Upgrades to the reverse osmosis plants will produce more water using less electricity, Water Management Minister Joe Mizzi told parliament on Tuesday. This would reduce groundwater extraction by billions of litres and bring the proportion of purified water in Maltese taps to 70 per cent, with only the remaining 30 per cent coming from boreholes.

Mr Mizzi explained during a debate on the financial estimates for the Water Services Corporation that this would act to preserve Malta's aquifers while improving the taste of tap water.

He said the modernisation of the Pembroke plant, Malta’s largest, would double the amount of water produced there while saving almost €500,000 a year in energy costs.

Furthermore, a new reverse osmosis plant at Ħondoq ir-Rummien, Gozo, would give Gozo water independence and better quality.

Mr Mizzi said the former government's lack of vision meant that the Gozo sewage treatment plant was pumping tonnes of untreated sewage into the sea. This plant had been refurbished and was functioning at the best levels it had ever functioned.

Opposition MP David Agius criticised the fact that the WSC Annual Report had not been tabled in advance of the debate, arguing that it was impossible to argue concretely without access to this document.

He asked whether resurfacing works in Birżebbuġa, Marsascala, and elsewhere were complemented by works to replace the ageing water infrastructure. Otherwise, he said, “it would be like re-tiling a bathroom without replacing the pipes.” He also asked the minister to elaborate on how quickly faulty water meters were being replaced, and to provide details on how the aquifer was being managed.

Mr Agius said explanations needed to be given as to how electricity and water bills were being calculated. It had been four months since a review of the system by which these bills were calculated had been promised by the government, he said.

He questioned why the minister was dragging his feet on this reform, arguing that, if the rate according to which water bills were computed depended on annual consumption, there should be a clear indication of the start and end of the base year for this computation. He also hinted at discrimination within WSC, even between Labourites of different inclinations.

Replying, Mr Mizzi insisted that bills were being calculated in the same way that they had been calculated during PN administrations, adding that a Nationalist government had changed the legal notice regulating the calculations of these bills to allow meter readings to take place every two months.

Promising that the WSC Annual Report would be published shortly, he pointed out that this report had not been published in time for the estimates debate between 2011 and 2013, but that this had not hindered his ability to debate concretely.

Responding to further points raised by Opposition MP Godfrey Farrugia, Mr Mizzi stated that systems would be in place to ensure that the new reverse osmosis plant in Ħondoq would be able to function even if there was a power cut. 

Earlier during the debate, Dr Farrugia had argued that Malta’s water supply was vulnerable due to the fact that the provision of water in Malta and Gozo was dependent on energy generated by an infrastructure which was owned by foreign nationals.

Dr Farrugia had also made reference to Malta’s overdependence on water bottled in plastic, which leaked microfilaments.

He called on authorities to ensure that new buildings had wells to enable rainwater capture, arguing that there was a lack of national preparedness in case of a crisis affecting Malta’s water supply. Malta, he warned, could only store two days’ supply of water at any given time.

Concluding, Mr Mizzi said that the WSC had once again made a profit and had continued to reduce the debt which had been left by previous administrations.

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