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3 NEWS 7.12.2023 A group of researchers from the Uni- versity of Malta, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and the University of Roma Tre recent- ly published a highly-relevant scientific study in Nature Portfolio's prestigious journal 'Communications Earth & En- vironment'. e article, titled 'Extensive freshened groundwater resourc- es emplaced during the Messinian sea-level drawdown in southern Sic- ily, Italy,' reveals the presence of un- precedented groundwater resources in the Gela Formation, a Triassic carbonate platform in the subsur- face of southern Sicily. "Deep groundwater resources around the world may represent an important unconventional source of potable water that can support growing needs, also linked to glob- al population growth", says Loren- zo Lipparini, University of Malta – INGV researcher, and first author of the study, together with Damiano Chiacchieri, PhD student at Roma Tre University, Roberto Bencini col- laborator at the University of Bolo- gna and Aaron Micallef, professor at the University of Malta. "Here we document an extensive body of fresh and brackish ground- water preserved in a deep aquifer between 700 and 2500 meters below the Hyblean Mountains in southern Sicily." e discovery of this vast accumu- lation of groundwater is the result of an innovative approach combining deep oil well analysis with advanced three-dimensional subsurface mod- elling techniques. "We attributed the distribution of this fossil water accumulation to a meteoric recharge mechanism driv- en by the lowering of the sea level in the Messinian," Lipparini contin- ues. "We have reconstructed that this lowering of the sea level, which occurred about 6 million years ago, reached 2400 meters below the cur- rent sea level in the eastern Medi- terranean basin, creating favorable conditions for the infiltration of me- teoric waters and the accumulation and preservation of this precious water resource underground". "ese fresh and brackish wa- ters could have diversified uses, from potability to use for industri- al and agricultural purposes, thus opening up new perspectives for southern Sicily and other Mediter- ranean coastal regions," the INGV researcher emphasises. "is innovative approach could, in fact, be extended to other areas of the Mediterranean character- ised by water scarcity and similar geological conditions," suggests the first author. "anks to the results achieved, it will now be possible to try to identify possible new accumu- lations also in areas such as Malta, Cyprus, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey, to name a few." "We have utilised the team's exper- tise, developed in particular in the field of oil exploration, to search, this time, for potential valuable deep groundwater resources to support sustainable development, which will also enable the challenges of water security to be addressed." e Project has been listed as an 'action' at the UN Water Conference in March 2023 and, in the near fu- ture, the team plans to evaluate a development plan and project to utilise these waters. Funding for this research was pro- vided through a Marie Curie Grant project with the University of Malta, the support of the Roma Tre Uni- versity and INGV. View of the deep 3D groundwater model in the subsurface of Hyblean Plateau in Southern Sicily (Italy) Extensive body of potentially potable groundwater discovered in southern Sicily FROM PAGE 1 e survey also looked at citizen's awareness of the elections, as well as their participation in it. e Parlemeter covered 27 EU Mem- ber States and was conducted through face-to-face interviews, including computer-assisted video interviews in Malta, between 28 September and 15 October 2023. e total number of interviews completed in the EU were 26,523, and 510 in Malta. 73% of European citizens said that they expect their standard of living to decrease. 85% of Maltese think that their stand- ard of living will decrease, while only 1% of Maltese say that their standard of liv- ing has in fact increased, a two-percent- age point drop from the figure recorded in the Eurobarometer held in March of this year. e Parlemeter showed that 48% of EU member states believe that things are going in the wrong direction with regards to the European Union, and 33% believe that things are going in the right direction in general. In Malta, 20% believe that things in the EU are going in the wrong direction, while 41% say that things are going in the right direction. In Malta, 50% be- lieve that things are going in the wrong direction, while 28% said that things are going in the right direction in the coun- try. ere is also a downturn in optimism over Malta's economy, with 53% saying that the country's economy will be in a worse state in a year's time, up six per- centage points since March. 29% think that it will stay the same, while 11% believe it will be better, a drop of seven percentage points com- pared to March. On their optimism about the EU's future, 65% of Maltese said that they were optimistic, which however experi- enced a 10-percentage point drop from the study in March. 27% of Maltese re- spondents said that they were pessimis- tic about the future of the EU. Data also showed that 53% of Maltese say that they have a 'positive' image of the EU, while 45% of Europeans believe so. On the other hand, 10% of Maltese have a negative view of the EU, up by 3 percentage points since March. 92% of respondents highlighted Mal- ta's substantial gains from EU mem- bership, a notably higher percentage than the 72% reported in other member states. Likewise, Maltese citizens demon- strate a greater optimism regarding the EU's future compared to their European counterparts. However, this optimism has notably declined in recent months. While three-quarters expressed opti- mism in March, now just under two- thirds share this sentiment. Nearly 90% of Maltese believe the EU affects their daily lives, marking a sig- nificant 20-percentage-point difference from the rest of Europe. Furthermore, almost half believe the EU positively influences Malta's eco- nomic growth, and slightly over a third see it as a source of new job opportuni- ties—both rates significantly surpassing those reported by other Europeans. Conversely, Maltese citizens exhib- it more concern than other Europeans about the EU's potential role in com- promising Malta's borders (40% versus 24%), threatening job security (33% versus 18%), and endangering Malta's peace and security (32% compared to just 12% elsewhere in Europe). 53% say economy will be in a worse state in a year's time 85% of Maltese think that their standard of living will decrease, while only 1% of Maltese say that their standard of living has in fact increased, a two-percentage point drop from the figure recorded in the Eurobarometer held in March of this year

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