Water exploitation index up by a yearly average of 3.6%

According to the water exploitation index between 2004 and 2012, Malta is a "stressed to severely stressed country" in terms of water resources.

Marking World Water Day, the National Statistics Office today released data showing the need  for effective management of water resources due to the limited availability of freshwater resources in comparison with the level of abstraction.

Moreover, Malta's freshwater resources are totally dependent on precipitation, as no inflow or outflow of water resources from or to other countries takes place.

Since 2004, the WEI has shown an increase averaging 3.5 per cent per year. This has occurred since groundwater abstraction went up by an average of 3.6 per cent per year, while freshwater resources have edged up annually by an average of 0.1 per cent.

On average, groundwater abstraction makes up 45.5 per cent of the Water Services Corporation plant's water production, with the remaining share originating from the three desalination plants at Cirkewwa, Ghar Lapsi and Pembroke.

Since 1995, the total yearly water production decreased by an average 2.9 per cent per year, mainly as a result of a vast programme of leakage control that drastically reduced the amount of water losses from the underground network of water mains.

This reduction in the system demand brought down the abstraction of groundwater by the WSC by approximately 7 million cubic metres, or a decrease of 34.5 per cent.