Updated 11am
A man has been living for almost two months with raw sewage flooding his basement with the authorities unable to explain where it is coming from.
Franco Xuereb has been dealing with the seepage “every day, almost constantly” since early February.
Despite frequent contact with authorities, nobody was able to determine its source, he told Times of Malta.
After Times of Malta published Xuereb's story on Saturday, the Water Services Corporation said it had traced the leak to a private property.
Xuereb, a retired importer, said he just wanted the problem fixed.
“I don’t want to smell manure; it’s not healthy. When I go in the garage in the morning first thing it smells very bad.”
He said he was worried the constant damp was causing damage to his property and said the sewage, which sometimes contains raw excrement, covers a height of several centimetres in his basement.
The 62-year-old first lodged a report with the Water Services Corporation (WSC) on the day he first noted the leak.
After reporting the leak to the Environmental Health Directorate later that month, Xuereb said he was told numerous times in the following weeks that different coloured dye had been added to pipes in nearby roads and properties and that he should report any sightings of dye – and its colour – in his basement.
But the sewage never changed colour, leaving him baffled as to where it was coming from.
He said he had even gone as far as contacting the customer care department at the energy ministry only to be told WSC had checked nearby pipes with a camera and not found anything.
I’m in the seventh week of this coming into my property and I want to solve this problem once and for all
According to Xuereb, a widower who lives alone with his dog Lilly, when he last spoke to the directorate at the end of February, he was told it needed help from WSC to continue investigating but that it had been unable to reach the corporation engineer responsible.
He added that a significant volume of sewage had been flowing into the field opposite his property for more than a year-and-a-half, with roadworks to fix the problem only kicking off last week.
Xuereb described finding excrement in the liquid (left) and is worried the leak could be damaging the walls of his basement (right). Photos: Franco Xuereb'Bounced between Health Directorate and WSC'
While leaks on private property are the responsibility of the property owner, Xuereb stressed there was no drainage pipe close to where the liquid was entering the basement through a section of wall and from a small grate in the floor.
In the meantime, with sewage continuing to seep into Xuereb’s basement, he hopes authorities will finally discover the source of the leak and fix it once and for all.
“I’m fed up – even water would get on your nerves, let alone sewage.
"Authorities aren’t taking it seriously and I’ve been bounced between the Health Directorate and WSC for weeks now,” he said.
“I want them [authorities] to solve this problem as soon as possible and for there to be more cooperation between the engineer responsible for the area and the health directorate,” said Xuereb.
“Someone has to shoulder responsibility and take action to solve the problem – I’m in the seventh week of this coming into my property and I want to solve this problem once and for all.”
Questions were sent to WSC and the health directorate a week ago.
On Saturday morning, WSC informed Times of Malta the issue had been traced to a leak from a nearby property and, as such, was a private matter and outside its remit.