From Mr J. Portelli

I read the interview given by the Archpriest of the Nadur Parish to the newspaper Il-Gens on the cemetery that is being built, and which has a pending appeal against it. (PS. Mepa is taking its time to decide by which time the cemetery will be ready.) I sent this letter to Il-Gens twice, but it has not published it so I wish to express my opinion on the interview here, and ask some questions.

If it is really true that the Church had nothing to hide, why didn’t it let the Environmental Commission of the Church say if it approves of the cemetery?

Is it a criterion to say that the site to be chosen could not be private property? The cemetery could have been built on private property by negotiating with the owner and paying him. The Church is going to have a return of hundred of thousands of Maltese liri, so there would have been enough money to buy private property. The owner of the land that lies in front of the old cemetery wanted to sell or exchange the land with other property but the Archpriest did not want that deal.

In the interview it was said that a layer of concrete was placed underneath the graves so that the water does not seep through. But this concrete has already cracked. It was proposed that this layer be covered with waterproofing but it was not done, although even this would not keep that water from seeping through some day and contaminate the spring water underneath.

This is Church violence on the natural environment, both because the visual aspect of this area was still not developed, and violence on agricultural land irrigated with thousands of gallons of water every day. We already had a similar case. The old Nadur cemetery was built over a spring and nobody has drunk its water or used it for irrigation since then. The Water Services Corporation had not given its go ahead for the new cemetery to be built near a borehole, as the cemetery would have contaminated water deep down in a borehole, but not spring water caught in fissures 20 metres down. The Church should have given an example and acted in another way. In the interview it was said that it is not true that the spring water of Ghajn Qasab turned white due to the excavations. But this is true and I am sending a photograph that proves it. You cannot argue against facts.

According to tests done on the spring water, it was found that the water is good for drinking except for the level of nitrates (according to EU standards tap water should have not more than 0.05 g/litre; in the spring water of Ghajn Qasab the nitrate level is 0.13 g/litre). This could have happened if a farmer put more nitrate fertilizer in the soil than necessary. Now the case will be different because if water comes out of the cemetery, it would have poisonous substances in it like formaldehyde; and water, which now is almost good for drinking, would not even be good for irrigation.

There are other places where the cemetery could have been built. If it is not possible to be built in Nadur, the Santa Marija Cemetery has many empty graves so it is not a problem where to bury the dead.

I am still asking the Church to withdraw the permit and stop work on the cemetery. A mistake is not hidden by another but by remedying it.

I thank you for the space you gave me in your newspaper.

Joe Portelli

NADUR