Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino has expressed his frustration at the illegal dumping of appliances and furniture in valleys, which hamper efforts to clear obstacles in time for the rainy season.

Mr Pullicino was speaking during a press conference in Wied il-Kbir in Qormi this week. The town is often hard hit by flooding in winter, with empty coffins famously floating down Qormi Valley last year.

The minister said the work done during the summer by the Valley Management Unit, which was set up four years ago to clean valleys to minimise flooding, often went unnoticed.

In total 10 valleys in Qormi, Marsa, Siġġiewi, Żebbuġ, Burmarrad, Rabat and Attard, with a combined length of 6.5 kilometres, were cleaned of silt and other debris during the summer, with 20,000 tons of natural and man-made material being removed at a cost of €700,000.

Eight reservoirs with a total capacity of four million gallons were also cleaned.

Mr Pullicino said that where possible, machinery was used but work often had to be done by hand not to disturb the ecosystem. He emphasised that the procedure was not a “clean sweep”, meaning that only those things which caused a blockage were removed.

As diggers continued to remove silt, the minister questioned why some people insisted on dumping such things as mattresses and washing machines in valleys, when there were five civic aminity sites across the island as well as a free bulky refuse removal service.

Despite the Wied il-Kbir being cleaned only days previously, plastic bottles and other rubbish had already reappeared in the valley.

Asked why he thought dumping and littering still took place in the countryside, the minister said he did not understand the mentality of such “irresponsible” people, and suggested that many Maltese do not appreciate the natural beauty of their own country.