One of the greatest challenges facing this country is our ability to supply water in a sustainable manner to meet the demand. For the past 20 years, the PN government has ignored the growing water problem and now seems to be desperately looking for non-existent quick solutions.
Many Mediterranean countries have given serious consideration to water shortages and embarked on projects for water conservation and storage of scarce rain water. Labour governments had always shown interest in preserving valley hydrological systems. Labour invested in rain water storage and worked on a storm water master plan while promoting the conservation of valleys such as the one in Kalkara. Much of this work has now been ignored or reversed and precious rainwater goes down the drain.
Belatedly, the PN seems to have realised its mistaken priorities and, under local and international pressure, it now wants to make a U-turn in its priorities. Xaghra l-Hamra is a case in point. Overnight, the Prime Minister experienced a diametric change in mind and re-designated this area from a groundwater-depleting golf course to a groundwater-replenishing Nature Park! We pray that Lawrence Gonzi's bout of quirkiness does not portend the other decisions he is now taking, namely on the euro. Whether the Xaghra l-Hamra will actually materialise in a park of ecological, geological and hydrological interest remains to be seen. Hopefully, the present conservationist fervor will not be followed by an anticlimax of disinterest and neglect as happened at Dwejra Park, in Gozo.
The PN's U-turn on groundwater comes too late to avert disaster. For decades, the government has condoned groundwater extraction by private enterprise. While borehole technology flourished in the private sector, the public infrastructure for collection of groundwater, namely water galleries, remains dated to the colonial period or even older. The shocking reality is that the PN government has not invested in any new water gallery! To make matters worse, some of the old shallow water galleries are clogged up with vegetation and leaking. Natural leakages of groundwater to the sea (still not quantified) remain unchecked, as if Malta has water to waste.
Meanwhile, the largest arch dam in Malta built by the British to collect surface water has been allowed to silt up completely, aggravating flooding in Marsa and Qormi!
The total neglect of our surface and groundwater infrastructure is scandalous and renders the government's statements on sustainable development ridiculous. Excessive dependence on reverse osmosis plants also remains unsustainable because Malta has not developed alternative energy sources. As usual, no one seems accountable for this dismal situation, although the chairman of the Water Services Corporation is expected to give more of his time to address these pending problems.
Labour's commitment to solving Malta's enduring water crisis has been consistent and far reaching. In 1972, the Labour government published a voluminous and meticulous study by ATIGA consortium on Malta's water supply. This study was shelved by the successive PN governments that decided to ignore most recommendations and instead wander directionless, while allowing unscrupulous developments that seriously damaged our groundwater.
When the problem of degraded tap water quality reached a climax, the PN government responded with its own antidote to all maladies, that of creating spin and more spin. On the doorstep of EU accession, our groundwater was swiftly certified by local entities as being fit for drinking. Meanwhile, independent studies by British and Italian companies, confirming that levels of dangerous substances such as cyanide in our tap water actually exceeded EU limits, were hushed up. Citizens are fed a cocktail of alarming levels of chromium, cyanide and bromide in their tap water but kept oblivious of the danger, not to complicate matters with the EU. The PN government is now repeating its tactic. People are now being fed with incredible notions of economic prowess in order to facilitate a flawless entry of the euro.
The time of government by deceit is over. Labour intends to face the challenges of the present and the future. The looming water crisis is a priority we have to address for a healthy and sustainable future.
Mr Mizzi is the opposition's main spokesman for infrastructural services.