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WEDNESDAY EDITION
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WEDNESDAY • 5 OCTOBER 2022 • ISSUE 813 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY
EDITORIAL • PAGE 11
PAGE 3
PAGE 5 PAGE 5
No more
consultation on
media reform
Bills, justice
minister says
Father and son
charged with
money laundering
and aggravated
drug possession
Free groundwater extracted by
concrete plants in 2021 equivalent
to 31 million 2ltr bottles of water
JAMES DEBONO
THE construction industry is having
a toll on Malta's scarce water resourc-
es extracting 'free' groundwater at an
increasing rate, statistics presented in
parliament suggest.
The number of boreholes extracting
'free' ground water for concrete plants
has shot up from a single borehole in
2014 to 20 in 2021. The amount of water
extracted from the water table to pro-
duce concrete has shot up from 3,996
cubic metres in 2014 to 62,231 cubic
metres in 2021.
This means that in 2021 an equivalent
of 31 million two-litre mineral water
bottles were used in the production of
concrete.
This was revealed in a reply by Energy
Minister Miriam Dalli to a question by
the PN's spokesperson for planning and
construction Stanley Zammit.
MATTHEW AGIUS
AN elderly man and his son, already on,
were remanded in custody on aggravated
drug possession, money laundering and
bail breach charges.
Mario Brignone, 68, of Bormla and his
son, Josef Zammit, 30, from Marsaskala
both pleaded not guilty to the charges
when they were arraigned before Mag-
istrate Josette Demicoli this afternoon.
They did not reply when asked about
their employment.
The charges are connected to the dis-
covery of a crack cocaine lab and vari-
ous hard drugs in a property under their
control.
Josef Zammit
Extraction of ground water by concrete plants peaked in 2019
when the equivalent of 48 million 2-litre mineral water bottles were
pumped out of the ground
