The European Environment Agency’s European Waters report for 2018 had listed Malta, Cyprus and Spain as countries where groundwater levels are drying up fast. Malta’s water table levels are still not being given enough time to be replenished, according to experts who have examined the situation a year after the agency’s report warned of the “poor status” of the island’s “groundwater bodies”.

Malta’s ground water is drying out fast due to uncontrolled extraction by industry, agriculture and private individuals. This over-extraction means that groundwater is not being allowed time to recharge naturally. The Mean Sea Level Aquifer is turning increasingly saline. 

But when Times of Malta contacted both the Water Services Corporation (WSC) and the Malta Resources Authority for their assessment of the serious groundwater situation exposed by the European Environment Agency, it was invited to check the position with the Energy and Water Agency. However, this body, set up by the government supposedly to formulate and implement national policies in the energy and water sectors, claimed it was not the right authority to answer questions on the issue. 

With none of the obvious government candidates apparently in charge of tackling this dire situation, is it any wonder that it was left to Keith Buhagiar, a specialist in water management systems, to spell out the bleak long-term consequences: “Ground water recharge is a process which will require decades, at least half a century, to achieve”.   

Malta has become increasingly dependent on energy-intensive desalination. However, groundwater still contributes most of the water used in the country, especially by water-thirsty agriculture during the dry seasons. Inadequately regulated private groundwater extraction has exacerbated the situation. 

Although the WSC claimed they were encouraging sustainable water use, including commendably shifting farmers (some 500 farmers to date) from ground water to re-cycled waste water, this is only of limited impact. It is clear from experts’ comments that mitigation efforts have been patchy and have not changed the rate of groundwater depletion.

Depleted ground water means the Maltese ecosystem suffers. The situation could be ruinous to farmers, whose produce will not be able to compete with that produced abroad if they are not able to access water at an economic price.    

The Maltese population is largely ignorant of the dimension of the water problem. The last four decades of reverse osmosis plants have created a false sense of security. But in the Maltese context, reverse osmosis should only be considered as a fall-back, rather than the leading edge of water management. 

The vital priority should be allocated to the rehabilitation and conservation of the water aquifers. This requires an integrated and fully costed strategy to achieve measurable goals. Successive governments have turned their faces against confronting the impending water crisis. The difficult political challenges of dealing with the farmers and commercial interests have apparently led ministers to prefer to believe in miracles to solve the problem.

They seem to prefer to live as if the crisis isn’t happening. But while the biggest perceived threat to the environment has been property development and the loss of countryside, we have failed to focus on the effects of agriculture and its impact on water resources as a result of the extraction of groundwater. 

Only a catastrophe will force politicians to recognise the gravity of the situation and to tackle it objectively – by which time it may be too late.