Hondoq reverse osmosis plant meant to improve water quality

The Water Services Corporation is claiming that a new reverse osmosis (RO) plant at Hondoq ir-Rummien in Gozo is needed to provide good quality water meeting EU standards, when past reports by the WSC showed that the Ta’ Cenc groundwater polishing plant already achieved that same aim.

The reactivation of the RO plant in Gozo is necessary to enable Gozo to meet EU standards on water quality, the WSC said, something which according to the corporation’s own annual reports had already been achieved in 2005. 

EU funds were allocated for the construction of a polishing plant at Ta’ Cenc, which purifies groundwater to further improve its quality to EU standards. 

But in January 2017, the WSC submitted a planning application to reactivate the abandoned desalination plant built in Hondoq ir-Rummien in the 1960s, prompting concern by the Environment Resources Authority that the development may increase noise pollution in the area.

Tap water in Gozo currently consists of a blend of groundwater polished in a plant in Ta’ Cenc (77%), and reverse osmosis water imported from the Cirkewwa plant (23%) via a submarine pipeline.

To achieve this aim, the WSC wants to increase the proportion of RO water in Gozo’s water supply to reduce the proportion of polished groundwater extracted for the drinking water supply. 

The WSC claims to have two choices to achieve this aim: either to increase the production capacity of the Cirkewwa RO plant or to reactivate the Hondoq plant.

The first option is being discarded because this would require the replacement of the submarine pipeline, something that would involve “extensive excavation works on Comino because the pipeline passes over its surface”.

Statistics provided to MaltaToday show that there has not been any significant increase in water demand in Gozo in the last 10 years. 

During these 10 years, the bulk of the water (77-83%) was provided by the polishing plant. Before 2004, Gozo used unpolished groundwater extraction for its water supply. 

Hydrologist questions justification for plant

When contacted by MaltaToday, hydrologist and Malta Water Association executive member Marco Cremona, questioned the justification for the new RO plant at Hondoq. 

“The claim by WSC that a new RO is needed to improve the quality of the water being supplied in Gozo raises suspicions that the polishing plant at Ta’ Cenc is delivering water that does not meet EU drinking water standards,” he said.

Cremona remarked that the country was yet again investing millions of euros in water infrastructure “in the absence of a holistic national water plan and therefore is doing so in the dark”.

“The water plan was meant as the most important deliverable of this administration, but – four years on – we have not seen anything,” he added.  

Gozo should already have good quality water

The Water Services Corporation’s annual report in 2005 claimed that following the commissioning of the polishing plant in 2004, “all the groundwater in Gozo will be either polished or blended with polished water, resulting in a product meeting EU drinking water regulations parameters.”

The report stated that the polishing plant “will produce 4,000 cb.m/day of extremely good quality water which, when blended with other groundwater sources, will improve the overall quality considerably.”

In 2004, then investments minister Austin Gatt had announced that the opening of the water polishing plant at Ta’ Cenc would enable Gozo to become the first area of Malta where water quality would reach EU standards.

But a spokesperson for WSC now claims that a new RO plant is needed at Hondoq ir-Rummien to improve water quality as required by the European Commission. 

In 2014, a contract was awarded to the GTE joint venture for €4,155,056 for the laying of a new water pipe, starting at Ta Cenc where the polishing plant is located and ending near Hondoq ir-Rummien where the abandoned desalination plant is located.

On that occasion, the WSC claimed that the works were aimed at enlarging the diameter of water pipes transporting water from Hondoq – where the water from Cirkewwa is pumped – to the Ta’ Cen reservoirs in a bid to improve the corporation’s carbon footprint. 

ERA warns of noise pollution risk

The plant, already covering a site of 3,300sq.m in a protected Natura 2000 site, will be repaired for its renewed use. 

It will produce 5,000 cb.m of water on a daily basis, although it will also cause the discharge of backwash water into the nearby sea from an outfall.

The Environment and Resources Authority has warned that the development may lead to possible impacts on the Special Area of Conservation, mainly due to possible disturbance of seabirds due to noise and light emissions. The environmental impact of the project will be assessed in an Appropriate Assessment (AA). 

The RO plant is expected to operate non-stop, which means a substantial level of continuous noise will be generated by the machinery in use. 

ERA has asked the Water Services Corporation to provide it with details of the effluent, which will be generated by the plant. Studies will also assess the potential impact of the release of briny water on Posidonia Oceania meadows. 

Replying to questions by Nationalist MP Chris Said, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that the Qala local council had already been informed of plans to reactivate the desalination plant, claiming that this was being done to “improve water quality.”

Hondoq ir-Rummien has been in the news in the last decade because of a proposal to develop the area into a full-blown tourist village. The proposal was met with opposition by environmental groups and residents, and the application was refused on environmental grounds. Hondoq ir-Rummien was also awarded the Beach of Quality status in 2016, moving it one step closer to Blue Flag status. 

It remains to be seen whether the construction of an RO plant at Hondoq would affect this certification.