Labour MEP Prof Edward Scicluna today demanded that the government does not seek a derogation to extend the deadline for getting Maltese groundwater to a sustainable and “good status” beyond the 2015 deadline specified in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), adding that “this would be a delaying tactic which this country can ill afford.”

Pointing to Environment Commissioner Potocnik’s statement, in response to a parliamentary question tabled by Prof Scicluna, that a key environmental objective of the WFD was to ensure that “the annual average rate of (water) abstraction should not exceed the available groundwater resource by that date.” Prof Scicluna stated:

“Already, independent experts such as hydrologist Marco Cremona and geologist Gordon Knox have estimated that, at the current rate of extraction, Malta’s groundwater will be useless within 15 years. The bottom line is that groundwater – our own water resource – is being extracted as a greater rate than it is being replenished.”

In June, the Commission launched infringement proceedings against the Maltese government following its failure to produce a management plan to protect Malta’s water supply.

Commenting Prof Scicluna said, “It is pathetic that the government’s apologists are now trying to blame the EU for requesting the registration and metering of boreholes. On the contrary, we should be thankful for the EU’s WFD which is designed to protect the right to a good quality water supply for all Maltese citizens by 2015.”

“The government plans that by 2015 the monitoring and reporting phase would come to an end and the plan of action will come into effect to ensure good water quality by 2027. But this government has to wake up and realise that by that date we would not have any potable ground water to manage. It would have run out.”

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