Update 1.13pm - Environment Minister orders disciplinary action
Blue Flag beaches are a boon for local marine life. Blue paint ones perhaps less so.
A Facebook post in a group dedicated to living in St Paul's Bay shows the sea in Bugibba having turned a radioactive blue as two men rinse a paint roller in the water.
"Government men at work on the Bugibba water park this morning," the man who posted the image to Facebook claimed.
"The sea is blue, so no harm in rinsing my paint brush with blue paint on the beach, right?" the man posted.
"WRONG, Mister. VERY wrong."
The man who caught the men red-handed told Times of Malta that the two just finished a paint job on the pavement at Bugibba water park. "Then rinsed their paint roller and bucket on the beach," he said.
An Environment Ministry spokesperson confirmed that the two men were PARKS employees.
According to the PARKS website, the directorate is responsible for "the upkeep and maintenance of national parks and other public spaces."
The director of PARKS has now been instructed by Environment Minister Jose Herrera to report the incident to the police. Dr Herrera has also ordered that the two men be subjected to disciplinary action.
"The Minister reiterates that such misbehaviour will not be tolerated," a ministry spokesperson told Times of Malta.
"He expects that employees within his Ministry should show exemplary behaviour in matters which could affect the environment."
Here's hoping their next paint job is far away from any waterway.