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Meeting the Demand. – Enhancing the Availability of Water Supplies in Malta. J.Mangion, M.Sapiano

International Conference of the LIFE – 3rd Countries Project: “Development and implementation of an integrated system for the control and monitoring of the urban wastewater treatment plants in Cyprus” Thursday, 17th February, 2005, Holiday Inn Hotel, Nicosia, Cyprus. Meeting the Demand. –

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Meeting the Demand. – Enhancing the Availability of Water Supplies in Malta. J.Mangion, M.Sapiano

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  1. International Conference of the LIFE – 3rd Countries Project:“Development and implementation of an integrated system for the control and monitoring of the urban wastewater treatment plants in Cyprus” Thursday, 17th February, 2005, Holiday Inn Hotel, Nicosia, Cyprus Meeting the Demand. – Enhancing the Availability of Water Supplies in Malta. J.Mangion, M.Sapiano

  2. Demography • Maltese Archipelago - one of the smallest in the Mediterranean - 316 km2 • Population (2003) – 388,867 • Growth Rate less than 1,000 per year • Population density – 1,250 inhabitants/km2 • One inner harbour locality has 22074 inh/km2 • When taking into consideration average tourist arrivals per year namely 1,000,000 tourists – aggregated population in 2003 was 427,000

  3. Population Trends • Steady growth up till 2025 • Gradual decline reaching 360,000 by 2,060 Figures above are meant to provide a perspective of the pressure for water resources

  4. Water Competition Index

  5. Water Resources

  6. San Antnin Sewage Purification Plant

  7. Comprehensive distribution of water supplies - Malta (estimated 2003)

  8. Observations on the current Water Supply • Total production of around 58hm3/annum • Groundwater still accounts for 56% of total supplies

  9. Breakdown of estimated Water Demand (2003)

  10. Observations on the currentWater Demand • Agriculture is the main single user (32%) • Followed by the domestic sector (28%) • And industry/commercial establishments (6%) Estimated global demand 58hm3/annum

  11. Agricultural demand • current total irrigation demand of 16.2hm3/annum • current demand on groundwater is around 13.2hm3/annum • new cultivations resulting from EU pre-accession negotiations will increase demand to 21hm3/annum

  12. Projections for Groundwater Production • Current abstraction from groundwater is 32.5hm3 Projected cutback: • 5hm3 from the MSLA to balance recharge. • 2.5hm3 equivalent to 10% from the MSLA to curb saline intrusion. and • 2hm3 from the perched aquifers to sustain groundwater dependent ecosystems, (WFD) Long term potential of GW =23hm3/annum

  13. Supply Projections and Consequences • 50% of the recoverable groundwater for drinking purposes (11.5hm3/annum) • Remaining 50% for agriculture (11.5hm3/annum) Resulting in a shortfall of 9.5hm3/annum for future agriculture

  14. The Future Alternative

  15. Land-use correlated with the location of the proposed WWTP's.

  16. The Options • dispose effluent into the sea. • lead the treated effluent to inland industrial area where there is potential for re-use by industry. • lead the treated effluent to inland irrigated areas where respecting environmental and health constraints. • lead the treated effluent to existing disused reservoirs where distribution centres may be set up to provide water transporters with a controlled supply of water for agriculture and industry.

  17. Constraints on re-use options • Quality • 62.5% of irrigated land lies over the MSLA in fractured limestone • Hence TSE to be sufficiently treated to remove excessive salinity and pathogens (viruses etc) • Economic • Product adequately priced to enable viable operation of the plant. • market acceptance – tariffs to provide incentive to re-use this source instead of GW.

  18. Rainwater harvesting • Increased storage at local and municipal level. • Enforcement of building regulations. • Maintenance of dams in valley beds. • Conversion of agricultural reservoirs to store surface run-off

  19. Re-use effect on Irrigation Demand Demand on GW to drop to around 10.8hm3 from its present 13.2hm3. Assuming that all the TSE produced, and the harvested rainwater (estimated on current storage facilities) can be effectively utilised for irrigation

  20. Seasonal Dependency on GW

  21. Conclusions • Allocating 50% of groundwater resources to agriculture will not suffice to meet future irrigation demand, on account of the increasing sprawl of irrigated land, • Conjunctive use of groundwater with adequately treated and diligently applied TSE, and surface run-off offers a potential alternative that will mitigate the shortfall for irrigation. • TSE must be delivered to the areas of use, implying additional investment on new distribution networks. • Rain water harvesting and its reuse needs to be enhanced at local and municipal level • Cost recovery is an essential requisite to ensure the economic sustainability of the use of these non-conventional resources.

  22. THANK YOU

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