Malta water resources review FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2006 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product for educational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders. Applications for such permission should be addressed to: Chief Publishing Management Service Information Division FAO Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy or by e-mail to: [email protected] © FAO 2006 iii Contents Acknowledgements x Foreword xi List of acronyms xii Glossary xiii Executive summary xv 1. Introduction 1 The main challenges in managing Malta’s water resources 1 Meeting the demand for water 1 Protecting the resource base 1 Improving water governance 2 Supplying water at an acceptable cost 3 Improving the infrastructure 4 Increasing supply and limiting demand 4 Collaboration with FAO 4 Aims of the report 5 2. Basic facts about Malta 7 Physiography and demography 7 Historical developments 8 3. National economic and political setting 11 National economic, social and environmental objectives 11 National legislation 11 European water directives 12 Implementation of EU directives 14 4. Water governance 17 Regulation and accountability 17 Water services 17 Sectoral responsibilities 18 Civil society 19 5. Water resources 21 Climate 21 Rainfall 21 Evapotranspiration 22 Runoff 22 Geological structure 24 Hydrogeological considerations 26 Groundwater balance 29 Outflow of groundwater to the sea 31 iv Groundwater quality 31 Potential impacts of climate change 33 6. Water-related infrastructure 35 Water production 35 Urban water supply 35 Agricultural water supply 37 Runoff collection 38 Use of treated sewage effluent 39 Private and commercial boreholes and RO plants 40 Pipe network 40 Delivery system losses 40 Sewage and sewerage 43 Assets and asset management plans 44 Service-level agreements 44 Emergency planning 46 7. Water demand 47 Overview of current demand 47 Overview of the current status of water resources 47 Domestic water demand 50 Agricultural water demand 51 Livestock water demand 56 Industrial water demand 58 Tourism water demand 59 Environmental water demand 60 8. Economics of water 61 Financing 61 Costs 61 Pricing 61 Water tariffs 62 Willingness to pay 62 Willingness to pay for recycled water 63 Revenue collection 63 Value of water 63 Economic incentives and pricing principles 63 9. Options and opportunities for improved water management 65 Constraints on improved water management 65 Risks to the successful introduction of improved water management practices 66 Options and opportunities 66 10. Water demand scenarios and possible water supply strategies 69 The Water Management Vision 69 Water demand scenarios 69 v Scenario I 72 Scenario II 74 Scenario III 75 Scenario IV 76 Scenario assessment and strategy implementation 77 11. Next steps 79 Bibliography 81 vi List of boxes 1. Water-related myths 66 List of tables 1. Timetable for implementation of the Water Framework Directive 14 2. Mean monthly values of main climate parameters, Malta 21 3. Rainfall, evapotranspiration and effective rainfall 22 4. Holistic groundwater balance for the aquifers in the Maltese Islands, base year 2002 30 5. Water balances of the individual groundwater bodies in the Maltese Islands, base year 2003 30 6. Desalination production trends 36 7. Ratio of meters read to total, Cycle 1, 2001/02 43 8. General water accounting matrix, 2003 47 9. Simplified view of stages in groundwater development in Malta 54 10. Annual water demand by animal category, 2003 57 11. Water consumption according to the NACE (WSC interim results) 59 12. Water demand by tourism for the period 1997/98 – 1999/2000 60 13. Water tariffs as at January 2005 62 14. Willingness to pay: water tariffs in Malta 62 15. Options and opportunities for improving water management 67 16. Demand scenarios and supply strategies 70 17. Strategies with the potential to achieve all or part of the vision as stated in the water policy statement 77 vii List of figures 1. The Maltese Islands 7 2. Groundwater Protected Areas in the Maltese Islands 15 3. Annual rainfall for Luqa meteorological station, 1947–2004 21 4. Deviation from mean annual rainfall for Luqa meteorological station, 1947–2004 22 5. WSC meteorological and rain-gauge stations 23 6. Map showing the extent of urbanization, 2000 24 7. Simplified geological map of the Maltese Islands 25 8. Structural map of the Maltese Islands showing the major fault lines 26 9. Extent of the Globigerina/Lower Coralline Limestone aquifers in the Maltese Islands 27 10. Scheme showing a Ghyben-Herzberg (floating) groundwater body in an island 27 11. Extent of the Upper Coralline Limestone aquifers