Less than 40 out of 240 illegal domestic boreholes closed since January

Since the beginning of 2011 the Malta Resources Authority has sent 239 closure notices to borehole owners, but only 37 have so far been actually closed.

All these boreholes are located in residential premises and used for domestic purposes like filling swimming pools or irrigating private lawns.

Water extracted from boreholes is presently free of charge. 

There are currently around 8,000 registered boreholes, the majority of which are used by farmers.

Some boreholes are also used by commercial operations like batching plants, car wash establishments and producers of mineral water. 

The government has decided to install meters boreholes used for commercial and agricultural purposes while closing domestic boreholes as stated in Legal Notice 241 issued last year.

An MRA spokesperson confirmed that to date the Authority received confirmation of the closure of 37 residential boreholes.

But according to the MRA, in a number of cases users claimed that the had operational or structural difficulties in performing the necessary works, which require the introduction of construction equipment into their residence.

Specific technical guidelines were sent to these users giving them instructions on how to close these boreholes.

The works had to be performed under the supervision of a warranted architect. The architect was also requested to certify that the works were performed according to requirements.

The Malta Resources Authority also performs surprise inspections to ensure that the works were carried out.

The Authority is now addressing the requests received from the users that are appealing to the Authority's decision.

The majority of these cases are claiming that the borehole is being used for irrigation of land having an area greater than 1,000m2. These cases have to be investigated on a one-by-one basis.

To date only 20 such users have given enough evidence to substantiate their claims and the boreholes have been metered.

The others are still under investigation or awaiting a formal decision from the Appeals Board.