Children had to wade through faeces to get into their St Paul’s Bay primary school on Thursday morning as sewage flowed along the road past it into the sea.

The local council said the responsible authorities had been contacted right away, but a disgruntled parent described how his two girls had to walk from the car into the school navigating through “faeces, virus and bacteria", carrying it into the building.

The river of drainage streamed from Triq San Ġuzepp down Triq San Publiju and into Triq l-Iskola, before flowing into the sea. 

The sewage ended up in the sea.

St Paul’s Bay mayor Alfred Grima could not say whether the issue had been resolved by mid-morning, however insisting that such a situation was not good anywhere, and even worse near a school.

While it was the first time this happened in these roads, Grima said he had experienced three sewage outflows in Triq J. Quintinus, each time caused by a collection of nappies in the drains.

Drainage repairs were not the local council’s remit, and its job was to report the situation and put pressure on the entities responsible to fix it.

While the mayor said the drainage division of the Water Services Corporation arrived on site to tackle the issue by 8am, the council had heard nothing from the Health Department since it reported the sewage outflow on Wednesday.

A father, who preferred to remain anonymous, said his attempts to alert the Health Department and ministry to the emergency fell on deaf ears and he was just asked to e-mail a complaint.

“There was no way to reach anyone in a health emergency,” he said in frustration.

When he dropped his children off at Maria Regina College St Paul’s Bay Primary, they were welcomed by the stench of “straightforward sewage” as they drove through the surrounding streets, with the cars spreading it further.

The parent pointed out that his young children were forced to abide by “questionable” health measures on a daily basis at school, such as wearing masks, yet they were then left to navigate through viruses and bacteria and carry these into the building.

Over the last five years, Times of Malta has reported that raw sewage was being pumped into the sea in St Paul's Bay, with the Malta Young Sailors' Club, especially, expressing exasperation that its complaints were being ignored.