The Water Services Corporation's second of three “New Water” polishing plants will provide very high-quality water for Gozitan agriculture, industry, landscaping, and other sectors where drinking water quality levels are not required.

The first New Water plant in Mellieha, was inaugurated in May 2017 and has since proved very popular with farmers in the surrounding areas.

Treated sewage from the corporation’s sewage treatment plants was previously discharged to sea. This is now being passed through polishing plants that use sophisticated additional microfiltration, reverse osmosis and oxidisation processes. The plants represent a total investment of €20 million in EU and local funds.

After the successful commissioning of the Mellieha and Gozo plants, WSC is now working on its largest plant at Ta’ Barkat in the South of Malta which is expected to be inaugurated very soon. In total, around seven billion litres of New Water will be produced annually through this new system.

A further €30 million is being spent to create a dedicated infrastructure to distribute this New Water to rural areas. It is estimated that around 2,200 hectares of fields, around a quarter of all agricultural land in Malta, will benefit from this scheme.

Farmers will for the moment be able to access three dispensers by means of a smart card and in the future this number will be increased to over 50.