivered to farmers by first pumping it to a number of reservoirs and then distributing it by gravity through open channels.

• The distribution network, built on top of rubble walls, catered for 240 hectares of agricultural land. In its heyday, about 450 farmers benefited.

• By time, salinity levels rose and the water was no longer being used. Lack of maintenance resulted in damage to the water channels, with some of them collapsing.

• Although water is still running in some areas it is rarely used by farmers.