The shame of our valleys

It’s one of the biggest and most picturesque valleys in the south. Well, at least it could be, if Mother Nature’s intentions were respected. But sad to say, this valley is far from picturesque. In truth it’s a crying shame.

This is a valley which on the map is named Wied Dalam. However the land around the valley extends widely, linking Birzebbugia to Ghaxaq and on to Gudja through the area known as But Maghtab, as far as the road adjacent to the airport runway. A huge area of land with a maze of rough passages and clumsy roads. It is a godsend for folks who enjoy healthy country walking. Some parts are cultivated and well-cared for. But unfortunately the present state of a greater part of this area proves that certain people are not aware of the immense damage that is being done in a concerted effort to reduce it to a full-blown rubbish dump.

A visit to this valley will offer a multitude of dumped household objects. Discarded washing machines, refrigerators, TV sets, furniture, mattresses, bags of domestic refuse, broken glass, mounds of unrecognisable burnt garbage, car tyres. Then there is the huge amount of building material, masonry, rubble, aggregate, concrete roof slabs. You name it – you’ll find it. What else could you wish for during a picturesque, rural walk?

The local councils involved were approached for comments on this pitiful situation.

"The valleys do not technically lie within the Gudja territory."said Gudja Local Council secretary

Victor Mifsud. "But whenever we get a complaint from Gudja locals who visit these areas, we take the trouble to send a contractor to clean up what can be cleaned up. This usually involves going to extra expenses since the area is not within the area contracted to these workers – so we have to pay extra for the service."

Mr Mifsud said that although parts of this valley are considered as forming part of Gudja, the local council would actually like to see these areas allocated to it, to enable a better control of them.

"We try to contribute in helping our villagers when disposing of their domestic bulky refuse in many ways." In fact the Gudja local council offers the service of four open skips once a month. "These skips are for those families who do minor alterations in their house and end up with unwanted masonry and the like. Then there is the usual Bulky Refuse Service which is booked directly through the council and which serves in Gudja once a week – every Wednesday."

The Ghaxaq Local Council also offered its comment on the same valley. "Our council spends about Lm4,000 a year on non-urban roads and part of this expenditure is spent on cleaning up the part of the valley which falls within our territory," said Mr Michael Borg, secretary of this local council. In fact he claimed that during a meeting which was held between members of the Ghaxaq Local Council and Francis Zammit Dimech, Minister for the Environment, the council highlighted the need for more aid in the cleaning up programme.

When asked whether it would be viable for the council to allot a local warden to monitor the area, Mr Borg replied, "Ever since local wardens started working, not one contravention related to littering was reported. And then wardens are an added burden on the local council; paying one to tour the valley in the hope of catching a culprit would be too heavy an expense."

One of the main reasons behind this indiscriminate dumping of rubbish, mainly huge mounds of discarded building material, could be the fact that building contractors have to take this material all the way to Maghtab to be dumped. They have to pay a fee for every truck-full being put there. It would be very tempting for the less responsible individuals to actually dump such truck-loads in a part of a valley which theoretically forms part of a village, but which is largely out of sight.

The Ghaxaq local council does its fair share of cleaning-up chores in the valley. A bulky refuse service is also offered through the council with trucks collecting refuse from homes every Monday.

From the Birzebbugia viewpoint, local councillor Anthony Roberts stated that, "Our council does not have enough financing to cover the burdensome task of cleaning up the area. We are responsible for our part of the valley, but expenses are very high and we get no separate financing to deal with this problem."

Asked whether litter-bugs are ever reported, he confirmed that reports are often lodged by people who see others dumping in the valley. "But nobody will come forward to act as witness and so reports cannot be followed through." Since Birzebbugia has an influx of summer residents, these may include people who have a habit of dumping their garbage in the valley. "We cannot pinpoint those who come along only to dump stuff and since we do not have local wardens, we cannot use these to supervise any part of the valley."

Birzebbugia offers a bulky refuse service which can be booked through the local council offices and which runs through the village twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

This all leaves a question mark as to what can be done to clean up the valley and keep it that way. Educate the people some might say. But one cannot help also asking another question: do people want to know?