Conference promotes better utilisation of rainwater as an untapped resource

The promotion of rainwater conservation was the main topic on the agenda during another interesting and informative conference, which was recently organised by Water Services Corporation (WSC) and The Energy & Water Agency (EWA). The latter, since September 2019, has been coordinating a nationwide campaign, WATER Be The Change in promoting the importance of water conservation.

‘Rainwater Management – An Untapped Resource’ was the title chosen for this one-day convention. The conference forms part of another initiative as part of an effective educational and awareness campaign on the optimised and efficient use of water resources to facilitate a cultural shift in people’s behaviour towards water conservation.

The aim of the conference was to bring various stakeholders from the regulatory, enforcement, planning, utilities, and public and private sectors together to discuss the important theme of rainwater management in an urban setting to outline and promote how we can ensure the maximum utilisation of rainwater runoff generated in our premises whilst curbing the present misuse of the wastewater infrastructure and its adverse collateral impacts.

Rainwater conservation in the Maltese Islands has always been a subject of utmost interest in view of the inherent scarcity of accessible freshwater resources. Our forefathers recognised the importance of collecting this important natural resource by constructing underground cisterns to give every household a certain degree of independence when it comes to meeting its water needs.

In today’s world, water availability is no longer seemingly a problem. As a result, safe drinking water is taken for granted to the detriment of natural resources that are coming under ever-increasing pressures to sustain the local population. Then again, society today is more environmentally conscious, and the country has legal obligations to preserve its natural water resources to safeguard their availability for future generations.

This issue inevitably prompts a discussion on the need to conserve rainwater and to effectively reinstate in us the need to treat it as a valuable resource like our ancestors did out of necessity.

The Water Services Corporation, as the entity responsible for the collection and treatment of wastewater, is very much impacted by the longstanding problem of unauthorised connections of rainwater runoff to its sewer network. Fuelled by extensive urbanisation over the past 30 to 40 years, this problem has grown exponentially to the extent that it is no longer sustainable. Sewer overflows, sewage backflows into private residences, sewage treatment plant process and network infrastructure overloading can now be witnessed during the mildest bouts of rainfall, to the detriment of the population and WSC operations at large.

Elaine Saliba, a Process Engineer at The Water Service Corporation, hosted the event.

Karl Cilia, Chief Executive Officer at the Water Services Corporation, gave an introductory speech, whilst highlighting “sewage overflow as one of the main issues that is still of concern for Malta.”

He Cilia emphasised on the importance “to come together and solve this issue of sewage overflow.

The conference also included various presentations, which were delivered by different experts in the sector along with two panel discussions, which continued to explore potential opportunities, challenges, and in understanding the importance of rainwater harvesting and better rainwater management.

The conference also included various presentations from foreign speakers to outline the approach and measures adopted in other European members states for integrated rainwater management.

The campaign team members of ‘Water Be the Change’ attended this event, and they had the opportunity to display and distribute related merchandise items to all participants.