Farm waste odours get up Xghajra residents’ noses

The sludge derived from farm waste being sent to Malta's waste treatment plant, is contributing to odour problems in Xgħajra, the Water Services Corporation has admitted.

During a recently held public hearing on a pending planning application to upgrade the plant, engineer Stefan Cachia revealed that the WSC had not expected to receive such a large amount of farm waste and that the corporation was "actually promised by other relevant public institutions that this would not be allowed to occur."

Now, existing mitigation measures and design features of the plant do not even cater for such waste flows, leading to "major intermittent failures" in the system according to Cachia.

Over the past months, the WSC has received various complaints about odours, mostly related to the recent drastic increase in the amount of farm waste being received at the treatment plant.

The WSC is investing in a new system to minimize odours as much as possible, and holding meetings with the ministry responsible for agriculture to discuss the problems that it is facing on farm waste.

During the meeting, Xgħajra mayor Anthony Valvo also complained that residents were facing problems with odour, noise and transport. According to the mayor, sludge is being transported from the plant through the locality on frequent basis. He also complained that although a landscaping scheme was promised with previous applications, after four years no landscaping had yet been carried out.

A resident complained that due to the odours, windows cannot be opened and residents are forced to use air conditioning during the summer period.

In its annual report for 2011, the Water Services Corporation said the plant was being overloaded with organic pollutants from uncontrolled farm discharges.

"The plant is still facing operational problems due to a significant amount of farmyard waste it receives. At times this exceeds both the plant's design and installed spare capacity, particularly during the summer peaks."

Sludge from animal farms is being deposited into the drainage system, substantially increasing sewage treatment costs for the WSC.