Fresh water supply to hotel

The photograph accompanying Anne Zammit's "Natural Reaction" article "Sand, sea and high risk"

(The Sunday Times, July 3) showed a water intake pipe close to a hotel with the caption: "Double yellow lines in front of an intake pipe reserve space for the bowser which calls to top up the water supply of a hotel once a week. All private water supplies are illegal because none have been authorised by the health authority. The rampant abuse of unregistered borehole water being supplied by the bowser is increasing the risk of Legionnaire's Disease with possible disastrous effects on our tourism industry"

I would like to point out that I am the fresh water supplier of the pictured hotel and that the intake pipe that appeared in your newspaper is used for its intended purpose, more or less, three times a day. My activities are duly authorised by the competent authorities, including the Department of Health. Our source is checked periodically by the said authorities. My borehole is also duly sanctioned by MEPA. The relative documents can be perused at our offices by any interested person.

I find Ms Zammit's sweeping statement completely unacceptable. While illegal boreholes ought to be controlled, one should not give the impression that the water that is supplied by private entities goes unchecked and is potentially harmful. Such false allegations may lead to precarious circumstances for the tourism industry and also to professional water suppliers.

I reserve the right to resort to any lawful action for libel damages.

Anne Zammit writes:

Every supplier of water for public use must have quality of water compliant with European drinking water standards enforced by the Department of Health. While the supplier's source may be checked for other parameters it does not follow that this standard is met. MEPA should not be sanctioning boreholes when it is the role of the Malta Resources Authority to be regulating the water resource. A registered borehole is not an automatic permit for extraction.

The water supplier has identified himself whereas the photograph showed only an intake pipe, illustrating the frequent use of borehole water in hotels.