Malta among top European countries facing water shortage risks, study finds

Malta is among the top European countries facing the highest risk of water shortages, according to a study by the National Geographic Society in partnership with Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

The study highlights how Malta, along with parts of Spain, Portugal and France face higher water gaps than elsewhere in Europe. The water gap is the difference between the demand for water and renewable water resources.

Among the threats to Malta’s water supply are climate change and rising sea levels, which risk depleting the islands’ groundwater by as much as 16% over the next 80 years. The predicted effects of this shortage in the long-term range from reduced rainfall and an increase in water demand.

Faced with similar water shortage problems, European countries have begun to address the issue with water-saving measures which range from car wash bans to banning the sale of swimming pools in parts of southern France.

In Malta, the government has distributed water-saving kits for households in order to curb the domestic demand for water, which has grown following a dramatic increase in the population.

In the case of water consumption for industrial purposes however, the situation in Malta has long been much more laissez-faire than its Mediterranean neighbours.

In 2023, Maltatoday had revealed that the equivalent of 31 million bottles of water had been extracted from the ground in 2021 for free, only by concrete production plants. In fact, the demand for water from concrete plants has shot up remarkably over the past decade, as the number of boreholes had increased twentyfold.