The Water Services Corporation (WSC) will urgently replace the sewer main in the road above a garage leaking water and foul smells into Triq ix-Xatt, Ta’ Xbiex.

The corporation’s media manager, Pablo Micallef, said the corporation had discovered that the main sewer, which ran under Triq ir-Rampa, just above the garage, was damaged and was in need of repair.

Times of Malta reported on Tuesday that the owner of the Yacht Café, in Ta’ Xbiex said it had taken five weeks for action to be taken to sort out the drainage leak and foul smells from the neighbouring garage.

Maria Farrugia said she had lost a third of her business earnings because the authorities had failed to deal with the drainage leak for so long.

Mr Micallef said the WSC had been addressing this situation over the past two weeks since the first complaint was made on October 31. Ta’ Xbiex mayor Max Zammit and executive secretary Jasmine Tonna were “kept informed at all times”, he added.

A colour test was done in the sewer main that immediately came out of the garage under the road. A CCTV investigation was then carried out on the sewer main, which resulted in the corporation concluding that it needed to be repaired.

While works were carried out on the sewer main at the San Ġwann industrial estate, WSC workers attempted to use patching to “fix the most obvious defects”, Mr Micallef said.

However, the two patches applied did not work and this meant the WSC would need to completely overhaul the sewer main