Days after insisting that the situation of illegal dumping of animal waste in sewers was under control, the Water Services Corporation has changed tack saying it would be sealing manholes.

The change in approach came in the wake of the disruption caused at its largest sewage treatment plant at Ta’ Barkat in Xgħajra, which processes 80 per cent of Malta’s sewage.

The plant had to be shut down for a number of hours after being clogged with all sorts of animal waste ranging from a cow’s carcass, pigs’ heads and large quantities of fish originating from unlicensed aquaculture operations.

A police investigation has been launched.

The operation involved cleansing the sewage gallery leading to the plant and pumping station, and the removal of tons of material which caused the clogging.

Fortunately, there was no damage to core plant infrastructure as the screening equipment served its purpose.

Sealing of manholes part of a number of other measures

Apart from resulting in raw sewage being discharged into the sea, the plant’s temporary closure affected farmers as it halted the production of new water – the term used for a class of water produced from wastewater used for irrigation. 

Watch:Sewage plant back up and running following massive clean-up

A fortnight ago, WSC CEO Richard Bilocca told the Times of Malta that despite persistent abusive practices such as the dumping of slurry and other waste in sewers, the situation in Malta was under control.

Mr Bilocca had made this point when asked why the corporation had not installed similar equipment to that at its only plant in Gozo, which could process slurry separately from domestic waste.

This apparatus at the Ras il-Ħobż plant in Għajnsielem, is capable of converting a bowser full of slurry to a skip-load of solid waste in just 15 minutes. Since the turn of the year, when this equipment came into operation, incidents of illegal dumping in Gozo had stopped, while the plant itself was consuming less power and producing less sludge.

The WSC CEO had insisted that for the time being there was no urgent need to install similar equipment at Ta’ Barkat and the small plants at Sant Antnin in Marsa-scala, and Iċ-Ċumnija in Mellieħa.

Mr Bilocca had said that in Malta other systems had been devised to stabilise the situation.

The WSC has now taken the drastic decision to seal thousands of manholes to prevent illegal dumping. Such a measure had been taken in Gozo prior to the installation of the new equipment.

Replying to questions from the Times of Malta, a WSC spokesman said the sealing of manholes would be part of a number of other supportive measures similar to the ones implemented in Gozo.

He added that, more drastic measures could be in the pipeline, if certain abuses persisted.

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