Much has been written and said recently about the black dust deposits that have been creating a nuisance to the south-east of Malta for the past years. A report by the University’s Chemistry Department, commissioned by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority in August 2009, was published last March.

For the record, in 2000, Claudette Spiteri, who is now a prominent research scientist in the Netherlands, had published an extensive final year B.Sc. (Hons) dissertation to the University’s Chemistry Department, under my supervision, entitled ‘Monitoring and Analysis of Black Dustfall in South-Eastern Malta’.

The dissertation had received extensive media coverage at the time, and was referred to on several occasions during public discussions on the black dust issue. It is rather surprising that this very thorough scientific investigation was not cited in the recent report.

Ironically, Ms Spiteri’s dissertation practically traversed the same analytical path for sampling and measurements as the Mepa report.

Needless to say, Ms Spiteri’s thesis, published way back in 2000, arrived at the same conclusions as the 2011 Mepa report.