From antiquity to the mid-19th Century, dependence on rainwater harvesting and perennial springs set tight limits to development and population growth. Valletta was carefully designed to be self-sufficient but rapidly required the construction of the Wignacourt aqueduct to sustain it.
Until Chadwick discovered the mean sea level aquifer, chronic water shortages and widely varying water quality remained a major public hygiene issue as well as a security one. A new, plentiful supply combined with a growing sewage network reduced the death rate and introduced an era, exceptional in Maltese history, in which the water supply was taken for granted.
By the 1970s it was all over: demand had outstripped supply once more and only the resort to Reverse Osmosis in the early 80s made things possible once more. Meanwhile the extreme polarisation of Maltese politics made water shortages a measure of Government inefficiency instead of a common concern to be rationally addressed.
The 1987 change in government made no change in policy, and dependence on Reverse Osmosis continued to grow but no general debate on this, the most common of all common concerns, ensued. Past controversy and paternalistic politics locked the Government into the dangerous necessity of boasting about new RO plants, improvements in the distribution system and the reduction of losses. Raising awareness of our supply fragility did not sit well with the ‘feel-good-factor’ era.
Technocrats were well aware of the need to repair over-extraction damage to the aquifer. Their concerns were stated in internal reports and later in WSC Annual Reports, but remedial action was largely out of their hands. The 2000 Annual Report clearly states that efforts to reduce groundwater extraction by the corporation were likely to have been neutralised by unquantifiable illegal extraction.
The WSC was not a Water Authority empowered by law to safeguard natural water resources. It was made up of a supplier whingeing about unfair competition, rather than being an avenging champion of the commons. That was the government’s role, and the government defaulted.
The reiteration of longstanding concerns to the new 1996 Labour government made it take notice of what must have become background noise to its predecessor. In an effort to draw a line ending the mayhem in illegal extraction, an amnesty was granted and fines massively increased. Twelve years later, another massive amnesty recorded the inefficacy of the preceding exercise when thousands more private and illegal boreholes were discovered.
While the law menaced malefactors with thousand-Liri fines, illegally extracted groundwater was advertised for sale to the owners of freshwater swimming pools by farmers who found the water carrying business more lucrative than growing crops. The population acclimatised completely to the idea of buying bottled groundwater at a thousand times the price of the same water distributed by WSC. Significant parts of the economy – whether in manufacturing, beverage, or laundry services – built their business plans around access to unbilled groundwater.
At the other end of the pipe, the paternalism trap prevented any serious consideration of the use of waste water. EU requirements to treat waste water before discharging it into the sea were not immediately linked to the idea of reuse. The location of the new sewage treatment plants was chosen on the basis of the most convenient discharge points into the sea, according to the layout of the pre-existing sewage network. A massively expensive infrastructural asset at Iċ-Ċumnija, Mellieħa, will not be able to provide usable second class water because it has been located too far from potential users in Qawra and Bugibba. Now the running cost of pumping waste water over two ridges and pumping back the second class water will render the project economically unsustainable.
Depending for half our water supply on RO technology means that we will be forever dependent on oil in order to desalinate sea water. Permanent damage to the mean sea level aquifer through over extraction or contamination of its waters could render us 100% dependent on RO plants and at the mercy of the international oil market. It would make nonsense of any effort we may make to reduce our CO2 emissions at any time, exposing us to massive fines and energy costs increased thereby far beyond any market induced price hikes.
Yes, it is high time for Minister George Pullicino to be as draconian as he can in bringings the country back to its senses. Yes, we can blame him and all his predecessors for a long way back for sitting on their hands for so long. We should also blame ourselves for failing to see that this is an issue that goes far beyond the posturing and power-struggling of government and opposition. Would that help?
Our predicament on the water issue is the best illustration of our structural political predicament. Despite the noisy diatribes, basic issues such as water are relegated to semi-taboo status. Decades elapse once some “truth” is established as the outcome of a partisan skirmish while reality marches on unobserved. When the crisis is upon us we are awakened in a panic to face catastrophe. Drastic, painful measures are inflicted, especially on the victims of laissez-faire who invest in Mayhem Industries. The commonwealth is asked to bear the losses incurred in the plundering of the commons.
If ever this crisis is resolved, some execrable opportunist will demand credit for restoring a semblance of good governance which should never have been lost in the first place. Because we do not believe that we are entitled to it as of right, he, she or it will be rewarded. Cynics can look forward to managing a wry smile at this outcome. The alternatives simply do not bear contemplation.
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