Malta’s water table levels are still not being given enough time to replenish, according to experts, a year after the EU’s environmental watchdog warned of the “poor status” of the island’s “groundwater bodies”.

“The scenario as depicted in the European Environment Agency remains unchanged. Our ground water is drying out fast due to uncontrolled extraction by industry and private individuals.

“Over-extraction means that the Mean-Sea-Level (MSL) aquifer is turning increasingly salty,” said Keith Buhajar, a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta. He specialises in water management systems.

Leading hydrologist Marco Cremona also said that he doesn’t see any improvement in the worrying situation of Malta’s groundwater.

“The demand for water has increased and I expect people are pumping more water than ever,” he said.

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.

Dr Cremona believes that government figures of water being extracted only reflect a fraction of what is potentially being pumped out from the aquifers, considering that many boreholes remain unregistered.

“For the last 30 years it’s been a free-for-all when it comes to the pumping of ground water. There is no deterrent for people to drill a borehole and use the water for free. What is of concern to us is that Malta is becoming more affluent, which means there are more people with swimming pools, there are more car washes, more bottling of water and more laundries.

“Many of these big users of water depend on private boreholes.”

Agency lists €200m projects

Contacted by Times of Malta for their assessment on the groundwater situation, both the Water Services Corporation and the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) referred the newspaper to the Energy and Water Agency (EWA).

The EWA said that while the European report shone a light on Malta's poor groundwater quality, it did not say that uncontrolled extraction was causing it to dry up. 

The agency also listed a number of measures intended to improve groundwater quality, from a New Water programme to help cut farmers' reliance on groundwater to improved municipal water infrastructure, aquifer recharge programmes in places like Wied il-Għasel or Wied il-Qlejjgħa and public education campaigns to encourage people to save water. 

"Funding amounting to around €200 million has been allocated... for these and other projects in the water sector," the agency said. 

There are more people with swimming pools, there are more car washes, there is more bottling of water, there are more laundries

WSC lists its plans

While the WSC did not have access to data on the current state of groundwater levels, according to spokesperson Pablo Micallef, they were encouraging sustainable water use, through a number of projects, including one which involved shifting farmers from groundwater to new water, recycled waste water. Around 500 farmers across Malta and Gozo are registered new water consumers, according to Mr Micallef, which meant that 500 fewer farmers were depending on the water table.

The European Environment Agency’s European Waters report for 2018 had said Malta’s groundwater levels are drying up fast.

“This is still a work in progress because there is a high demand for new water from farmers and at this point our challenge is to match the demand,” he said.

Furthermore, with regards to tap water which currently is a blend of reverse osmosis water and that being pumped from the aquifers at a ratio of 60:40, the WSC is moving away from depending on the latter by investing in more energy-efficient desalination plants.

The aim, according to Mr Micallef, is to reduce the consumption of groundwater by half.

Why is our groundwater drying up?

Over-extraction means that our groundwater is not being allowed time to naturally recharge, according to Dr Buhajar.

Apart from uncontrolled extraction, one must also consider the overpopulated and excessive urbanisation the Maltese archipelago is faced with.

The Maltese islands are overdeveloped, meaning that all extant urban infrastructure is hindering natural aquifer recharge. Urbanisation leads to an increased surface runoff (water loss) to the sea.

Ground water recharge is a process which will require decades, in Dr Buhajar’s view, at least half a century to achieve and simply does not take place overnight.

Why is our groundwater important?

“We have no right to destroy a resource that we borrow from our children,” claims the ex-president of the Malta Water Association, Dirk De Ketelaere, who campaigned for years for the government to develop a strategy to manage the groundwater crisis.

Depleted groundwater levels will mean that the Maltese ecosystem will suffer.

Apart from this, the situation could be potentially ruinous to local farmers, whose produce will not be able to compete with that produced abroad if they are not able to access water at an economical price, explained Mr De Ketelaere, a hydrologist.

The new water treatment plants are problematic as they are not as yet able to supply water to farmers across the Maltese archipelago, according to Mr Ketelaere, who pointed to issues stemming from the location of the water plants and outdated technology.

Regarding the plan to become more dependent on desalination plants, in the remote event of an oil spill, the island will face a water crisis, he noted.

He was joined by Dr Buhajar and Dr Cremona in his prognosis.

However, Mr Micallef from the WSC denied the possibility of this happening, claiming that the desalination plants were strategically placed in different points of the island to avert such a crisis in the event of an oil spill.