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 Availabilityof Water Supplies in Malta.

J.Mangion, M.Sapiano

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

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

Water Competition IndexCountry Reference

PeriodPopulation

(1,000)Surface Area of Country’sMediterranean Basin (km2)

Water resources(m3/yr.cap)

Competition index(inh./hm3.yr)

Malta 1995 372 316 40 24,800

Gaza Strip 1995 843 365 66 15,054

Israel 1994 5,472 10,500 178 5,612

Libya 1994 3,246 158,864 216 4,637

West Bank 1995 1,407 2,420 277 3,608

Tunisia 1994 8,033 90,000 437 2,289

Morocco 1990 4,426 80,000 859 1,165

Cyprus 1995 734 9,251 1,076 929

Algeria 1987 10,791 133,000 1,087 920

Egypt 1995 46,545 200,000 1,210 827

Syria 1994 4,530 22,000 1,269 788

Lebanon 1992 3,000 9,800 1,546 647

Spain 1991 16,360 185,600 1,733 577

Italy 1990 57,104 301,277 2,934 341

Turkey 1995 17,180 195,000 3,565 280

France 1990 11,937 130,100 5,906 169

FYR of Macedonia 1991 2,100 25,700 5,952 168

Yugoslavia 1991 1,246 6,322 6,301 159

Greece 1991 10,264 131,944 6,450 155

Albania 1990 3,256 28,748 13,080 76

Croatia 1991 1,403 37,205 18,598 54

Slovenia 1992 227 4,835 23,927 42

Bosnia Herzegovina 1991 545 16,301 25,039 40

Water Resources

Renewable Groundwater

Surface waters (Very limited and highly seasonal)

Non-conventional Desalinated water

Treated sewageeffluent

San Antnin Sewage Purification Plant

Comprehensive distribution of water

supplies - Malta (estimated 2003)

Groundwater (Public Supply)

30%

Groundwater (Private Supply)

26%

Harvested Rainwater

7%

Treated Sewage Effluent

3%

WSC Desalination

Capacity32%

Private Desalination

capacity2%

Observations on the current Water Supply

• Total production of around 58hm3/annum

• Groundwater still accounts for 56% of total supplies

Breakdown of estimated Water Demand (2003)

Domestic28%

Agriculture32%

WSC Apparent Losses

9%

WSC Real Losses16%

Others1%

Commercial2%

Government1%

Industrial4%

Farms3%

Tourism4%

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

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

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

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

The Future Alternative

WastewaterTreatment Plant

Projected output(hm3/annum)

Malta South 11.7

Malta North 1.0

Gozo 1.2

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

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.

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.

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

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

Seasonal Dependency on GW

Analysing Irrigation Demand

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

J an Feb Mar Apr May J un J ul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

MonthIrrigation Demand P roduction of TSEAvailability of Rainwater Runoff Remaining dependence on groundwater

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.

THANK YOU