Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1072992
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 JANUARY 2019 NEWS JAMES DEBONO THE Sant Antnin water treat- ment plant in Marsaskala, constructed in 1982 to pro- vide farmers with irrigation water, is destined to outlive the nearby waste recycling plant which the government will relocate to Maghtab. The plant, which ceased operations, is expected to re- open in 2020 after being ret- rofitted with environmental- ly-friendly measures that will stop the arrival of solid sew- age to the plant. While the new investment in the plant will increase the sewage treatment capacity in the south of Malta by 17,000 cubic metres a day, it will no longer be providing farmers with irrigation water as farm- ers will be getting high qual- ity 'new water' produced from the polishing plant at Ta' Bar- kat in Xghajra. The plant represented the first efforts to recycle sewage water and even fulfilled an educational role by hosting school visits to instil aware- ness on water conservation is- sues but farmers were always sceptical about the quality of this water which was deemed too salty. Residents also com- plained of odour problems. Moreover the availability of 'new water' from sewage treatment plants constructed in the past years has now ren- dered the plant obsolete in providing this resource. According to the Water Ser- vices Corporation (WSC), the new water exceeds European Union standards and can even be used as class-A second- ary water – on crops that are eaten raw. The Water Services Corporation is also in the pro- cess of developing a network of dispensers from which farmers in the south of Malta will be able to collect the new water. Yet the Sant Antnin plant is now destined to outlive its original purpose and will now serve to boost the WSC sewage handling capacity. A tender for a partial retrofit of the Sant Antnin Wastewater Treatment plant was awarded in December 2018 for the val- ue of €4.25 million. The plant is expected to be put in service by the first quarter of 2020, employing a more energy efficient and environmental-friendly treat- ment process. The retrofitted plant will increase the south- ern region's catchment treat- ment capacity by 17,000 cubic metres per day. The Sant Antnin Wastewa- ter Treatment plant and the Ta' Barkat Plant will be inter- connected to ensure greater efficiency and operational flexibility. As built in the 1980s, the Sant Antnin plant was receiv- ing raw sewage for treatment. The treatment methodology used to work mainly through the blowing of air in open tanks. This was a very ener- gy-intensive and inefficient process, both in terms of re- sources used and treatment capacity. With the new investment, instead of receiving raw sew- age directly from the sewer, the Sant Antnin plant will now start receiving sewage from the Ta' Barkat plant in Xghajra, which will be inter- connected to Sant Antnin through underground tunnel pipework. This will impede the arrival of solids to Sant Antnin, as the sewage would have already gone through core and fine screens. In this way the sewage will arrive in liquid form already filtered to 3mm. This is expected to re- duce odour problems. The treated wastewater at the retrofitted Sant Antnin plant will still be discharged through the outfall at Ta' Bar- kat. But further polishing of the effluent for reuse in the future is not excluded. Unfortunately the works had one unforeseen impact on national waste agency Was- teserv, which was previously serviced with water from the plant and cannot do so now due to the temporary closure of the plant. In view of this Wasteserv has issued a call for the supply of 5,000 cubic me- tres of water from private sup- pliers – with private bowsers which extract groundwater not being excluded. Secondary water is a vital component in anaerobic di- gestion through which organ- ic waste is transformed in to methane. "This is the first call of its kind since WasteServ has been informed by the Water Services Corporation that the latter will not be in a position to supply such water due to ongoing works being carried out," Wasteserv chief execu- tive Tonio Montebello told MaltaToday. Sant Antnin treatment plant to re- open in 2020 Fire consumed the Sant Antnin treatment plant in May 2017, which lies adjacent to the wqter treatment facility DAVID HUDSON THE Freeport in Birzebbugia has secured new equipment in a €20 million bid to re- duce noise pollution in the area. The €20 million were used to acquire 15 new Kone rubber-tired Gantry Cranes (RTGs) that stand over 27 metres high, seven of which are already operational. By March, all the newly acquired RTGs will be operational. As opposed to the typical siren alarm when this equipment is operational, the machinery makes use of a white noise alarm. The alarm is a soft, white noise alert with constant reverb. "The new features included with the RTGs, besides the white noise alarm, in- clude auto-steering and a GPS device, which makes sure that it cannot stray from the stipulated path," Freeport CEO Alex Montebello said, adding that the white noise would automatically start working after sunset following complaints from Birzebbugia residents. The total investment, Montebello said, amounted to €30 million, as the rest was spent on 31 new tractors and the mainte- nance of terminals. This was required af- ter a record-breaking 3,300,000 containers passed through Malta's international port in 2018 alone. Tourism minister Konrad Mizzi congrat- ulated Montebello on his leadership and promised that to further lessen the incon- venience for nearby residents, a park and a carpark would also be built in the area. "This is one of the best ports in the EU. We worked on the commercial aspect of the Freeport as well as noise pollution measures, safety and the environmental concerns," he said. No more siren noise at Freeport The Sant Antnin plant is now destined to outlive its original purpose and will now serve to boost the WSC sewage handling capacity Tourism minister Konrad Mizzi (centre) with Freeport CEO Alex Montebello (right)