Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1122280
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 MAY 2019 NEWS JAMES DEBONO TASTE matters. And for many consumers of Malta's tap wa- ter, the jury is certainly out on this one. Malta has a reliable sup- ply of tap water which meets stringent EU criteria on drink- ing water quality, yet many consumers still rely on either imported mineral water or on table water: water that is part- ly extracted from the ground- water table or the national water supply, which is further treated at an additional energy cost. It certainly comes at an addi- tional environmental cost: the plastic packaging for one, or the unbilled extraction of the groundwater itself by private companies, further dispensed for free by supermarkets. Add to that, the cost of disposing and recycling plastic bottles. On the other hand, the equiva- lent of eight table water bottles costs just 2 cents in tap water. But the chief executive of the Energy and Water Agen- cy, Manuel Sapiano, says the Water Services Corporation will be addressing this impor- tant taste issue within the next three years. "Our water is completely safe to drink, but it has a taste of chlorine which consumers do not like… one of the targets of the WSC is to make tap water drinkable by addressing the taste issue, all while attaining lower production costs. "This will be through a pro- ject which will comprehen- sively ugrade the WSC's water production and distribution facilities, enabling it to capi- talise on the full blending ca- pacity of desalinated water, improving the quality and taste of their product." Malta's small size, dense de- mographics, semi-aridity and limited rainfall makes water scarcity an important chal- lenge. Yet, despite its growing demand, the WSC's produc- tion of water today is just two- thirds of what it was in 1994, thanks to a massive reduction in leakages. Now, facing an imminent increase in water production, this demand could be partly offset by the greater use of water-efficient technologies at homes. "Even the market helps. A washing machine to- day consumes less water than one produced 10 years ago, and flushing tanks today are smaller too," Sapiano says. A three-year awareness cam- paign will be "hammering the message that water needs to be used efficiently" – the Maltese are already more frugal than other Europeans in the use of water, using an average of 120 litres a day, compared to the EU's 144-litre average. But unlike many other Euro- pean countries, Malta cannot provide its water needs exclu- sively from natural resources. "Malta only meets half its efficient water demand from natural resources like ground- water. Had we not invested in desalination in the 1980s and recently in new water, and had farmers not invested in water storage in reservoirs and drip irrigation… we would have a crisis. We wouldn't have water in our taps. We don't have a crisis simply because the coun- try has invested and keeps in- vesting in alternatives." Sapiano does not downplay the risks posed by increased salinity of groundwater sourc- es, especially in poorly-con- structed boreholes dug deep in the aquifer and closer to the underlying sea water level. But he says that just 2.6 mil- lion cubic metres of water were abstracted in 2018 from some 3,118 metered boreholes. A decade earlier, an NSO survey estimated that 28.2 million cb.m of water were be- ing used to irrigate 2,830 hec- tares of agricultural land, and that is about 10,000 cb.m per hectare. "Today we have hard da- ta from metered boreholes, showing that annual abstrac- tion is a fraction of previous estimates," Sapiano says, while hazarding that total abstrac- tion is closer to 12 million cb.m. The discrepancy is down to some 3,000 'spieri' (wells) mostly located around Rabat and Mellieha, on the perched aquifer where water is trapped underground on a level of clay – these cannot be physically metered since these sources do not have fixed pumping equipment. "Boreholes on the other hand can be metered, and are located on the mean sea level aquifers where groundwater literally floats on seawater and is abstracted using long fixed pipes going down the bore- hole. But practically the extent of irrigated land, where 'spieri' are used, is equivalent to that where metered boreholes are used. Therefore, when arriv- ing at an initial demand esti- mate, the metered volume is doubled to take into account these regions," Sapiano says. Illegal boreholes Malta still has a problem with illegal, unregistered boreholes, which also hamper a better estimate on ground- water consumption. Sapiano's agency plans to use satellite imagery from the EU's earth observation programme Copernicus to actually moni- tor the area of land being cul- tivated. "We are looking at the feasibility of developing tools to remotely detect areas under cultivation to have a picture of actual cultivated land variabil- ity, to have reliable and unbi- ased information on seasonal land use and correlated water demands." Sapiano also says this data is beneficial to farmers, by en- couraging a more efficient use of irrigation. "If someone is using 5,000 cb.m to irrigate a holding which has a modelled demand of 1,000 cb.m, this could be an indication of inef- ficiency in irrigation practic- es… which can be addressed through optimisation such as the use of drip irrigation." Sapiano dismisses the view that groundwater is a freebie for farmers. "They still have to pay for the installation of boreholes, electricity bills and maintenance costs. We es- timate every cubic metre of water abstracted costs farmers an average of 20-25c – we're talking of millions of euros in costs for the whole sector." Commercial companies are also extracting this ground- water. In 2018, the 245 com- mercially-registered bore- holes extracted 527,294 cb.m, eight of which extracted over 30,000 cb.m annually, and two in excess of 60,000 cb.m. Bowser suppliers, often used for the filling of private pools, extract a significant portion of groundwater. Doesn't this suggest over-ex- traction by a few people at the detriment of society? "At present we have limited power to restrict the extrac- tion of water. Fines can be imposed in cases where bore- holes are used for other pur- poses for which they were reg- istered – such as agricultural boreholes used for commer- cial purposes. "Not all cases are an indica- tion of abuse. Inspections re- vealed cases where farmers with very large holdings rely on one groundwater source from which water is distrib- uted, which is preferable than having them rely on multiple sources. Commercial compa- nies like laundries are also be- ing encouraged to use new wa- ter, which can be safely used." Sapiano says companies in- volved in the production of soft drinks and mineral water are also being encouraged to increasingly shift to the public supply. "Up to a few years ago they were using around three litres of water to produce one litre of bottled table water; now they use just over one li- tre to produce the equivalent amount. Corporate social re- sponsibility initiatives, like investment in water harvest- ing projects, are also being encouraged, as is the case of the Alteraqua project which has invested in the promotion of non-conventional water re- sources in Malta and Gozo." Weaning off the groundwater Sapiano insists the solution lies in providing more com- petitive and sustainable alter- natives. "Transporting water by bowsers is more costly in terms of energy use than us- ing tap water, when one takes into account fuel costs. And the energy cost to produce desalinated water has been significantly reduced, making it an increasingly sustainable alternative." He notes that hotels, which previously relied on bowsers, today have an alternative to invest in having their own de- salination plants, which pro- vide water more cheaply and with a lower environmental footprint. And in agriculture, treated and polished sew- age water has been providing farmers with new water – now transported directly through pipes – while providing a cheaper and environmentally friendly alternative to bows- ers. Indeed, Sapiano says the quality of water from bowser suppliers is not tested fre- quently enough despite the stringent controls in place for tap water, which meets all cri- teria for it to be drinking wa- ter. "Under EU rules, all water for human consumption in- cludes any water that comes in contact with human beings… my personal understanding is that it includes water used in pools. So, in my opinion, pools should be filled with wa- ter which is of drinking water quality." Get caught drinking from the tap Malta's tap water often gets a bad rep for its quality of taste. But a project to improve its taste is behind a drive to make consumers choose this cheaper water instead of bottled water Hydrologist and CEO of the Energy and Water Agency, Manuel Sapiano