Drainage flowing from pipes in Santa Marija estate

The stench is nearly unbearable, made worse by the still summer air, as drainage trickles from a plastic pipe, going down the Wied Zejtuna valley, possibly right up to the sea.

This was confirmed by a visit by a MaltaToday journalist to the site a few days ago. 

The situation was first brought to light in a report compiled by the Ghaqda Residenti ta’ Santa Marija Estate. The residents had complained about the indiscriminate trenching of the valley bed and the laying of plastic drainage pipes, which results in the diversion of the natural watercourse beneath Triq Ghajn Zejtuna. 

In 2010 a report by MEPA’s enforcement directorate made it clear that “the installation of the pipes together with the engineering works related to the storm or drainage water from high levelled villas down into the water course at lower levels, required a development permit” and no such permit was ever issued.

An enforcement order issued by MEPA in 2010 against the installation of large diameter pipes without permit is still pending.

A report by biologists Jeffrey and Arnold Sciberras had also denounced the installation of sewage pipes directly over the riverbed of the valley. The report was published in MaltaToday in August 2010.

According to the two biologists the impact of this inexcusable action on the dynamics of the valley is “glaring, grievous, and scandalous and infringes every environmental tenet and every principle of sustainability avowedly exhorted in the Structure Plan for the Maltese Islands.” 

They claimed that the development is resulting in severe damage on both the surrounding areas because storm water is no longer able to seep harmlessly into the riverbed. Instead, storm water is rushing downstream in aggressive torrents, which could erode banks on the riverbed further downstream.

Even mature trees could be uprooted and caused to topple over. Damage to the sewage pipes could also create havoc as raw sewage starts to flow down the valley into the other, as yet untouched, areas of the riverbed.

The report also expressed concern about the future of the fresh water crab, which is known to inhabit the valley. The Sciberras brothers express concern that, due to the various modifications of the valley, storm water is rushing down the riverbed towards the sea much more aggressively, carrying with it a great deal of debris, including loose stones.

This could actually crush these crustaceans and it might even wash away their burrows altogether, destroying their habitat. The authors speculate that, in this manner, their population is being periodically decimated, preventing them from establishing a thriving colony.