Brussels is after the jugular of the local farming community. It has been all written for years before we voted to become members of the European Union. The politicians never informed the farming community of the harsh regulations the relevant EU directive contained. Not only that, but I recall a high-ranking Nationalist politician proclaiming with pride at a farmers` meeting that the government was closing an eye to the digging of boreholes. Farmers were led up the garden path. Now the farmers will face extinction as a community if the regulations are enforced to the letter.

Since we have two aquifers I will tackle each aquifer separately.

First, the lower. The lower aquifer is that layer of rocks that is washed by the sea. The salt water tries to get in but is held back by the water already there having fallen as rain. The extra water that the rocks cannot retain flows out into the sea. In 1988, borehole digging machinery arrived from Italy and people started digging boreholes far away from the sea but slightly deeper than sea level. Submersible pumps flooded the market.

The water at that level is potable, however, if you extract potable water, sea water will rush in to fill the space once occupied by fresh water, especially if the volume of water is bigger and is extracted at a faster rate than what the rock filter can do to hold back the salt water.

Irrigated land increased by leaps and bounds. In 1996, when the Labour government came to power, a register of boreholes was initiated. Hell broke loose and farmers were told that the Labour government would charge them for water drawn from boreholes. In 1998, anyone who could afford it drilled a borehole.

The number of registered ones now runs over 8,000. The amount of sea level water extracted is quite huge. But, now, up comes a dilemma. On the basis of having an unlimited (sic) water supply, many farmers were entrepreneurial enough to take the opportunity to install huge glass houses, co-financed by EU Funds. These farmers produce vegetables at times of the year which would otherwise not grow. They have to compete with produce grown abroad and which sells ay very competitive prices. Now this poses a problem.

If we charge for the water extracted, our products would lose their competitive edge over the imported ones. If we allow farmers to draw as much water as they need, they might ruin the lower aquifer. The EU has come up with regulations that do not apply to Malta. All other members suffer from floods while we suffer from droughts. The government has promised to set a quota on water for each farmer according to the amount he uses.

One decision could be taken even now: order all water borehole users to close them for good bar registered farmers. Restricting the use of water to farmers is akin to switching off electric power to factories.

Now to the upper aquifer. This lies perched on the higher parts of the island like Rabat and Dingli. The rocks are all sitting on a layer of clay. When rains fall, water seeps down the rocks till it reaches the clay. When the aquifer is full, the extra water moves towards the lower parts and emerges as springs, which are just above the clay, and moves out of the perched aquifer towards lower areas, eventually to the sea, in some cases. Farmers dug a few shafts and found water when they reached the layer of clay.

Many were those who took a calculated risk. All found water; some more than others. Luck would have it that one person from Dingli started to import wind pumps from Chicago. Anyone who could afford it installed one. Farmers were converting garigue land into arable land. The area of cultivable land was more than doubled. The supply of water from this aquifer was proportional to the amount of rain for that season.

The system is sustainable and is replenished. If water is not extracted, it will flow on to the sea unless caught on the way. The government is committed to catch all rain water prior to flowing into the sea and put it at the disposal of the farming community. Unfortunately, careless husbandry has turned this once sublime water into a nitrate-filled aquifer.

This brings us to the decision to install meters to measure water drawn from such shafts. One, the authorities already know the maximum these can deliver and, secondly, the water is not potable and it will take scores of years to reduce the amount of nitrates in it. Thirdly, if it is not extracted by farmers it will just flow to the sea. But the authorities are committed to collect and hand it back to farmers. This is a senseless uneconomical act. It cannot be used for drinking purposes. The farmers will let it flow and the government would collect it and make farmers undertake the expense of transporting it back to their fields if it pays.

Is this the way to encourage farmers to keep guarding the environment? Guardians are normally paid for their work. This senseless act would make the guardians pay to be allowed to work on their environment. Can we be more foolish?

The author is secretary of the Progressive Farmers' Union.