in the Maltese Islands 28 12. Perched aquifer scheme 29 13. Aquifers identified for irrigation with TSE 31 14. Nitrate content of groundwater abstracted from the LCL and UCL aquifers 32 15. Chloride content of groundwater abstracted from the LCL and UCL aquifers 32 16. Conductivity logs and relative locations of WSC gauging boreholes 34 17. Multimodel ensemble: annual mean change in precipitation 34 18. Breakdown of estimated water production, 2003 35 19. Public groundwater production sources in the Maltese Islands 36 20. Trends in WSC water production 37 21. Location of registered private water sources in the Maltese Islands 37 22. Location of dams in the main watercourses in Malta 38 23. WSC infrastructure 41 24. Billed water consumption and losses in the public distribution system, 2003 41 25. Map of the leakage zone clusters in the Maltese Islands indicating relative leakage levels 42 26. Main sewer network and outfalls 43 27. Measures to improve potable water quality in Gozo 46 28. Map of the Maltese Islands showing the balance between estimated inflow and outflow for main aquifers, base year 2003 48 29. Salinity levels and trends compared with previous five-year mean in WSC groundwater abstraction boreholes, 2003 49 30. Preferred source of drinking-water 50 31. Usage of water for recreational purposes 50 32. Domestic water demand 50 33. The Malta Environment and Planning Authority – policy and design guidance 2004 51 34. Land cover distribution in the Maltese Islands, 2000 52 viii 35. Agricultural land-use development in the Maltese Islands 52 36. Distribution of agricultural land in the Maltese Islands 53 37. Historical, current and project irrigated water use on the Maltese Islands 53 38. Estimated monthly irrigation demand 55 39. Increase in agricultural reservoir capacity 55 40. Correlation of irrigation demand with availability of unconventional water sources 56 41. Correlation between irrigation demand in the southeast and the volume of TSE produced by the Malta South plant 56 42. Distribution of pig, cattle and poultry farms in Malta 57 43. Distribution of water demand for animal husbandry, 2003 58 44. Decrease in water demand due to water recycling 58 45. Distribution of water use by industry 59 46. Percentage share of tourist arrivals by month in 2000 59 47. Water demand management in hotels 60 48. Redistribution of supply under Strategy 1 for Scenario I 73 49. Redistribution of supply under Strategy 2 for Scenario I 73 50. Redistribution of supply under Strategy 3 for Scenario I 73 51. Redistribution of supply under Strategy 1 for Scenario II 74 52. Redistribution of supply under Strategy 2 for Scenario II 75 53. Redistribution of supply under Strategy 1 for Scenario III 76 54. Redistribution of supply under Strategy 2 for Scenario III 76 55. Redistribution of supply under Strategy 1 for Scenario IV 77 56. Comparison of redistribution of supply for all scenarios and strategies 77 ix List of Plates 1. The Misqa tanks. 8 2. The Wignacourt Aqueduct. 8 3. The building that housed the 1881 distillation plant at Tigne. 9 4. WSC weather station. 22 5. Dam at Wied is-Sewda. 23 6. Aerial view of the Sant’ Antnin wastewater treatment plant. 39 x Acknowledgements This report has been prepared by M. Sapiano and J. Mangion of the Malta Resources Authority, and C. Batchelor, FAO consultant, as part of project TCP/MLT/2901 “Comprehensive legislation for groundwater management” funded by FAO in support of the Government of Malta. It is based on the work of several national and international consultants and FAO advisors and has received valuable inputs and feedback from several national institutions. The following persons have contributed to the preparation of this report: C. Delia, K. Gatt and S. Borg (national consultants); and J. Burke, J.-M. Faurès, W. Klohn, S. Burchi, S. Parker, K. Mechlem, J. Hoogeveen, N. Angelakis and A. Bullock (FAO). xi Foreword The Maltese Islands are densely populated but poorly endowed with freshwater resources. Since the 1980s, the drinking-water supply has been heavily dependent on saltwater desalination. The population and the tourist sector are served with good- quality drinking-water, but certain trends give rise to concern: groundwater depletion in terms of both quantity and quality; and a growing dependence on oil imports for water desalination. The public is poorly educated about national water issues and ill-prepared to assimilate information and contribute to shaping the required action. These and other associated trends have raised concerns about Malta’s long-term water sustainability and security. Sustainable water resources are vital to Malta’s long-term prosperity.