Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/310131
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 11 MAY 2014 10 News Stop industry from taking public's groundwater, say Greens THE Green Party called for the protection of groundwater re- sources, saying that industries should be prohibited from ex- tracting water at all costs. In a press conference held out- side the General Soft Drinks in- dustrial plant, which employs the use of groundwater boreholes to extract water for the production of bottled water, Alternattiva Demokratika deputy chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said that the company used groundwater for 40% of its requirements. "This press conference is being addressed next to a factory which is known to utilise ground water for 40% of its requirements. This is not acceptable and has to cease forthwith," Cacopardo said. "Un- less decisions are taken immedi- ately, the country will find itself in a situation where there would be nothing left to protect." Among the urgent decisions re- quired, Cacopardo said, are the need to better regulate the extrac- tion of ground water including banning industry from making direct use of this resource neither against payment and much less without. Malta is already extracting 11 million cubic metres more than the sustainable rate of 23 mil- lion cubic meters, based on cur- rent rainfall patterns. In the past, when questioned by MaltaToday, General Soft Drinks had insisted that it extracts "less than 0.15% of the 34 million cubic metres of groundwater extracted annually in Malta" from its three registered boreholes – which would amount to an annual 51,000 cubic metres (51 million litres). Alternattiva Demokratika's chairperson Arnold Cassola said yesterday that was scarce and ex- tremely precious in Malta. "Malta is the tenth driest coun- try in the world when it comes to water resources pro-capita. The driest 9 countries in the world are all countries that include a desert within their confines. Indeed, Malta is the driest country in the world which does not incorporate desert land." Cassola said that as things stand at present, Malta was extracting about double the amount of wa- ter from the water table than that replenished through rainfall. If Muscat commends Engerer's decision to withdraw from race MIRIAM DALLI PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat once again "commended" MEP candidate Cyrus Engerer's decision to withdraw his candidature from the electoral race, after an Appeals Court overturned his acquittal on the distribution of pornographic material vilifying his former part- ner. Muscat was addressing the press at Auberge de Castille during a joint press conference with outgo- ing European Parliament president Martin Schulz – now running for European Commission president – when journalists asked the prime minister whether he was "condon- ing" Engerer's criminal act. On Friday evening Muscat dubbed Engerer a "soldier of steel" for his move to Labour in 2011 while serving as PN deputy mayor in Sliema; and credited him with challenging his prejudice on gay adoptions. "The PN has two MPs, one of whom admitted to criminal charges and the other who was found guilty some years ago," Muscat retorted in reply to the question. "Does that mean the leader of the Opposition condoned their actions?" While failing to name the MPs, Muscat was referring to shadow health minister Claudio Grech's conviction on falsifying a police identity card during his student days in 1994. Muscat went on to describe En- gerer as one of the country's lead- ing campaigners on LGBTI issues. "In one year this government in- troduced the most advanced civil unions across the EU," Muscat said. The prime minister also said that there had been "a number of coin- cidences" in 2011 when Engerer, citing his opposition to the PN's stand against a divorce law cham- pioned by the Labour leader, de- cided to leave and join the PL. The Sliema councillor was within the week charged on the crimi- nal defamation report filed by his former partner Marvic Camilleri, and days later his father was ar- rested by plain-clothes police of- ficers outside his Sliema home, with a cannabis joint in hand and a minor quantity of cannabis also found in his residence. "The people can now make their own decisions," Muscat said, refer- ring to Engerer's decision to join Labour. He also lauded Engerer for putting the party's interests above his personal political career: de- spite his suspended sentence on a two-year conviction, Engerer was not prohibited from running for office. Asked why he had accepted En- gerer as a candidate despite the pending appeal, Muscat skirted the question, saying the government "respected the institutions" and that he did not interfere with the court's decisions or what the At- torney General decides on appeal- ing court sentences or not. "People tell me things would have worked out differently under a different administration… we do not interfere with the way institu- tions work." On Friday at a party rally in Mqabba, Muscat called Engerer his "friend", saying his decision to withdraw from the race had "bap- tised him as a soldier of steel". Muscat also credited Engerer in ridding him of some of his inher- ent prejudice to gay adoption. "I would go to gay prides, but then have reservations on adoption. Cyrus helped me abandon these prejudices. He made me realise that I have no right to discriminate against one person and another. He made me realise that I cannot tell persons how to live their life, thereby classifying people as first- class or second-class citizens." PN wants Engerer's expulsion from Labour PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD MIRIAM DALLI THE Nationalist Party is de- manding that Labour candidate Cyrus Engerer is expelled from the party. Engerer withdrew his MEP can- didature this week after an Ap- peals Court overturned his ac- quittal form charges relating to the distribution of "pornographic" images that humiliated a former partner of his. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, sus- pended for two years. PN deputy leader for party af- fairs Beppe Fenech Adami yester- day addressed a press conference outside Labour headquarters, ac- cusing Joseph Muscat of making Engerer "a hero of a convicted criminal". He was referring to Engerer's address to Labour voters at a campaign rally in Mqabba, where Muscat described him as one of Labour's 'soldiers of steel' and credited him as having challenged his prejudice on gay adoptions. But Fenech Adami did not spare Engerer, a former Sliema deputy mayor for the PN before his 'de- fection' in 2011 over the party's opposition to divorce. "The Prime Minister is glorifying a criminal who persecuted a victim. It is un- acceptable for Muscat to say that Engerer's values are his as well," "These actions are the work of a criminal mind - he should be expelled from the party" Beppe Fenech Adami