All bay closures in summer caused by problems 'outside WSC sewage network', corporation says
The closures of bays during the summer due to contamination risks were a result of faults originating from outside the Water Services Corporation's network, WSC CEO Karl Cilia told the media on Monday during a technical briefing about the corporation
The closures of bays during the summer due to contamination risks were a result of faults originating from outside the Water Services Corporation's network, WSC CEO Karl Cilia told the media on Monday during a technical briefing about the corporation's national investment plan.
He spoke of the closures of St George's Bay, the Buggiba Square beach, L-Ghazzenin, and Balluta Bay (photo).
Going through each of the cases individually, Cilia started by saying that the closure of Birzebbuga's St George's Bay in June was due to a stoppage in a main sewer. He continued that upon investigation, the WSC discovered that this stoppage was caused by an improperly discarded nappy which was wrapped in a towel and resulted in an overflow.
Cilia said that the same bay's closure in July was due to a sewage blockage from a public toilet, and remarked that the WSC took immediate action to stop the sewage overflow.
Concerning Balluta Bay, Cilia said that it was closed in May due to foul water coming from a tunnel which was not part of the WSC sewage network.
Speaking about L-Ghazzenin, he said that this bay was closed due to foul water coming from a rainwater tunnel outside of the WSC network.
Concluding with the Bugibba Square beach, the WSC CEO said that this bay was closed in August due to foul water coming from a rainwater culvert outside of WSC's sewage network, and said that a residence was dumping contaminated water into the stormwater system.
Cilia commented that the connection from the main network pipes to households or businesses is not the responsibility of the WSC, and added that what falls under the responsibility of the corporation is the maintenance of the main pipe.
He said that those responsible for private drains, which could be for households, commercial establishments, and farms, need to ensure that their connection to the main government drain is stable.
Cilia remarked that although the faults which caused the closure of the bays were not the WSC's responsibility, the corporation still contributed to remedying the issues, which he said is why WSC workers were seen present on site at the areas concerned.
On the matter of regulation and enforcement, Cilia said that the WSC is not the regulator. He added that a working group has been established including experts from the WSC and the ERA which will work to ensure that this situation does not happen again.
He said that unequivocally, the WSC does not dump raw sewage into the sea, and reiterated that each case listed of bays closing was a result of a fault originating from outside the corporation's sewage network.
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