MEPA board urged to reject Ghar id-Duhhan outfall

The outfall forms part of the National Storm Water Relief project aimed at solving the flooding problem in Marsascala by diverting the storm water from Zabbar to the new outfall.

The MEPA board is set to discuss this proposal in a meeting on Thursday.

Ghar id-Duhhan is set to schedule as an Area of Ecological Importance and a Site of Scientific Importance.

In August, the Environment Protection Department objected to this location arguing that the outfall should be considered near the Sewage Treatment Plant in Ta’ Barkat in Xghajra.  

According to the Environment Protection Directorate, the area is pristine and contains a number of geomorphologic features while the Ta’ Barkat the new Sewage treatment plant already dominates site.

Both the Xghajra Local Council and Water Services Corporation have objected to the Ta’ Barkat option.

The final proposal of the Ministry for Resources is to locate the outfall at Ghar id-Duhhan.

In its conclusions, the Planning Directorate said that the use of the site at Ghar id-Duhhan as the discharge point of the relief floods in the southern part of Malta is in breach of the structure plan.

It also contends that constructing the outfall at the Barkat site will have less visual impact, as it will be located immediately adjacent to a committed development where the intervention would be proportionately less significant.

But the Water Services Corporation is objecting to locating the outfall near the Barkat plant. This is because in order to avoid disturbing the Xghajra village core, the proposal was to rout the traffic through the newly built wastewater treatment plant.

“We are objecting to this since the roads inside the plant were not built to withstand continuous passage of heavy vehicles and may be damaged,” the WSC said in comments to MEPA.

The WSC claims that beneath the road surface it has critical infrastructure that if damaged will stop the plant’s operation.

According to the WSC, the proximity of the storm water outfall next to the SSTP may lead to contamination of the immediate coastal seabed, which in turn may cause concerns amongst residents that the sewage treatment plant is not functioning properly.