Continuing the Water Battle

In Dr. Gordon Knox’s article “Water – A Crisis?” published in October 2008, 2.5% of Earth’s surface water is in the form of freshwater, the rest is considered salt water. Of the 2.5%, 68.9% is locked in ice, 30.8% is groundwater and 0.3% is in lakes and rivers spread across the world. A very small amount of freshwater is available for the world, and we are running out.

The last few days in Malta were jam packed with information about Malta's position and future concerning water and the limited amount within the boundaries of the tiny country. The Malta Water Association is focusing on spreading the awareness about the critical condition that Malta is in. I was able to meet with 4 of the about 15 members of the Malta Water Association (MWA) and discuss their opinions.

In an interview, Mr. Julian Mamo, Water Engineer and Member of the MWA, described the decrease in knowledge about water scarcity. He described how his grandparents were very aware of the water levels, because they were required to use the rivers and cisterns spread throughout the island. When the three reverse osmosis plants that currently run were built, however, many people stopped worrying about water. Where as before you had to walk down to the local cistern or river, now all that needed to be done was turn the faucet on. Water became more accessible, more easily attainable, and therefore less of a concern.

According to the members of the MWA, Malta's freshwater aquifers will not last, with it even being predicted that it's end will be during our lifetime. There are two freshwater aquifers in Malta, the Perched and the Mean Sea Level. The Perched Aquifer sits above Malta's Blue Clay layer and the Mean Sea Level lies just under the island, above the very salty, very dense sea water of the Mediterranean and under the Lower Coralline Limestone layer.

In the recent past and today, the freshwater aquifers are being depleted faster than they can be replenished by rainwater, due to numerous boreholes that have been drilled through the layers of rock and clay and pump up unknown amounts of water daily. There are about 8,000 registered boreholes, with thousands of other unregistered, and unwatched. One would think that the solution, then, is simple; register all the boreholes and use technology to watch the amounts of water that are being pumped up through them. However, questions arise on how to do this. How would you find every unregistered borehole? Could you make people register something they don’t claim to have? How much money would have to go into a project like this to see a successful completion? The answer: a lot. Short of visiting every home in Malta, there is no for sure way to record how many boreholes there are or whether or not people have them.

According to “Water – A Crisis?” in 2007, the measured ground water that was being extracted through registered boreholes was about 13.4 million cubic meters per year. Estimating for the unregistered boreholes, add 16 million cubic meters and there is a grand total of about 29.4 million cubic meters per year being pumped up from the freshwater aquifers.

Another threat to the aquifers is contamination. The Perched Aquifer sits just below many farms and fields, and with the increasing use of pesticides and chemicals for growing crops is in danger of being contaminated. The chemicals used for plants and fertilizers seep down through the rock layers and into the Perched Aquifer, and as Dr. Gordon Knox stated during an interview, once an aquifer is contaminated, there is nothing you can do to clean it there. You would need to pump up the water and clean it through a plant, taking millions of dollars and a lot of time.

The Mean Sea Level Aquifer is also in danger of being contaminated, but by multiple factors. The first factor is the same as the Perched Aquifer, chemicals from fertilizers and pesticides. In the same way that the chemicals seep through to get to the Perched Aquifer, the Mean Sea Level Aquifer has chemicals dripping into it through the rock layers above. It has been estimated that it can take up to 40 years for the farming chemicals to filter through the rock layers and into the aquifers, which means that the chemicals that are reaching the aquifers now, are from the 1970s. Usage of chemicals and pesticides has only increased since that time, which would implicate that there are many more chemicals dripping through the rock and will infiltrate the aquifer in the near future.

As if this wasn’t concerning enough, another factor that plays a large role in the contamination of the Mean Sea Level Aquifer is the sea itself. The freshwater that sits above the dense, salty seawater is a lens, protected by the bottommost rock layer. Currently only the edges of the freshwater lens gets contaminated by the salt water, however as the freshwater is depleted, more and more freshwater is mixed with salt water, making the aquifer less and less usable for the Maltese without first going through the reverse osmosis plants, taking time and money.

There are numerous other opinions and questions that arise when discussing the Malta water situation. However, one detail has come up time and time again, something must be done. The MWA specifically is trying to spread awareness about the increasingly concerning situation. The educational system has also begun to put effort into changing this lack of awareness, by adding a new chapter to the teaching curriculum and teaching young children about water and Malta. Thus the process has begun, but its not enough. For people to simply be aware isn’t enough to solve the problem, action must be taken and taken quickly.

