Carmel Cacopardo, deputy leader of Alternattiva Demokratika (December 22), has once again explained the unrealistic water bills that will have to change in terms of article 9 of the Water Framework Directive of the European Union.
Malta, like all other EU member states, must have a realistic water pricing system in place. The pricing system shall take account “of the principle of recovery of the costs of water services, including environmental and resource costs...”
If I understand correctly, the fact that the Government is aware of this and, yet, it is not informing the public and, on the other hand, the Labour Party is insisting on reducing the water bills, once it is elected, means only that both the Government and the Opposition are taking the people for a ride.
It seems that as both are afraid of losing votes, they are keeping the man in the street in the dark leading him to think that water bills are not going to increase and if Labour is elected, then they are even reduced!
All this does not augur well and neither does it respect the intelligence of the voter. Both parties should be honest and speak the truth and not disregard the people as, otherwise, those who say that politics are sometimes dirty will bear some truth.
Cacopardo believes that the Government has received sound professional advice as to what needs to be done to manage Malta’s water resources in a professional manner but the advice seems to have been ignored.
The Auditor General too played his part as regards which measures have not yet been implemented. Water is perhaps the most precious resource. Without it, nothing lives!
The Government encourages constant research on how to improve water conservation and is supposed to be working on the flood relief system. However, the situation today shows that we have to rely mostly on the reverse osmosis plants. Few concrete projects were implemented over the last 20 to 30 years and the practice of building a well with every house was abandoned years ago.
And one last important thing: when is ARMS Ltd going to issue utility bills regularly (say, every two months as we used to receive it)?
Receiving bills for four months or more, with another estimated bill in between, is no way to help you manage your domestic budget.