Tariffs for bowsers still to be established

Rural affairs and resources minister George Pullicino told parliament that water bowsers will continue to extract water from Malta's endangered water table and that a tariff system will only be introduced "a year of monitoring after all water meters have been installed".

This was the same reply given to MaltaToday in May 2011 when a Malta Resources Authority official replied that groundwater sources registered for commercial use were still being metered.

"After the monitoring period, abstraction of water for commercial use will be against a charge."

It is still not clear when this monitoring period will be concluded, but it is extremely unlikely that the new tariffs will be in place before the next general election.

Water bowsers presently extract ground water for free to sell it to households and hotels at a profit. In the absence of tariffs on bowsers, the closure of 200 domestic boreholes, mainly used for swimming polls, has only served to increase demand for bowsers.

The minister acknowledged the need to control extraction in those cases where the rate of extraction from any particular source from is deemed "unsustainable".

He also promised that "quotas" based on the quality of water extracted following chemical tests will also be established in the future.

Pullicino also confirmed that the government still intends to establish an e-tracking system through which the extraction of each bowser is monitored. 

Bowser owners will be expected to contribute €50 annually to implement this e-tracking system. Owners will also be expected to indicate clearly on  their bowsers whether they are carrying first-class water - which must respect EU directives limiting nitrate levels - or other water which can only be used for irrigation purposes.

The tracking system announced by Pullicino in November 2009 has remained elusive for the past three years.

Through the new system, water bowsers will be required to have a load cell. In this way, the authorities would know where the bowers are being loaded with water, where the water is delivered, and the volumes involved. They would also know if the groundwater is being used for agriculture or for commercial purposes. This would discourage unlawful groundwater extraction.

Back in 2011, an MRA spokesperson claimed that the procurement was taking longer than originally proposed. The tender was issued twice but could not be awarded as submissions were either administratively or technically non-compliant. The Contracts Department later allowed the Authority to follow a negotiated procedure to select the most advantageous offer.