The future of Malta at this moment is cloudy. There is no way to confidently predict what will happen when. So whether Malta will be able to begin saving its aquifers and using its own water or whether the reverse osmosis plants will be run at full power and glass bottles of water will be continually shipped from Italy, is uncertain. At the rate that Malta is going, it seems that rescued aquifers are a long shot and the reverse osmosis plants will need to increase production to serve the islands of Malta.

Water and Farming: Final Reflections

I have had the privilege to interview a number of the members of the Malta Water Society this week. From these interviews I gained a number of new perspectives about the water and farming situation here in Malta. Unfortunately, most Maltese people do not seem as aware or concerned about the severity of the water problem here in Malta as I and many water experts believe that they should be. Similarly, most people do not seem to be aware that the current water issues are making hardships for farmers.

The main issue at the moment is water quality in the main aquifer. As mentioned in my last post, the main aquifer is a large lens of freshwater that is perched just above sea level. High extraction rates have reduced the lens of water to the point where some wells are drawing brackish water. Obviously, salt and plants do not mix well. This is becoming an increasingly severe problem for farmers who rely on the lower aquifer for fresh water. The question at the moment seems to be how long it will take for the fresh water lens to collapse to the point where it is unusable, and then how long it will take for the lens to recover. Even if extraction were stopped today, members of the Malta Water Association think that it will take a number of years for the lens to recover.

The need for the aquifer to replenish itself brings up the topic of alternative sources of water. The most plentiful alternative at this point is recycled sewage water, or gray water. Three sewage water treatment plants have already been built on Malta, but the water from them is not being utilized. The water could be either further refined and reintroduced into the main water system, or piped out separately to farms. Unfortunately, while the plans exist to utilize this gray water for farming, the funding is not yet available.

In the event that water from boreholes becomes too salty to use and farmers are required to use water from a central system they would probably need to pay for it. Despite a probable discount for water used on agriculture, it would be important for farmers to consider the economics of the crops that they grew. As Dr. Knox pointed out, certain crops take more water, and other crops take less water. For Malta, it would be best for farmers to choose crops that take the least water to grow and leave the other crops to be grown abroad and imported. After all, some areas of the world have much more rain water than Malta. These are places that are ideal for growing water intensive crops without environmental impact.

Because so few people recognize the water problem on Malta it will be difficult to prevent the degradation of the central aquifer. As a result, at some point in the future, farmers may be required to take water from a central system which will limit the types of crops they can grow economically.


One more issue that I found out about is the entrance of nitrates into the lower aquifer. Nitrates can come from both sewer water and fertilizers. Unfortunately, the water in the aquifer is already unfit for human consumption because of these nitrates. This means that continued use of chemical fertilizers could further damage the lower aquifer. This is an unsustainable and unwise course of action. Instead, organic farming methods could be used, which avoid the use of chemical fertilizers.

As mentioned in prior posts, the government has not heavily promoted organic farming to either the population or the farmers. Standard consumers do not look for the organic label, and the majority of farmers have not bothered to become organically certified. Organic farming, however, should be encouraged to reduce the amount of contamination in the lower aquifer, among other reasons.


Based upon the information I collected this week, I think that water is going to be an increasingly difficult issue for farmers. Those who rely on water from the central aquifer and not from cisterns might need to make some adjustments to keep their farms economical. It will also be important for all farmers to consider using organic fertilizers to reduce the contamination of the central aquifer. I doubt that Maltese farming will die out, but I do think adjustments should be made to compensate for the current state of the environment.


I would like to thank Keith Buhagiar, Dr. Gorden Knox, Julian Mamo, and Philip Grech for taking the time to talk to me about water and farming this week.

Ethnic Studies 410 Cultural Project - Water and Society

My cultural project relates to the water resources here on Malta. In ES 410, before we left, we learned about the limited water resources that are effecting Malta today and we looked into a little bit of how the government and people were dealing with the insufficient amount of freshwater. Coming to the island, I've been able to get a first hand look at the severity of the shortage and Maltese opinions on it.

Malta's water history is very interesting. The islands of Malta and Gozo is composed of five principle layers; Lower

Coralline Limestone, GlobigerinaLimestone, Blue Clay, Greensand, and Upper Coralline Limestone. Just under the Lower Coralline Limestone layer and above the impermeable Blue Clay level sits two natural freshwater aquifers, the Main Mean Sea Level Aquiferand the Perched Aquifer, respectively. Historically, Malta has used these aquifers for their freshwater, however, today the water is being used faster than it can be replenished by rain and natural permeability of the layers. (Source #1)

Malta's population has grown significantly in past years and continues to grow today.

