Every time it rains heavily, as was the case over the past days, roads are flooded, chaos reigns supreme especially during the rush hour, many are late for work or school and damage is caused. A violent overnight storm on October 24, which deluged Malta with 87.3mm of rain in a few hours, also left widespread damage and flooding in its wake and was said to be a once in a seven decades weather event. But was it?

As global warning increases, all the scientific evidence points in one direction: that such unusual weather conditions will, in future, become more frequent. Thus, one can expect more frequent heavy floods of the kind experienced but also such a sharp drop in annual rainfall in the central Mediterranean – perhaps as much as 30 per cent – as to lead to severe water shortages.

The impact of climate change on Malta will lead to more extreme and haphazard weather patterns – of the kind experienced in October – with prolonged Saharan heatwaves, shorter though more intense rainy periods and longer dryer spells. Unless plans are made now for such eventuality, lack of water in the soil and rising sea levels will lead to increased salinity, crop yields will be diminished and the process of “desertification” will be accelerated and risk becoming unstoppable.

There are several lessons to be drawn from such flooding as last October’s but also that of the past days when warnings had to be issued for motorists to avoid certain areas.

Prime among the lessons to learn is the appalling waste of good water that occurs every time there is a heavy downpour. One expert hydrologist calculated that 87.3mm of rain on Malta’s surface area equated to the heavens dumping 27.6 million cubic metres within a few hours, more than the total amount of water produced by the Water Services Corporation in a year. He also estimated that less than one-tenth of this water was collected by house cisterns or roadside reservoirs and dams.

By far the bulk of the water – estimated at about 90 per cent – ran off into the sea, causing havoc and damage along the way. This prodigal lack of water catchment measures persisted year after year and Administration after Administration, even if experts have long been warning of the consequences of such neglect. The country is not only wasting this precious resource by not capturing what it can when it rains but is also depleting the water table through over-extraction, even if action in this regard is now being taken. The mean sea level aquifer risks being wiped unless robust action is taken.

Thankfully, even if belatedly, the government has committed €56 million to a massive storm water collection project. It is hoped this major infrastructural improvement will allay at least a major part of the problem and lead to better catchment of storm water. Experts have pointed out the potential consequential pitfalls that could arise in areas already prone to flooding, such as Qormi and Marsa, with the new storm water tunnels simply shifting the floods from one area to another.

One can only hope the huge investment now under way to capture storm water will succeed. It has been made more difficult by the politicians’ prevarication along the years in tackling this crucial matter. But it may just be that, at last, the long-needed reforms to this sector to ensure the sustainability of water resources in Malta may now be finally under way.

That would mean that when it pours roads could still be used safely and valuable storm water saved.