For anyone who hasn’t yet experienced the valley of Wied Żnuber, I urge you to put it on your cultural itinerary.

Approaching the trail head through Ħal Far industrial estate is not the most enjoyable of strolls. Any X4 bus will drop you near the valley, at a bus stop dubbed “Far”. The Tallinja handle has a soft ring to it, for those seeking tranquillity.

An abandoned drain pipe juts out over Wied Żnuber, once a conduit for sewage from Ħal Far industrial estate. Although not connected to the defunct relic of a former Water Services Corporation sewage treatment plant, a pile of dumped pipes still sullies the aesthetics of the valley trail. Photo: Anne Zammit

Once you’re past the detritus of progress and civilisation, patches of cultivation overlying the deep valley are apparent. Then an exciting hunt begins for a hidden stairway carved into the rock slope leading down to a minor fortification. The British-built wall (1890) replaced the ruins of an earlier defence installed by the Knights to stave off Turkish invasion.

If you’re not steady on your feet, stick to level ground and enjoy the walk out to the sea cliff and spectacular view. Try not to step on the wild flowers.

Entomologists will be on the lookout for a beetle recorded only in this valley and at Għajn Tuffieħa. It hasn’t been seen for a while at Wied Żnuber although the protected shearwater has been reported to be still nesting there in summer.

Divers prize the seabed off the valley mouth for its labyrinthine rock formations, offering hiding places for fish, and a WWII plane wreck.

In 2015 an environmental impact statement was issued by the former environment protection directorate for the installation of, and obtaining an operations permit for, a plant manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) around 12 metres from the valley edge.

The Birżebbuġa Environmental Action Group suggested real time SCADA “monitoring and immediate shut down in case of accident”. The response from the environment authority of the day (Mepa) was that although a system for supervisory control and data acquisition could be feasible with one solvent in use, “the company will make use of 300 solvents and therefore such [sic] is much more complicated”.

When it came to a public consultation last October on variations to the operations permit, BEAG expressed doubts about how waste was to be controlled, citing “mutagenic” waste.

The pharmaceutical company has given its assurances that it has no uncontrolled mutagenic liquid hazardous waste and meets ERA requirements for waste management.

It is not easy for companies to keep up with environmental regulations which are constantly being updated. Yet questions coming from the public over any potential risks, wherever APIs are present, are never to be sniffed at within the context of public consultations.

According to oncology re­searchers Pharmatech, “starting materials, reagents, intermediates, byproducts and degraded products are sometimes found as impurities in APIs. Some of these known impurities are mutagens or carcinogens with the potential to cause adverse effects on the human body, even at trace levels”.

The list of emerging chemicals known as contaminants of concern (CEC) has grown as the industry continues to research and develop new drugs

Talk of environmental impacts from production and final disposal of medicines worldwide began a decade or more ago. The list of emerging chemicals known as contaminants of concern (CEC) has grown as the industry continues to research and develop new drugs. Pollution can affect the natural environment at many stages – during manufacture, use or end disposal by the user.

Such contaminants have been described as “a moving target” since new compounds, not previously known to science, are being created without a real understanding of their long-term impacts on humans or the environment.

The European Commission confirms that APIs have been found widely in the environment. While some are broken down, not all are biodegradable. According to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, in some cases the products of biodegradation can be more harmful than the parent substance.

The research-based biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has gone public with 87 peer-reviewed studies on the risks of certain pharmaceuticals escaping into the environment.

The list includes anti-depressants, anti-convulsants, estrogen-based birth control tablets, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, beta-blockers, some types of antibiotics and tamoxifen, used in cancer treatment.

The corporation’s aim is to advance the science on environmental risks in countries with different waste-treatment systems and to look at the impact of new medicines “where regulatory ap­proaches may not be fit for the purpose” mostly outside the EU.

Pharmaceuticals are being prescribed in increasing amounts by doctors and veterinarians. A 2013 study published by The Royal Society (‘Assessing the exposure risk and impacts of pharmaceuticals in the environment on individuals and ecosystems’) found that a realistic assessment of pharmaceutical risks should focus more on the developing world where pharmaceutical production and consumption is rapidly increasing:

“With little or no treatment of some manufacturing discharges or municipal and agricultural waste streams containing human and veterinary pharmaceuticals, risks to wildlife and humans are predicted to be high but remain virtually unassessed.”

Research has shown that some antibiotics can pass through the body almost completely intact. Scientists have called for a popu­lar brand of pain-killer found to be toxic to fish, crustaceans and algae to be banned from entering drains.

WasteServ Malta Ltd advises consumers to dispose of expired medicines responsibly at civic amenity sites.

The Environment and Resources Authority holiday break runs from Christmas Eve until January 1 although the public are advised that “environmental emergencies” can be reported on 9921 0404 during the staff shutdown and throughout the year.