MEP candidate Peter Agius has said that “it is unacceptable that sewage is ending in our seas. Malta has received over 60 million euro in EU funding to invest in sewage treatment over the past years,”.

He insisted that “such funds were tied to clear deliverables to be attained including the treatment of all urban sewage and the production of ‘new water’ for use in agriculture. It is time for action to protect the environment.”

“This is why I have filed a formal request for a performance audit to the Auditor General Mr Charles Deguara.”

Agius explained that only a few years from the inauguration of several EU projects meant to safeguard the marine environment, the Maltese Government is “clearly breaching all environmental standards, throwing untreated sewage into the sea from the Ta’ Barkat plant in the south of Malta and also from the Tac-Cumnija plant in Mellieha with occasional readings of sewage overflow in the sea also from the Ras il-Hobz treatment plant in Ghajnsielem, Gozo.”

EU expert Peter Agius argued that, “we joined Europe to secure higher standards. Instead, due to incompetence and lack of political will, the current government is breaching most of these standards, effectively depriving us from the benefits of EU membership.”

He added, “we need to pass from words to action to protect the environment. We need to make full use of national institutions. Hence I submitted my formal request to the Office of the Auditor General to conduct a detailed performance audit on the spending of EU funding and the (lack of) achievement of the deliverables tied to such funding.”

EU funding was also meant to provide daily recycled water for agricultural use. According to Agius, this is “another failed deliverable as the water which was meant to arrive daily is now reaching farmers once a week at best.”

He stressed that, “for food security in Malta we need to promote better water access for farmers. The ‘New Water’ investments which initially improved the situation for farmers ended up being misused to the general disappointment of farmers who now see them as largely unreliable.

“This has also a direct bearing on higher food prices in Malta as farmers are now spending extra money to buy water elsewhere to sustain their products,” concluded former Head of EU office, Peter Agius.

Ras il-Hobz sewage treatment plant

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