Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/602004
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2015 8 News JAMES DEBONO RUINS appearing on an aerial photo dating back to 1967 have been invoked to justify the con- struction of a three-metre high 20 square metre agricultural store in Tal-Gholjiet in Gudja. The only remnants of the original building are a pile of rubble. MEPA is now obliged by a new policy to approve the reconstruc- tion of countryside ruins as agricul- tural stores and even as residences if it can be proven that these were used as dwellings in the past. Other farmers who apply for new stores have to prove that they have a genuine agricultural need for the structures. The policy regulat- ing rural developments stipulates that to develop 20 square metres of storage space, a farmer has to own more than 10 tumoli of land (11,170 square metres). Farmers applying to re-build ruins are not bound by this policy. The Environment Protection Directorate had firmly objected to the development approved by MEPA on Wednesday, insisting that the building now in "complete ruins", was already "some form of ruin" in 1967 and could not be considered as an "existing struc- ture". The Natural Heritage Advi- sory Committee was also opposed to the development. An application presented in 2009 on the same site was refused in 2011 because it failed to abide by policies regulating the approval of stores. The EPD described the lat- est application as "another attempt to develop a store" on the site. The case officer report acknowl- edges that the proposal will not impact positively on the environ- ment and even notes the exist- ence of other structures within the vicinity, which may belong to the same owner. But the case officer claimed that there was no need to assess wheth- er the applicant had a "genuine" need to reconstruct the long de- molished store simply because the application was to reconstruct the original structure. Malta's 'underwater Maghtab'. . . chemical impact unknown JAMES DEBONO NO studies have so far been con- ducted on the chemical and physi- cal impact of Malta's underwater Maghtab – the place where massive amounts of construction waste are dumped on the seabed in an identi- fied area off Xghajra. This is because no resources and funds were allocated to carry out studies contemplated in the Water Catchment Management Plan is- sued in 2011 for the period between 2010 and 2015. The plan included a clear commitment to study these impacts. The plan acknowledged that the potential impact of the existing dump site on local waters is not known. Therefore the plan – an ob- ligation coming from the EU Frame- work directive – called "for a study on the impacts of the dump site on the water and sediment quality as well as on supporting species and habitats". A report published last month as- sessing the implementation of the first water catchment management plan states that this measure was not implemented "due to a lack of funds and due to a loss of human resources to oversee the implemen- tation of the study". According to the report this measure is required so that future policy related to dumping waste at sea is carried out on the basis of scien- tific knowledge. This measure will therefore have to be taken up in the next five years. Disposing waste at sea A staggering 1.9 million tonnes of construction waste had been dumped in an offshore "spoil ground" located northeast of Valletta harbour between 2004 and 2010. Since no regulatory framework existed before 2002, the authorities have no idea about how much waste was dumped prior to that date. The spoil ground had been in use since the time of World War II when the site was used for the dumping of war damage rubble in the 1940s. The site has been in continuous use ever since and no impact as- sessment was ever carried out: it has been used to dump construction waste excavated from the Malta Freeport, the Tigné Midi project, the Fort Cambridge project, the Vi- set project in Pinto Wharf and more recently the Smart City project in Ricasoli. Between 2007-2009 the majority of the waste constituted clean geologi- cal material originating from con- struction and demolition projects on land, while in 2010-2011, the majority of the waste disposed at sea constituted dredged material. In 2010, 353 tonnes of spoilt cargo (grain) were also disposed at sea. Six years ago, the Malta Environ- mental and Planning Authority had commissioned experts Scott Wil- son (UK) at a cost of €23,393 to carry out a preliminary study. MEPA claimed that the study presents a picture of "a site that has been subjected to dumping operations for over 50 years un- der different regula- tory regimes", adding that the survey results reflect this. The report showed that the natural characteristics of the spoil ground and sur- rounding areas have been altered and the area "is characterised by very large boulders" and "unconsolidated ter- rigenous material together with a variety of anthropogenic material". Although the largest accumula- tions of dumped material were lo- cated within the designated spoil ground, the distribution of spoil ex- tended beyond the designated area. Of particular note are the turbid conditions recorded throughout the surveyed area due to the presence of fine sediments and other particulate matter originating from the regular spoil dumping activities. Risk of contamination minimised One of the risks of disposing construction waste into the sea is that dangerous chemicals could find their way into the sea if they are mixed with the inert waste. But this risk has been minimised by monitoring which is deemed satisfactory in the report assessing the implementation of measures proposed in the Water Catchment Management Plan. The monitoring of dumping operations at the spoil ground is necessary to ensure that dumping activities at sea do not pose a sig- nificant threat to the marine envi- ronment. Disposal at sea is regulated by MEPA through the Waste Con- signment Note Procedure. MEPA checks that the quality of waste that is loaded on the barges is in accordance with the regulations. Data on the type and quality of waste is also kept. The actual monitoring of the trip the barge takes to the spoil ground is done by Transport Malta. The movement of barges is effectively monitored by means of the Ves- sel Traffic Services and visible through the Automatic Identifica- tion Service. The movements of and communications with the ves- sel are logged. 1967 ruin paves way for new agricultural store Pile of rubble, to be replaced by an agricultural store