Malta is a small, arid island, with a ballooning economy that is calling for more imported labour. It is not easy to see how the infrastructure will cope long term, especially in relation to our natural fresh water resource – ground water.

This in a country where the two main political parties, alternately tossing the power ball, have failed to come up with a systemic approach to the water crisis.

Construction of more apartment blocks and hotel towers, as Maltese passports provide a gateway to Europe for third-country buyers, only adds to the demand on the water supply. Growing fresh local food to feed a swelling population is a pressing challenge as Malta’s natural water resource, the aquifer, is drying up.

Many mature landmark trees, such as this pine at Selmun, are dying as the ground dries out after three years of low rainfall.

In response to a 2017 projection that inflow of foreign workers could swell Malta’s population to 450,000, the Malta Employers’ Association last November asked the Ministry for European Affairs and Equality for a study to be carried out by its advisory body, the MCESD.

While noting that the complex demographic challenges ahead touch all areas of socio-economic life, the association also wanted to know the effect on agriculture, tourism and the water supply – from both environmental and infrastructural angles. A number of other socio-economic factors are of concern, yet Malta’s growing water crisis remains invisible to most, as long as water flows out of the tap.

There are some similarities as well as differences between Malta, in its third consecutive dry year, and the present situation in Cape Town, with its dams two-thirds empty after poor rainfall since 2015. The Table Mountain aquifer is tapped by South African breweries although reportedly abuses are rife.

This world-renowned tourist destination is set to become the first major city to run out of water – by April unless residents do more to cut consumption.

The total daily allowance per person has been set at 87 litres. Capetowners who consume more will be fined or have meters fitted that shut down after the limit is reached.

Independent public policy expert Rolfe Eberhard has advised that the daily personal consumption limit be lowered to 50 litres, with punitive tariffs‚ flow restrictions and pressure management:

“Cape Town has no choice but to pursue all of these measures aggressively. Farmers‚ residents and businesses are unhappy with these restrictions‚ however‚ there is no alternative.”

Mayor Patricia de Lille, at the centre of the city’s political imbroglio, has said that taps will be turned off once dam levels drop below 14 per cent. The bottom 10 per cent is muddy and unuseable.

Growing fresh local food to feed a swelling population is a pressing challenge as Malta’s natural water resource, the aquifer, is drying up

In poorer areas and informal settlements the water supply will not be shut down but water pressure will be reduced. The rest of the popu­lation will have to collect their 25-litre daily ration from collection points across the sprawling city.

The city’s Democratic Alliance and provincial ANC government blame each other for failure to see the crisis coming and not taking steps to pre-empt it.

Unlike African nations, EU member States have had the Water Framework Directive to guide them. Yet, according to a 2016 study by the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, the EU directive governing water has not lived up to expectations. Although the directive is a major policy progression delivering environmental im­prove­­ments, it could have played a greater role in sustainable water management if applied better.

“It is clear that implementing the WFD like any other directive is not going to work,” concludes the study.

The way it is being applied must be revised, allowing the directive to deliver its systemic intent and reach its full potential. Revision of the ground water directive is due next year.

In Malta, the previous administration (which in 2006 proposed three water-hungry golf courses) came up with a ‘National Water Policy’ based largely on stakeholder consultations. According to hydrologist Marco Cremona, this policy document was more of a wish-list than a document that would ensure water sustainability for the country in the years to come.

The objectives set in the document were not measurable, and the path for implementation sketchy. Contentious decisions, such as what to do with the thousands of illegally-drilled private boreholes pumping Malta dry, were shelved.

What effect will a swelling population have on Malta’s water supply?

“A lot of EU money was spent in water infrastructure that failed to contribute towards safeguarding Malta’s groundwater resour­ces for future generations. We invest­ed and are still investing millions of euros in projects, in the absence of a plan.

“We ended up with a National Flood Relief Project that channels sorely-needed rainwater directly into the sea through tunnels and are now building another reverse osmosis plant when the existing RO plants are running at half capacity.”

The Malta Water Association, of which Cremona is a founding member, pulled out all the stops to put water on the national agenda ahead of the 2013 general elections. The three main political parties (PL, PN and AD) committed in their manifestos to the preparation of a clear plan to ensure the sustainable use of the groundwater resource.

After the election, terms of reference prepared by the MWA for the eventual plan were forwarded to the government and the Opposition for discussion.

Despite a pledge from the then Minister for Energy and Conservation of Water that the plan would be ready in six weeks… five years later Malta is still without a national water plan.