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10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 SEPTEMBER 2025 NEWS Trouble in Ta' Qali: What lies TA' Qali has long been Malta's backyard. It's where families picnic, teenagers gather for con- certs, and generations recall their first bike ride or scraped knee. But when a Facebook post in July showed its grass seemingly re- placed by a blanket of sand and gravel, the island erupted in out- rage. Was Malta's most beloved public park being runed, reno- vated or simply misunderstood? Between angry netizens, de- fensive officials, and the quiet science of soil, this storm-in-a- teacup shows how much a patch of ground can stir national emo- tion. A walk-through Ta' Qali with an arborist Jonathan Henwood is a senior lecturer, qualified arborist and freelance environmental con- sultant. While walking with him through Ta' Qali, he explained to me his diagnosis of the issue. In the park, the soil is practically clay. When a mass event is held in the area, the soil clumps up under people's weight and the grass struggles to grow. Moreo- ver, clay tends to absorb water in the wintertime, leading to water- logging in parts of the land. "One of the solutions is to place a layer of sand and gravel, an in- organic matter, so that the soil underneath it can be protect- ed. When the winter passes, the earth keeps more of the humid- ity," he said. "However, there are other options. Instead of adding sand, you can add organic mat- ter like mulch. There are plen- ty of types, most types are not even used in Malta—it's gone to waste. That could have been an- other solution. What makes this better than what was used is that, because it's organic, it adds life to the soil." He believes that the team be- hind the decision to pile sand and gravel on the grass understood what the problem was in the ar- ea. "If you add an inch or two of material, the land below it will remain more humid. That's true. The thing with sand is that it's not a living material. If there's a problem with nutri- ents, which is a common issue in Malta [...] we could have looked at other options." We walked over to a patch of grass that already seems to be growing through the sand and gravel to take a closer look. While the grass seemed to be growing back, the patch was full of rub- bish from a previous event held in the space. "It's the carelessness of some people," he said. "A place can only be as good as we keep it. It's not a government thing, the land belongs to all of us and everyone needs to contribute." Is it sand or gravel? One of the things I asked him to clear up is whether the material laid down is sand, or gravel, or some other material. He grabbed a handful of the material from the ground to explain. "Gravel is anything bigger than two mil- limetres. Sand is smaller. There are different grades according to ISO standards. There's a whole mix here. Parts are gravel, which comes in different sizes. This looks like fine gravel. You also have sand and other dust. It's definitely not clay, so if I try to clump it together, it's not going to." We compared the original soil to the sand layer placed on top using a "ribbon test". He grabbed a handful of the soil and added some water to it as we watched it form into an oblong shape. When doing the same to the sand layer, the material fell apart im- mediately. Henwood then mixed the two clumps together to show how the soil becomes softer and less clay-like when mixed with the sand. Ta' Qali was certainly nev- er a lush green space in the summertime, and it cer- tainly never can be. "We need to get used to this. Our c l i m a t e , which is becoming hotter and drier, is what it is. We can't im- agine having a Central Park in Malta, and we don't really want that. The amount of water you'd need to keep a space green, and which we don't have, is phenomenal. This is our countryside at the end of the day. It's drier in summer, and we have to work within our climate." The Facebook post that started it all Many good news stories start out on Face- b o o k — t h e p l a t - form o f choice for angry netizens who are Not Being Served by their community. This national out- rage started there, after Thomas Camilleri posted two photos of Ta' Qali on Facebook. One of the photos showed a winter scene of the space, with expansive tufts of green grass sprouting from the earth. The other photo suggested that the grass had been replaced by a beige material, something like gravel. "Who is responsible for this?" he asked out into the Face- book ether. Camilleri told MaltaToday that he uploaded the post after seeing the park covered in gravel and feeling devastated. "The reason why the soil dust became an is- sue in the family park is because it has been rented out for several summers to large events. These should not be happening here," he said. His post collected 525 reacts, 154 comments and 132 shares. People started to try and make sense of what happened in Ta' Qali, which has been undergo- ing renovation works for a while now. People did their research, traced the works back a bit, and found Jason Micallef at the scene of the crime. In July, Jason Micallef, the head of the Ta' Qali park, made a Face- book post. He uploaded photos of the newly renovated park with an explanation for the new look. The surface of the picnic area had been covered with "special sand" imported from abroad to help re- duce the amount of dust during the spring and summer months. He said this was "a much-needed intervention" that gives the site "a fresher, cleaner and smoother appearance". A renovation meant to tackle soil dust in Malta's national park has instead stirred anger, confusion, and claims NICOLE MEILAK nmeilak@mediatoday.com.mt All photos by James Bianchi/MaltaToday Jonathan Henwood