From Mr M. Camilleri, Mr M. Cassar, Mr M. Muscat, Mr J. Portelli, Ms C. Camilleri, Ms R. Muscat, Mr J. Camilleri, Mr P. Said, Ms S. Said, E. Portelli

Dear Prime Minister,

We, the farmers affected by the building of the new Nadur cemetery on the road leading to Ramla Bay, once again implore you to stop the work going on at this new cemetery until the appeal against it is decided by Mepa Or better still, as the Minister responsible for Mepa, annul the permit since the procedures used to issue this permit were not in conformity with the Structure Plan.

We do this on several grounds: No Environmental Impact Assessment was done to see what damages this could cause to the natural environment, the spring water of Ghajn Qasab and a water storage system and canals for irrigation dating from the time of the Knights. This was recommended, but Mepa chose not to do so, although it was a major project. We ask: Why? Or is not everybody treated equally?

No other sites were considered by Mepa. There are other less sensitive sites available in Nadur, like near the motor race track The Archpriest told the farmers that it could not be considered because of the government bore hole nearby. So the water table is affected and water on a perched aquifer is not! Another site in front of the present day cemetery beneath the road was not considered. Allegedly, the owner of this site wanted to sell or exchange it for other property, but the Nadur Church was reluctant to exchange. Why? Maybe because the land on the road leading to Ramla came for free? But is that a consideration when other important issues are at stake?

In Gozo there are enough graves for burial. For example, Santa Marija Cemetery has over 700 empty graves. So the cemetery at Nadur should not be built if this means ruining a pristine landscape and contaminating spring water supplying good agricultural land.

The landscape around Ramla Bay will be ruined forever. Ramla Bay, one of the most well-known beaches, is being encroached upon from the east and from the west. Is this not another consideration that the big minds at Mepa should have pondered upon?

The water reservoirs at Ghajn Qasab and the irrigation canals date from the time of the Knights. Is this not a living heritage that should be preserved?

We still believe that the spring water from Ghajn Qasab, around 10,000 gallons a day, will be ruined forever. It is NOT true that the spring water is contaminated. We had a water analysis carried out at Eurolab, Italy, which shows that only the nitrate level is in excess of EU standards for potable water. This could have come about if a farmer had put more fertilizer than he should have in the catchment area of the spring water. So if it is almost good drinking water, something which tap water sometimes is not, it is very good water for irrigation. We believe it is almost impossible to contain the discharge from the cadavers in the cemetery. We also have the opinion of an expert in these things – that the formaldehyde (with which about 20 per cent of the cadavers are injected) will end up in the spring water because it has no time to biodegrade. Who will pay for the damages? We assume it will be the Nadur parish or the big heads at Mepa.

There is a spring underneath the old cemetery of Nadur. People used to drink from this spring and use its water for irrigation. The water has now become contaminated due to the cemetery and has never been used since 1939. We are afraid that that’s what will happen to the spring water at Ghajn Qasab.

The spring water at Ghajn Qasab and another 11 small springs are used to water 5,000 citrus trees and many other products. Is this not a consideration to be taken into account?

You should also know that there are 11 other small springs in this area. One has already stopped flowing due to the excavations of the cemetery. You should also be informed that the water of the main Ghajn Qasab spring turned milky white when they started digging and we have the photographs to show this and a sample of water as well to prove this. Your Parliamentary Secretary, who was the lawyer representing the Nadur Parish, can brief you on this. The Malta Resource Authority was not right when it claimed that water from beneath the cemetery flows in a northeast direction. It flows in a northwest direction towards Ghajn Qasab.

So we implore you, dear Prime Minister: Stop the work at Nadur cemetery at least until the appeal in front of Mepa is decided, or better still, annul it. This is madness. This is crazy: ruining one of the most abundant and uncontaminated spring water sites in the Maltese Islands, and encroaching on the area leading to Ramla Bay, one of the most celebrated beaches in the Med. This would also give credence to your parlance on Gozo as an ecological island.

Martin Camilleri, Michael Cassar, Manuel Muscat, Joe Portelli, Carmen Camilleri, Rita Muscat, Joseph Camilleri, Paul Said, Stella Said, E. Portelli