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James Debono
The golf course at Xaghra l-Hamra sited next to Zaren Vassallo’s new hotel, which Lawrence Gonzi as Prime Minister has fast-tracked for development lies on one of Malta’s five drinking water safeguard zones, which provide good quality drinking water.
The risks posed by developing a golf course on such zones was raised by the Malta Resources Authority itself in a letter to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority back in 2002, on the subject of the Verdala golf course.
The MRA had expressed concern on the Verdala golf course proposal due to the risk of polluting the Rabat-Dingli perched aquifer.
The authority had rejected a claim made in the Verdala environmental impact assessment that the golf course could withstand the infiltration of pesticides from penetrating the groundwater.
The Verdala EIA had been drawn up by Kevin Morris, who together with Adrian Mallia, today is part of ADI consultants, who are entrusted with carrying out the Xaghra l-Hamra EIA.
ADI are claiming in their project description statement for the Xaghra l-Hamra golf course, that the area “may accommodate a golf course without affecting the aquifer protection zone.”
But MaltaToday can reveal that according to a map of Malta’s drinking water safeguard zone, issued by the Malta Resources Authority in December 2004, a substantial part of the land earmarked for the Xaghra l-Hamra Golf course lies in the Mizieb mean sea level zone.
Drinking water safeguard zones provide potable water from underground water sources, covering vast areas of land.
In 2004, the MRA declared “it does not recommend any new development lying within the groundwater protection zone which could potentially have a pronounced impact on the qualitative and quantitative status of the ground water resource.”
The use of pesticides and herbicides in a golf course in fact could have a significant impact on this groundwater body.
In fact, the low nitrate content and low pesticide content fulfils the quality standards imposed by the EU’s Water Policy regulations, an important detail which has surprisingly escaped the government and MEPA when choosing the Xaghra l-Hamra site.
In fact, the government has always insisted this area was chosen on the basis of scientific studies, the validity of which is seriously undermined by the omission of this important detail.
The fact that the project description by ADI has also missed this point, also casts another shadow on the seriousness of the EIA process.
A water analysis of groundwater sources published in the Water Services Corporation’s annual report also that water extracted from the Mizieb pumping station has the third lowest chloride levels among Malta’s 15 pumping stations.
The MRA has stated the Mizieb aquifer beneath the proposed golf course has a low nitrate content of less than 50 milligrams per litre, and practically inexistent levels of pesticide (0.5mg/l).
Unlike the aquifer under Xaghra l-Hamra, the Rabat aquifer where the Verdala golf course was touted for development is not deemed good for drinking water because of high nitrate levels.
But the risk of polluting the aquifer at Rabat was mitigated by the presence of a layer of impermeable clay separating the aquifer from the golf course.
In the case of Xaghra l-Hamra however, no such layer lies between water seeping from the golf course and the aquifer, opening up the important source of potable water to possible infiltration of pesticides used for the maintenance of the course.
The Mizieb mean sea level groundwater body, which lies beneath Xaghra l-Hamra, contains good quality drinking water, contributing 450,000 cubic metres a year to the water supply through the Mizieb pumping station. The station produces enough water to satisfy the annual needs of 8,200 people, the equivalent of the population of a village the size of Mgarr.
In 2004 the MRA identified seven zones as drinking water safeguard zones as part of the implementation of the European Union Water Framework Directive.
Of these seven zones, only five supply good quality drinking water as two of these zones, the Rabat and the Mellieha aquifers, still have an unacceptably high level of nitrates.
There are 16 groundwater bodies identified by the MRA but most of these produce water for agricultural purposes.
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