WSC has no control on rainwater disposed in sewage

Former Head of the drainage department Philip Grech has expressed disappointment at the Water Services Corporation's admission that it has "no control" over the frequent abuse of houses who connect their storm-water drains to the public sewer system.

The sight of manhole covers being lifted up and even carried away by water is one of the consequences of having rainwater from buildings drained in to the public sewer system.

One of the consumer's obligations - according to the newly issued consumer contracts between the Water Services Corporation and its clients - is that you cannot connect the storm-water drains from your roof or yards to the public waste water system.

This practice is already illegal and punishable by law, but the Water Services Corporation is not in a position to enforce this basic rule. 

Replying to a letter on the Sunday Times, the WSC's PRO acknowledged that the Corporation has "no control over this sorry situation", even if it has "tried its best to reduce the ill effects".

"The corporation can only appeal to the public to refrain from the practices mentioned above and carry out remedial action whenever possible."

The WSC acknowledged that its waste water system is not designed to act as a combined sewer and hence accept the huge volume of rainwater that overwhelms the system during heavy downpours.

If storm water is allowed to flow along the streets, the sewers can carry on functioning as normal. But the WSC claims that this system is disrupted because of "hundreds if not thousands of buildings" that have the storm water system of their roofs and yards irregularly connected to the public sewer system.

"This means that so much pressure builds up in the sewers that even the manhole covers are lifted up and often carried away."

The WSC has focused on reducing the ill effects of the system. "WSC personnel inspect, maintain and clean the sewers on a regular basis, and defective or undersized sewer mains are replaced or upgraded as soon as possible".

Commenting on this state of affairs, architect Philip Grech - who led the drainage department between 1989 and 1996 and who has recently joined the Malta Water Association - describes the problem as "dramatic".

This scale of the problem was already identified in a sewage master plan in 1992, which included initiatives to prevent manholes from overflowing. According to Grech, the problem is a direct consequence of a lack of planning, especially in the way road levels were set.

Neither will the problem be addressed through the storm water project which seeks to contain flooding programmes by channelling storm water to storm water outfalls in Ta' Xbiex and Xghajra. "As long as rain water ends up in the sewage system the greater is the risk that storm water gets contaminated with sewage from over flowing manholes."

One clear shortcoming, according to Grech, is that the Health Inspectorate - which is responsible for the enforcement of legislation against connecting rainwater drains to the public sewers - has been completely absent.

But Grech believes that before using the stick, the government is duty-bound to provide alternatives.

Another shortcoming is that the law requiring residences to dispose rainwater in a cistern is still not enforced. "But such a law can only be effective if water is given a real price. As long as water is cheap, people will have no incentive to store it."

One possible solution is to connect rainwater drains to a public collection system. But Borg thinks this would be very expensive, and that it makes little sense to create a new infrastructure to replace infrastructural mistakes in the past years.