The Geography Division of the Mediterranean Institute of the University of Malta recently marked World Water Day by showcasing selected related research of the past few years at a seminar organised by the Geographical Society of the University.

In his opening address, Simon Mercieca, director of the Medi-terranean Institute, said in setting up the Institute, the late University Rector, Rev. Professor Peter Serracino Inglott, envisioned it as a venue where different academic discip- lines met to create a synthesis.

Malta’s natural water and food resources can only sustain a population of 15,000, Dr Mercieca said, but thanks to the management of its resources and trade, it has always succeeded in sustaining a much larger population.

Water has a timeless affinity with history. The Maltese expression minn żmien żemżem (since time immemorial) owes its origin to a well which is reputed to have therapeutic powers in the holy city of Mecca, which according to tradition, goes back to the time of Abraham.

Mdina has public wells, such as the one at Mesquita Square, which date back to the Arab period. This proves that the Arabs created and operated a new water system for the area which remained in use until the early 17th century when the Knights of St John built an aqueduct to carry water from Mdina to the new city of Valletta.

Julia Brown, from the Department of Geography at the University of Portsmouth, highlighted the fact that although fresh water is a vital resource, we do not always appreciate its importance or its various uses.

Dr Brown said that a growing population and higher demand for water, food and energy are interconnected.

A growing demand for food requires more water and energy. Higher demand for energy necessitates greater water use. Energy is also needed to produce clean water and supply it to consumers, and increasingly for desalination.

Ritienne Gauci gave an over-view of the geographies of water and reviewed the recently-published Fourth UN World Water Development Report, “Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk”, which elaborates on the interactions between water and the drivers of change.

The report has sought to demonstrate how much water is at the centre of development, and how it has far-reaching connections with every realm of human life.

The only ground water resource in Malta, the Main Sea Level (MSL) Aquifer, over the past several decades has become insufficient to meet ever increasing demand. Malta depends significantly on seawater desalination (40 per cent), which costs four times as much as extracting the same amount from the water table.

Claire Galea spoke about the need to increase water storage capacity with a case study of the Birkirkara/Msida catchment area and incorporating a reasonably broader boundary to include Mosta, L-Iklin, Lija, and Naxxar. These localities contribute significantly to flooding.

Claudine Cardona referred to the EU’s Water Framework Directive (WFD) to create a legal framework for the protection and restoration of all types of water. The main purpose of the directive is to prevent further deterioration, protect and enhance the health of all water resources and thereby sustain the natural ecosystems that depend on them.

The directive has two principal concerns: to reduce all forms of water pollution and to promote sustainable water use.

Transposition of the directive into Maltese law has been an important milestone in the management of water in Malta since it is the very first piece of legislation that has nationally brought together a holistic framework to manage water at the scale of the water catchment.

The principal goal of the WFD, and thus of the plan, is to achieve “good status” in all surface waters and groundwater by 2015.

Colette Caruana spoke about the results of a questionnaire distributed to 150 Maltese households, which found that acceptable psychometric properties allowed meaningful testing of the hypotheses that link relevant attitudes with how these impact the intention of households to install water-saving devices.

Dr Schembri and Ms Gauci are lecturers in Geography at the Geography Division of the Mediterranean Institute at the University of Malta.