Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) expressed concern at the decision of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to sanction the building of a petrol station at Buqana, on the road between Mdina and Ta’ Qali.

It said approval of the application was astounding, considering that a permit for another petrol station in the vicinity was refused on the ground of unsuitability to the rural landscape. A MEPA board member had said that the siting of the fuel station which had not been allowed would have been less damaging to the landscape.

Though the Buqana area is designated as “suitable for agro-tourism”, MEPA had found justifiable reasons to turn down an application for the building of research rooms for a nearby vineyard and yet the petrol station, complete with canopy, car wash and shop, was approved.

An FAA spokesperson said: “If for nothing else, this permit should have been refused due to the fact that the site overlies the Mean Sea Level Aquifer, Malta’s most important source of drinking water, and is surrounded by potable water boreholes of the Water Services Corporation, just to the north and east of the site, with the galleries of the Ta’ Qali Pumping Station to the east. This means that carcinogenic hydrocarbons and vehicle emissions may end up in rainwater runoff that refills the aquifer, or directly into the aquifer in the event of a leak or major spill.” The site is also upstream of Chadwick Lakes.

However the permit was still granted in spite of the fact that it was pointed out by FAA that there was no instrumentation installed at the WSC boreholes and pumping stations that would immediately detect the presence of these hazardous pollutants should they end up in the potable water supply. In spite of mitigation measures and precautions being imposed in the permit conditions, a member of the MEPA board still questioned the petrol station’s capability to contain major fuel spills.