Flooding: the price of incompetence

At a press conference in Triq il-Wied in Ħal Qormi, ADPD – The Green Party candidate and Deputy Secretary General Sandra Gauci said that after the first rains we are already witnessing various residential areas being flooded after a few minutes of rain. “This has serious impacts on traffic and for all those travelling at such a time.

In Qormi, just here, in addition to flooded streets the problem has been compounded with an overflowing sewer. The ever-increasing number of residents in the area are housed in developments which are not serviced with water-harvesting cisterns.  As a result, rainwater is ending up in the sewer instead of being collected in a water cistern. This is a serious defect in development planning considerations an a waste of a scarce natural resource.  Millions of euros, mostly EU funds, were spent in a flood relief project to address this issue. Yet any positive impact of such a project was rendered useless through the tolerance of developments which are not equipped to harvest water and consequently ends up in the sewer.”

ADPD – The Green Party Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo added:”This valley running through Qormi is one of a number of valleys which have been developed, as you may very well see.  The name of one of the roads alongside the valley, says it all ‘Triq l-Għargħar 1979’ (1979 Floods Street): a reminder of what happened  42 years ago, an October storm with the resulting floods flushing away everything encountered on the way.

The valley is the natural route for rainwater. Unfortunately, over the years, as you can well see, many valleys around Malta have been built up, as a result obstructing the natural flow of rainwater. The rainwater flowing through this valley last week contained sewage. This signifies one thing: the responsible authorities failed to ensure that rainwater incident on the roof of developed properties is not disposed of into the sewer, but is instead collected in a water cistern.

Legislation in this country has regulated the matter uninterruptedly for more than 140 years: providing that rainwater incident on roofs should be harvested in an appropriately sized water cistern.  Where such water cisterns have been provided, as a result of the first rains, empty cisterns start filling up thereby ensuring that most rainwater incident on roofs is harvested.

The authorities which are not carrying out their responsibilities in this respect are two: the Planning Authority and the Water Services Corporation. The Planning Authority is not verifying those new developments are provided with suitably sized water cisterns which can ensure that rainwater incident on roofs is harvested. On the other hand, the Water Services Corporation too is failing is mission. When authorising the linking of house drains to the main sewer no verification is being made that such drains are only used for sewage and not for rainwater.

When the Planning Authority and the Water Services Corporation carryout their mission properly we will have less storm water on our roads after a storm. It would also then be a rare occurrence for the main sewer to be overloaded with rainwater and consequently to overflow into our streets as a result of any storm.

This is the price we have to pay today for the incompetence in the running of the Planning Authority and the Water Services Corporation over the years. Rainwater is a precious resource which we are not adequately taking care of.”

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L-għargħar wara x-xita: il-prezz tal-inkompetenza

Waqt konferenza stampa li saret fil-wied ta’ Ħal Qormi l-kandidata ta’ ADPD – The Green Party u Deputat Segretarju Ġenerali Sandra Gauci innotat li malli bdiet l-ewwel xita, erġajna bil-problema ta’diversi zoni residenzjali f’ Malta li jegħrqu wara ftit minuti. “Dan b’konsegwenzi koroh għat-traffiku u saħansitra periklu għal min jivvjaġġa minn post għall-ieħor. F’ Ħal Qormi fejn qegħdin illum apparti l-fatt ta’ toroq mgħerrqa inħolqot ukoll il-problema tad-drenaġġ li jfur u joħroġ fit-toroq. Dan għax apparti li żdiedu n-numru ta’ residenti fil-madwar, il-maġġoranza tad-djar għandhom l-izbokk tal-ilma ta’ fuq il-bejt li jmur direttament fid-drenaġġ flok f’xi bir. Dan juri n-nuqqas ta’ ħsieb fl-ippjanar u l-ħela ta’ ilma li hi riżorsa importanti ħafna fi gżira bħal tagħna li ftit li xejn għandha riżorsi naturali . Bil-Flood Relief Project kienu ntefqu miljuni ta’ Ewro, primarjament fondi Ewropej, biex tittaffa din il-problema imma b’bini li ma jaħsibx għall-ħażna tal-ilma dan il-proġett falla għax fejn tranġa bil-proġett tħassar bil-bini ta’ flats u strutturi li m’għandhomx bjar fejn jiġbru l-ilma tax-xita.”

Iċ-Chairperson ta’ ADPD – The Green Party, Carmel Cacopardo qal li l-bini fil-widien tul is-snin huwa frott ta’ inkopetenza li qed inbatu l-konsegwenzi tagħha illum. “Il-Wied ta’ Ħal Qormi huwa wieħed mill-bosta widien fil-pajjiż li ġew mibnija, kif qed taraw. L-isem ta’waħda mit-toroq li tmiss ma dan il-wied ‘Triq l-Għargħar 1979’ hu minnu innifsu twissija ta’ dak li ġara 42 sena ilu: maltempata qalila f’Ottubru li kaxkret kull ma sabet quddiemha.

Il-wied hu l-passaġġ naturali għall-ilmijiet tax-xita. Sfortunatament, madwar Malta u Għawdex tul is-snin inbnew bosta minn dawn il-widien kif qed taraw b’għajnejkom. Fil-maltempata tal-ġimgħa l-oħra l-ilmijiet li nġabru kienu mħallta bid-drenaġġ. Dan ifisser ħaġa waħda: li l-awtoritajiet ma tawx każ li ilma tax-xita mill-bjut tal-propjetajiet fil-madwar jitfgħu l-ilma tax-xita ġod-drenaġġ flok ġo bir.

Il-liġijiet tal-pajjiż ilhom iktar minn 140 sena jobbligaw li l-ilma tax-xita jinġabar ġo bir. Fejn saru l-bjar, issa, mal-ewwel xita l-bjar ikunu xotti u allura l-ilma tax-xita minn fuq il-bjut tista’ tinġabar ħafna minnha. L-awtoritajiet li mhux jagħmlu xogħolhom huma tnejn: l-Awtorità tal-Ippjanar u l-Korporazzjoni għas-Servizzi tal-Ilma.

L-Awtorità tal-Ippjanar mhux tagħmel xogħolha għax mhix tagħmel verifika li l-bini ġdid fih bjar ta’ qisien tajbin biżżejjed biex jinġabar fihom l-ilma tax-xita mill-bjut. Il-Korporazzjoni għas-Servizzi tal-Ilma minn naħa l-oħra mhux tivverifika li meta tiġi biex tawtorizza li l-katusi tad-drenaġġ ta’ binja ġdida jaqbdu mal-main tad-drenaġġ, dawn ma jkunx qed iservu biex jieħdu ukoll l-ilma tax-xita. Li kieku l-Awtorità tal-Ippjanar u l-Korporazzjoni għas-Servizzi tal-Ilma jagħmlu xogħolhom ikollna inqas ilmijiet fit-toroq waqt maltempata. Ikun iktar rari li s-sistema tad-drenaġġ ma tlaħħaqx u li waqt maltempata jfur id-drenaġġ fid-diversi toroq fejn dan qed jiġri illum.

Dan hu l-prezz li qed inħallsu illum għall-inkompetenza fit-tmexxija tal-Awtorità tal-Ippjanar u tal-Korporazzjoni għas-Servizzi tal-Ilma tul is-snin. L-ilma tax-xita hu riżors prezzjuż li m’aħniex nieħdu ħsiebu biżżejjed.”