The government has published legal notices providing that no new boreholes may be drilled for ground water extraction and all boreholes which have not been already registered with the authorities have to be registered within a month.

Resources Minister George Pullicino said Malta needed to protect its ground water and give the water table time to recharge itself. It was estimated that ground water would be sustainable if extraction did not exceed 23 million cubic metres annually, yet that number was being exceeded by 11 million cubic metres every year.

He warned that all those who did not register their boreholes within a month would be liable for a fine of between €9,300 and €18,600 in terms of a law enacted in 1997. Registering a borehole did not mean an automatic right to extract groundwater, the minister said.

Furthermore, no new boreholes may be drilled without prior permission from the Malta Resources Authority.

For the time being, however, no new permits would be granted until the situation was assessed and the water table was allowed to re-establish itself.

Anyone drilling boreholes illegally would be liable for a fine of between €20,000 and €50,000 and equipment would be confiscated.