Bartolo urges Brussels to lead by example

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo complained in parliament yesterday that while Malta had been obliged by the EU to set up expensive sewage treatment plants within a short span of years, EU founder member Belgium was among the EU countries which least treated their sewage.

Rather than criticise new member states which had less resources than countries such as Belgium, the EU should lead by example.

Mr Bartolo was speaking during the debate on the estimates of the Water Services Corporation.

He also observed that while Malta was to spend millions of liri to treat sewage, nothing was being done regarding the concentration of fish excreta from fish farms close to popular beaches. A recommendation being made in other countries was for such farms to be taken further out to sea.

Mr Bartolo referred to a 2003 report "Europe's Water" drawn up by the European Environmental Agency.

This pointed out that Malta lacked a lot of the data requested. In fact, the biggest gaps in information on the water situation were in the Mediterranean - Malta, Spain, Italy and Turkey.

So what yardsticks was Malta using with when it claimed that water quality was being improved?

Mr Bartolo observed that the corporation was working for the consumer price to reflect as much as possible production costs. The EU, he said, did not permit subsidies to the corporation for commercial expenses.

Mr Bartolo said that new distributor pipes being installed by the WSC were bursting. Was this because of shoddy work? Was it true that these incidents were frequent?

Earlier in the debate, Nationalist MP Frederick Azzopardi spoke on the water situation in Gozo. He observed that leakage control had paid off in Gozo, where the leakage rate of the distribution system was, percentage-wise, well below Malta's. Furthermore, leakages in Gozo were being repaired within 12 hours of being reported.

The WSC's biggest worry, he said, was the high level of nitrates and chlorides in tap water. Nitrates were probably the result of fertilisers and chlorides could be the result of the extraction of salty water.

The WSC had now decided to collect all groundwater extraction in Gozo at Ta' Cenc where it would be "polished" in a new, Lm1.5 million plant and mixed with water from reverse osmosis plant so that quality would be improved before distribution.

Noel Farrugia (MLP) insisted that the government needed to make stronger efforts to store storm water.

He said one of the best ways to channel storm water so that this could be stored was through the building of rubble walls, yet this skill was being lost.

The government also needed to rehabilitate valleys all over Malta, including Wied il-Qlejgha, where work started by the Labour government had not been continued. In this valley, particular attention needed to be given to the maintenance of the dams.

He also called for protection of water levels on the water table.

Indeed, the public needed to be more aware of the importance of water as naturally produced and the need to conserve it.

Parliamentary secretary Tonio Fenech said the government was not against subsidising the WSC in order to keep water affordable for users, but such subsidies should be kept at the right levels. The corporation had been improving its operations and had successfully brought down the government subsidy from Lm14 million to Lm8 million. This gave the lie to the opposition's allegations that the government was always looking for solutions to its problems in people's pockets.

It was the government's mission to see that the EU's directives on the water supply and resources should be strictly adhered to for the people's benefit. The directives aimed at strengthening measures for the upgrading of the quality of water pumped from the aquifers. This could partly be done through the elimination of surface pollutants.

The directives also expected the corporation to have its own plans to enhance water catchment, as well as clear policies on the regulation of water rates based on actual cost rather than bad practices.

The directive on the quality of water laid down rigid timeframes which would have to be adhered to, even at huge cost. The corporation would be sure to meet those timeframes, said Mr Fenech.