Water production and consumption in Malta declined by 13 per cent over a six-year span, the National Statistics Office reported yesterday.

22 March is the World Day for Water. This UN Observance aims at promoting awareness of the extent to which the development of water resources contributes to economic productivity and social well-being.

The data made available by the Water Services Corporation for the period 2000-2006 indicate that water consumption patterns in Malta have been in tandem with production levels. Both water production and consumption in 2006 show a decrease of around five million cubic metres over the initial year in this time series, i.e. 2000.

Sectoral water consumption in industry

In 2006, the manufacturing sector consumed around 1.05 million cubic metres of water, the bulk of which went into the manufacture of food and beverages (61 per cent) and the manufacture of other transport equipment (11 per cent).

Apart from the manufacturing sector, the hotels and restaurants sector was the heftiest sectoral water consumer, with 35 per cent of water consumption of the non-manufacturing sectors.