The Msida skatepark was “flooded” with sewage over the weekend after a leak from a nearby pipe caused wastewater to seep into the pedestrian tunnel.

Despite being fixed two weeks ago, by Friday the wastewater had returned and was still visible on Saturday. A fresh attempt to fix the leak appeared to have taken place by the end of the weekend and the site was cleared by Monday morning.

The flooding seems to be a recurrent problem - at least from 2020 - with the Msida local council on Monday calling on the health authorities to solve the issue once and for all. 

The most recent leak has been attributed to faulty plumbing at a nearby residential building after workers from the Water Services Corporation visited the area on Thursday to find the source of the problem.

Local resident Agnes Antal told Times of Malta the water had become a significant problem.

Water had "flooded" the skatepark over the weekend, leaving "sewage everywhere", she said. She said the leak had been repaired a couple of weeks ago but had reappeared.

“People are disgusted... it’s unacceptable,” Antal said, adding that with summer approaching and pedestrians increasingly donning lighter footwear such as flip-flops, she had hoped the leak would be repaired quickly. 

When contacted on Saturday, the corporation blamed the leak on a problem with private plumbing.

“The leak is not related to our network, it’s an issue on private property,” said WSC spokesperson Pablo Micallef, adding that, as such, further action fell under the responsibility of the Health Authority. 

“Our network is clear... if it’s an internal blockage, we don’t cater for that,” he said.

The leak is not related to our network, it’s an issue on private property- WSC spokesperson Pablo Micallef

Although a “small blockage” had been discovered locally on the water services network two weeks ago, this was unlikely to have been related to the problem, Micallef said.

When checked via CCTV on Friday and Saturday morning, the relevant piping remained clear, he added.

When asked why the leak had been attributed to a private residential building despite appearing at street level, Micallef replied that this was the location of a privately-maintained siphon pipe.

Siphon pipes use atmospheric pressure and gravity to maintain flow, and are commonly used to carry water under obstacles such as tunnels and roads.

Msida mayor Margaret Baldacchino Cefai confirmed on Saturday she had been informed the leak had occurred due to a plumbing issue on private property.

Calling the resulting condition of the skatepark “really ugly”, she said the council had made efforts to contact the residential building owner to fix the problem.

However, the tunnels were not the local council's responsibility, she stressed, pointing to Infrastructure Malta as the overseeing authority.

In an email sent to health authorities on Monday, the Msida local council demanded urgent action be taken to address the cause of the leak, saying it had been happening annually for the past few years. 

"This is a problem that is happening every year since October 2020... It is of the utmost importance that this is solved once a for all," the council said.