More and more countries have come to realize the immense importance of “sweet” water for irrigation, as do a multitude of processing industries that use potable water.

In many countries suffering from shortages, and governments and industries are developing various control mechanisms for the management of consumption and sourcing as well as for methods to increase the sourcing options and utilisation (re-cycling) of the limited water supply.

In Malta, many discussions related to water have been ongoing since 2005. Numerous “letters to the editor” and relevant articles have been published in various national newspapers.

At this stage, one can assume that a good portion of the population is now well informed on the subject and has come to realize the seriousness of the issue, also through the “alerting” type of articles, with comprehensive quantified relevant data, by Ing. Marco Cremona, a well-known hydrologist, Dr Gordon Knox, a well-known geologist and guest lecturer at the University of Malta, and many others.

The partly uncontrolled extraction from more than 8,000 privately owned legal and illegal bore holes amounting to +/- 20 million cubic metres in 2007, on top of the 14 million cubic metres extracted by WSC, has become a most significant aspect of the increasing salinity in Malta’s aquifer. The eventual demise thereof, in view of the limited rainwater (for 80 per cent lost into the sea) re-charge of no more than 23 million cubic metres, would result in an annual shortage of 11 million cubic metres, or more.

Many suggestions have been put forward to correct this situation:

• Metering and monitoring and charging payment for private extraction of water. This will be an arduous undertaking requiring years to implement, apart from the extensive administrative process-organisation to be structured and managed.

• Re-instate and add private and public reservoirs with all provisions required to allow maximum percolation of rainwater to re-charge the aquifer. This method requires legislation and prompt execution by the government, which will also take years to become effective; certainly if we consider the newly proposed “valley road” plan with tunnels and reservoirs where the excess rain runs mostly into Marsamxett Harbour.

• Force the population to reduce consumption by way of higher charges and provide public information on TV, in newspapers and magazines to advise on how to reduce personal consumption, which knowledge has to be improved. At the same time we must realise that a change of attitude takes time (“culture change”).

Although the above measures might lead to a certain degree of success, it will take years for it to become really effective. Meanwhile, the aquifer will deteriorate further due to increasing over-extraction and increased salinity.

A prominent Maltese businessman presented the following method, which, if adopted, would have an immediate positive effect on the aquifer in a most economical way.

For this method to be effective, the following conditions need to be satisfied.

The government should decide and declare that water from the aquifer (like oil in other countries) is a national natural resource, the extraction of which should be paid for in an appropriate manner.

In order to implement control of the extraction, all 8000+ wells, with perhaps the exception of the permitted WSC wells, should be closed down. Unwilling owners must be fined to the extent that illegal extraction will become most unattractive from a cost point of view. Control of this situation can be provided by engaging the services of Co. “X” from The Netherlands, which can carry out specialized surveys at low altitude (10-40 metres) with a mini-heli airborne remote controlled instrument platform (developed by “TNO”, the National Institute for Technological Research and Development), capable of detecting any water flow and its salinity on the earth’s surface.

Having closed all wells, the government should open bowser-truck loading facilities at the three major R/O plants in Cirkewwa, Zurrieq and Pembroke where water for private use (consumers and industry) could be obtained against certification and payments.

Kees de Jong

SLIEMA