Malta would have less rainwater flooding its streets if the Planning Authority and Water Services Corporation did their jobs properly, ADPD – the Green Party has said.
The first rains since the start of summer hit the country over the past week, bringing with them the familiar sight of flooded roads and residential areas.
Speaking from Qormi, ADPD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo and electoral candidate Sandra Gauci both argued that flooding could be avoided through better planning and enforcement.
New housing developments were not being serviced with water-harvesting cisterns, Gauci said, leading to rainwater pouring into drains and leading to sewer overflows.
“Millions of euros, mostly EU funds, were spent in a flood relief project to address this issue,” Gauci said. “Yet any positive impact of such a project was rendered useless through the tolerance of developments which are not equipped to harvest water and consequently ends up in the sewer.”
Cacopardo agreed with that assessment, noting that many of Malta’s valleys had been built up, obstructing the natural flow of rainwater.
“The rainwater flowing through this valley last week contained sewage,” he said, speaking from the Qormi valley. This, he said, meant that rainwater was ending up in sewers instead of water cisterns.
By law, houses are required to harvest rainwater in cisterns or wells. But ADPD said this is not being checked or enforced – and it pointed its finger at two government authorities in particular.
“The Planning Authority is not verifying those new developments are provided with suitably sized water cisterns which can ensure that rainwater incident on roofs is harvested. On the other hand, the Water Services Corporation too is failing its mission. When authorising the linking of house drains to the main sewer no verification is being made that such drains are only used for sewage and not for rainwater,” the party said.
If both those organisations were to do their job properly, less water would flood Malta’s streets following storms, the party said.
“This is the price we have to pay today for the incompetence in the running of the Planning Authority and the Water Services Corporation over the years. Rainwater is a precious resource which we are not adequately taking care of.”
More rain is forecast over the coming days, with the Malta International Airport weather station predicting isolated showers on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.