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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 MARCH 2021 12 COMMERCIAL Alter Aqua programme celebrates 19 years of achievements on World Water Day ALTER Aqua, a sustainability program for water was launched in Malta in 2001 and with the support of a grant of $800,000 from the Coca-Cola Founda- tion and further co-funding of $440,000 from the Ministry for Gozo. This was done in order to increase availability through rainwater harvesting and grey- water reuse, while raising public awareness on the importance of responsible water use and con- servation in the island of Gozo. This program which is imple- mented by the NGO Global Wa- ter Partnership Mediterranean in collaboration with the Ener- gy and Water Agency and the support of GSD Marketing Ltd which is an independent Coca Cola bottler and are the sole li- censed bottler for products of The Coca-Cola Company in Malta. In the first phase of this project, the Alter Aqua pro- gramme, installed four rain- water harvesting systems in the schools of Kerċem, Sannat, Żebbuġ and Għarb. Six rain- water harvesting systems were reinstated in schools of San- nat, Xagħra, San Lawrenz and one at the Gozo Experimental Farm. A grey water reuse sys- tem was installed at the Gozo Football Stadium. Moreover, a storm water management application was implemented in Ramla Valley, where rubble walls were constructed along the valley for storm water re- tention, for increased rainwa- ter capacity, for irrigation pur- poses, for agriculture, aquifer recharge and soil retention. This successful project was renewed and received a further grant of $200,000. Three grey- water recycling systems were installed at the Malta College of Arts, Science & Technol- ogy (MCAST) and the Helen Keller Resource Centre and the Tal-Qroqq Sports Com- plex' National Swimming Pool, Gzira, Malta. Furthermore, a historic rain- water reservoir at San Anton Palace has been restored and is now used to irrigate the pal- ace's orange groves. This reser- voir, which can hold more than one million litres of water, was restored after lying dormant for over 30 years. Alter Aqua goes beyond infrastructural projects by also focussing on educational campaigns aimed at raising awareness on the ap- plication of non-conventional water resources and sustain- able water use in our schools. The programme's activities were implemented in collabo- ration with Nature Trust Mal- ta, the Ekoskola Programme and the Mediterranean Infor- mation Office for Environ- ment, Culture and Sustainable Development. Through this educational programme, since 2011: 15,060 students were ed- ucated on sustainable develop- ment in schools, 1,380 teachers have been trained. Due to the positive impact and success of these projects, the Alter Aqua program received a further grant of $300,000 in 2020, bringing the total support from The Coca-Cola Foun- dation to $1.3 million. Three sites were identified: a histor- ical water reservoir in Birgu, 3 water reservoirs in Kalkara and a reservoir at Rinella. The reservoirs in Kalkara have been restored at the end of 2020 and will be used for the irrigation of a garden being rehabilitated through national funds. The reservoir at Rinella will be used for Irrigation of trees and other landscaping activities around the Rinella fort. This project has positively impacted the lives of around 15% of the Maltese population by collecting and reusing close to 18 million litres of water on an annual basis – an equivalent of the monthly consumption of water for over 1,000 families in Malta. Stronger security for online shopping with Bank of Valletta BANK of Valletta will be intro- ducing a stronger security pro- cess for safer and more secure online purchases in line with a new regulatory requirement known as Strong Customer Au- thentication (SCA). People who buy goods or pay for services online are often required to authenticate their payments through a fraud protection tool known as 3D Secure, by which they receive an SMS with a code which must be keyed in before payment is affected. Bank of Valletta will soon be launching a new BOV 3D Se- cure app, which will replace the current SMS method. Cus- tomers making online purchas- es will be required to download the app on their smartphone, upload one of their active BOV Cards on it, and authenticate their payments through this app. The new system will help protect online shoppers even further, making their purchas- es more secure as it introduces an additional layer of security to minimize the risk of fraudu- lent transactions. More details regarding the new app will be communicated by the Bank once the App be- comes available for download. APS Bank hosts first staff Townhall for 2021 APS Bank connected over 400 staff members virtually for the first Townhall of 2021, with the session being hosted over Mi- crosoft Teams on Friday 12th March afternoon. The meet- ing, which was spread over two hours, presented the latest up- dates and developments to all staff members. CEO Marcel Cassar opened the event with a brief overview of the past year, reflecting on the effects of the pandemic and the outlook for the months ahead. Several presentations followed from senior manage- ment members, covering the 2020 audited financial results, updates on the economy, pro- jects, products, upcoming marketing campaigns and on COVID-19 related measures being implemented by the Bank. Part of the meeting was also dedicated to the Long Ser- vice Awards, which recognise staff for achieving milestone anniversaries in their years of service at the Bank. The final presentation was 'Celebrating our Heroes', fo- cusing on the Bank' Retail. The dedication and resilience of these front-liners means that APS Bank is managing to keep to its quality service commit- ment seamlessly and at high quality throughout the pan- demic. Branch Network. The Town- hall ended with remarks by Chairman Frederick Mifsud Bonnici, who on behalf of the Board of Directors expressed his satisfaction at the financial results achieved for 2020, de- spite the many challenges.