Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1512265
9 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 29 NOVEMBER 2023 NEWS operators of groundwater ab- straction activities in the Com- mercial Sector, with the tariff set at the real cost of ground- water. Unlike farmers operators in this sector will not be eligible for a quota of free water but will benefit from a 25% rebate on the annual cost of ground- water abstraction if they fully implement water management measures identified in an au- dit. Only businesses whose 3-year water management plan is certified by the Energy and Water Agency will be eligible for the rebate. Small and Medium sized en- terprises will also benefit from free water consumption audits provided by the Energy and Water Agency. The audits will be aimed at optimizing water use and limiting dependence on groundwater resources. Non-SMEs will be granted un- specified financial support for the the undertaking of these audits. Overall, 245 boreholes are registered for commercial ac- tivities in Malta. Statistics presented in parlia- ment reveal that the equivalent of 108 million two-litre bottles of water were extracted for free from the ground and sold as water or carbonated soft drinks by beverage producers between 2016 and 2021. Not all producers in the sector rely on ground water for their needs. For example, Farsons relies on the government's water supply for its operations. Another parliamentary ques- tion disclosed that construction companies extracted the equiv- alent of 200 million bottles of water between 2014 and 2021. 4. WSC will not pay more for its ground water The new tariffs will not be applicable to groundwater sources operated by the Wa- ter Services Corporation, giv- en that the Corporation is moving towards the achieve- ment of a net-zero impact on the groundwater environ- ment through its operations. But annual groundwater ab- straction levels by the Water Services Corporation will be capped at a maximum level of 14 Mm³ up to 2030. The volume of groundwater ex- tracted by the Water Services Corporation has progressive- ly decreased from 43% of the water blend supplied by the Corporation to 36%. This was done to ensure better manage- ment of existing groundwater sources. But the green paper also attributes this decrease to "the general degradation in the quality of the aquifer systems". Moreover, this also comes at an added cost because the cost of abstracting groundwater is significantly lower than that of producing water from alterna- tive sources such as seawater desalination. The white paper points out that in terms of en- ergy consumption, producing 1 cubic meter of desalinated water requires around 4 times the energy required to abstract the same volume of groundwa- ter. 5. Licence plate to be exhibited Malta currently has 8,058 registered boreholes, with roughly half of them registered with the authorities in 1997 and the rest under a different registration scheme intro- duced in 2008. Subsequently, a metering system was imple- mented to measure groundwa- ter abstraction. One major problem which could limit the effectiveness of the new regulation is posed by unlicensed boreholes. It is not clear from the green paper whether borehole own- ers who had not registered their activity in 1997 and 2008 will be given another chance to come clean or whether the new regime will be strictly lim- ited to already registered bore- holes. But the green paper refers to the creation of a new permit- ting system led by the Environ- ment and Resources Authority (ERA) which will be issuing permits with conditions for fixed periods of time and to the publication of a "publicly available register of groundwa- ter abstractors". Moreover, owners of bore- holes will be required to main- tain a licence plate "in a highly visible position" close to the abstraction point to facilitate enforcement. Why is groundwater important? Groundwater provides around 35% of the public water supply and over 80% of the needs of the agricultural sector, which is by far more dependent on groundwater than other sectors. The two main sources of Malta's ground water are the two mean sea level aquifer (MSLA) systems in Malta and Gozo, which account for over 80% of the country's ground water. Both aquifers consist of a lens of fresh water floating on larger body of sea water. These groundwater bodies have an average nitrate content exceeding the 50mg/l quality standard established under the EU Groundwater Directive. Moreover, these aquifer systems also suffer from the intrusion of seawater because of over- abstraction. As a result, these groundwater bodies are in poor quantitative and qualitative status – with their storage capacity significantly reduced when compared to the first water level data collected in the 1940s. Groundwater is an important component in the drinking water blend, both in terms of chemical composition and in terms of energy efficiency. In the absence of ground water Malta would have to opt for a more energy intensive desalination process. on groundwater