The Knights of St John got it right at first glance. Few things are scarcer in Malta than a natural water supply. Over the centuries things have got worse and they are still on a downward trend. We are, in fact, in a very dangerous situation. Piped water is not only expensive but set to get more so. And that's not only because the cost of producing it will rise along with any rise in the cost of derivatives of crude oil and in Enemalta's inefficiencies.

To the extent that the government still depends on substantial extraction from the water table to mix water with that produced through the inordinately expensive reverse-osmosis technology, experts warn us that we are heading for disaster. The water table is being drawn upon so much that there may be grave shortages from it as well. It is not just the government that is extracting water from boreholes. Hundreds, even thousands of private individuals are doing so as well.

The combined extraction, as has been repeatedly pointed out with clarity and passion by hydrologist Marco Cremona, is unsustainable. And that is only the beginning of the story.

For it has come to pass over the years that scores of individuals have irresponsibly sunk boreholes drilling through the water table. That increases the salinity of the table, gradually - or is it speedily? - making such water as remains in it unfit for human consumption, even when mixed with water produced at the reverse osmosis plants.

Such irresponsibility, well known to the authorities, has gone effectively unchecked for more years than one cares to remember without shuddering at the capriciousness of private individuals and authorities alike.

After years without a real, carefully thought out water policy the government has now taken some action - on the basis of plans made a decade and a half ago which occasionally come up f or fresh airing. To make the situation more surreal still, these plans are being shot down by experts in the field.

On Monday week, the Resources Ministry announced the construction of an underground tunnel network to relieve flood-prone areas when it rains. It explained that tenders have been awarded for an environmental impact assessment, a cost-benefit analysis and technical detail work.

The project - this media stable commented - has been on the drawing board for 15 years and was sporadically re-launched over a number of years. The plans are largely unchanged and the ministerial press releases are almost identical. The target date for completion is 2013 at an estimated cost of €57 million. The government hopes that the EU will accept to cover 85 per cent of the cost.

This is where surrealism rises another notch.

The ministry - it was revealed - submitted applications to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority last November. But, reported The Sunday Times (January 10), Mepa is not yet assessing the applications for the project. Why? Because the right fees have not been paid! The authority website states it will only start considering the applications when the building levy is fully paid up. That is something that can be swiftly remedied. What about technical considerations?

A geologist - Peter Gatt - suggests that the millions of euros to be finance flood relief projects may not have the desired effect because mistakes of the past are not being addressed, an expert said in reaction to storm water plans that resurfaced last week. Mr Gatt feels that the multi-million euro engineering projects overlooked natural systems which could be harnessed at a lower cost.

He told The Sunday Times that problems were ignored for far too long and then the country undertakes major investments without the necessary data collection on current and future water flows. So engineering projects may be under-designed or inadequate to handle natural systems and this may result in more problems.

The geologist referred to Msida as an example of where millions of euros have been spent on projects to address the notorious flooding problem but none has served its purpose.

That - he says - is because such projects are located downstream, at the areas prone to flooding, when they should be located upstream at the point where the water starts flowing down. What, then, should be done?

Mr Gatt says the most logical solution is to have dams collect the water rather than allow it to flow and accumulate in low-lying areas.

These dams already exist in the Wied il-Kbir valley system, which drains into Qormi and Marsa, but they are silted up because of neglect.

The proposal to dig a huge tunnel-reservoir to collect rain water to be used mainly for agricultural purposes could also be vitiated because of possible sewage and other contamination.

Will we ever get on the right track to ease the water problem? More serious thinking is required, taking into account what private experts say.