A giant plume of underwater sewage has turned popular Gozitan diving spot Ras il-Ħobż into a horrific site.

Eyewitnesses said a brown mass has been rising to the surface a few metres off the rocky coast over the past week.

“I tend not to blame the media if they don’t report such a horrendous situation because these things are now an everyday occurrence and no longer make news,” a hiker commented, demonstrating a sense of despair.

“It’s like witnessing a new island being formed, rising out of the sea like the ones recorded in the Pacific,” a farmer said, taking a deep breath as the contaminated sea lapped the shore behind him.

Gozo’s only sewage treatment facility is located at the rocky southwestern bay.

Sixty metres below the surface, a damaged underwater pipeline originating from the facility has been leaking thick brown matter for years. (See WSC reaction below)

A brief video uploaded on social media this week showed a massive brown curtain of what looked like sewage blocking the sunlight, playing havoc with visibility, which scuba divers look for when venturing underwater.

A huge cloud moving with the current

The footage was shot earlier this month by Roy Davidson who told Times of Malta the effluent looked like some explosion rising from the depths.

“It takes your breath away, literally, because once you descend below the 25-metre mark, that’s when visibility plummets and you can only see a vast cloud of mixed waste sitting there,” he said.

Mr Davidson pointed out that, sometimes, the leak was so horrible even the shipwrecks close to Ras il-Ħobż would be engulfed by the effluent, making it dangerous to dive there. “I’ve never seen anything like it because it wasn’t a small continuous stream but a huge cloud moving with the current,” he remarked.

Ras il-Ħobż is a Gozitan gem but, unfortunately, there’s destruction going on.

Last year, Mr Davidson produced a 30-minute documentary that netted the Best Documentary award at the Malta Short Film Festival.

The footage showcased the pristine diversity of the marine ecosystems that thrive in the area and shed light on the devastation sewage leaks from the treatment facility centre were causing.

“Ras il-Ħobż, or Middle Finger, is a Gozitan gem,” Mr Davidson said.

“The place is vast, rich in marine life and, possibly, the best spot to dive in the Maltese islands but, unfortunately, there’s destruction going on.”

Divers told Times of Malta in August that fish saw sewage as food and consumed it, leading to irreversible damage to their food chain.

The Times of Malta has raised the alarm several times in recent years about this outflow and the devastation it causes. Earlier this year, the Water Services Corporation blamed the leaks on the illegal dumping of farm waste and, in August, its chairman said household and industry waste was also a factor.

The WSC issued a call for tenders  last May to repair the damaged pipeline, which reaches depths of about 80 metres and extends 140 metres offshore.

The Ras il-Ħobż treatment facility was inaugurated in January 2008 by then prime minister Lawrence Gonzi and investments minister Austin Gatt at a cost of €7 million, coming from EU funds. It replaced four sewage outflows. The objective was to stop raw sewage from being pumped directly into the sea and ensure Malta adhered to the EU Waste Water Directive.

WSC: urban sewage network working perfectly

In a reaction the Water Services Corporation said the material/plume in question is not urban sewage and it is not coming from the Corporation’s Ras il-Hobz
Gozo Sewage Treatment Plant.

"The corporation’s Gozo plant and the urban sewage network leading to it, are working perfectly. In fact, the last recorded by-pass occurred on 5 September 2018 in the afternoon for a limited number of hours due to an illegal discharge.

"The plant has been brought into excellent working order since early this year mainly through a concentrated effort in curbing illegalities from non-urban sources. Since then, the plant treatment effectiveness improved drastically. Energy use per cubic meter went down from 1.83 Kwh to 0.98 Kwh and sludge production from 4.97 kg per cubic meter to 1.73 kg," the corporation said. 

It insisted that the water discharged from the plant is not murky but clear to an extent that one cannot distinguish it from the waters in which it is discharged. 

It said any wrong use of the sewer system or problems with the sewer can be reported to the corporation on Freephone: 80076400; Email: customercare@wsc.com.mt; Website live chat: www.wsc.com.mt; or through our social media.