Just under 400,000 people populate this tiny nation, with a growth rate of 0.42% in 2005, according to the CIA World Factbook. (Source #2) All those people inhabiting the islands require freshwater and lots of it. About one third of Malta's freshwater comes from three aging desalination plants that use Reverse osmosis to extract the salt out of the saltwater from the Mediterranean. Another third is taken from the rapidly shrinking aquifers through manmade boreholes that drill down to the aquifer and pump up water completely free of charge. About one quarter is received through the Water Services' boreholes and the rest comes from small, private reverse osmosis plants or from the islands plentiful private cisterns that collect and store the meager amount of annual rainfall. (Source #3)

In Malta, I've talked briefly with Ph.D student, Keith Buhagiar, a local archeologist interested in the ancient and medieval water management systems spread throughout the islands. He discussed about the differences between wells and cisterns and their creation. Wells are the most ancient water system, and was man's attempt to obtain water by digging vertically down below the spot where water is required. Usually, these wells are circular or square shape vertical shafts. This picture shows a dried up well found in Sicily. (Source #4)

Alternatively, cisterns are more for the collection and storage of water. They were built either through rock-excavation or built at ground level through the use of masonry. Above ground cisterns were not as popular because of their consistent need for maintenance and repair. (Source #4) The picture shows a sonar mosaic of the inside of the Ta-Silg cistern in Malta. Ta-Silg is one of the oldest places with a cistern dating back about 3000 years and living through multiple occupations from the original Temple People to the Phoenicians to the Romans. Some cisterns are quite complicated, like the Ta-Silg cistern, with many rooms and tunnels, while others are simply bell-shaped or circular or rectangular shafts cut into the ground. Sometimes multiple cisterns are clustered together and are connected through small channels. (Source #5)

The situation in Malta changes severity depending on who is giving the opinion. Some don't see the scarcity of water at all while others are being hit very hard with it. Some private homes and farms still use the cisterns and wells settled on their property for various purposes from agricultural water to filtering it for daily use, however, most still rely heavily on the reverse osmosis plants and the shrinking aquifers. With Malta's dependence on tourism and it's increasing population, one thing is for certain, whether the water scarcity is felt by all or not, something must be done to conserve or collect freshwater for the future of Malta. Within the next few days, I am meeting with four members of the Malta Water Association for interviews on this topic. I am hoping to get some good information on their opinions on the water shortage and where this small, heavily populated country is headed.

Sources:

#1 - Malta Water Association (http://maltawater.org/index.php/themes/geological-habitat-of-maltas-aquifers)

#2 - CIA World Fact-Book (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mt.html)

#3 - Malta Takes Control, IEEE Article (http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/environment/maltas-smart-grid-solution/0)

#4 - Keith Buhagiar Presentation on "Maltese Ancient and Late Medieval Water Management Systems" on 3/4/12

#5 - Tour of Ta-Silg Temple Site by David Cardona on 3/13/12

Picture Sources:

Picture #1: British Geological Survey (http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/groundwater/quality/Malta.html)

Picture #2: Malta Takes Control, IEEE Article (http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/environment/maltas-smart-grid-solution/0)

Picture #3: Picture Taken on Site at Gozo Citadel on 3/12/12

Picture #4: Picture Taken on Site in Palermo, Sicily on 3/6/12

Picture #5: Ta-Silg Mosaic Constructed by Erik on 3/13/12

Picture #6: CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mt.html)

Scientific Data Acquisition and Modeling Project Update 2

Progress has been made since my last post. As for the sensor part of the project, the salinity sensor has been built. Tyler is currently adjusting it to be able to measure the range of salinity we expect to encounter in the cisterns. The pressure sensors that we will be using to take temperature measurements arrived about a week ago along with the PAMs. We are currently in the process of acquiring the cable used to program them. Once we program the PAMs we will connect everything together and start testing. Also the otter boxes which we will be putting the sensors in to protect from the water should be here by Wednesday

or Thursday.

As for the modelling part of the project, I have made some modest progress. I have written a CSV file parser to parse the salinity, temperature, and position data and represent it in the cistern. The visualization for this can be seen to above. Also I implemented a bounding box that will help me calculate what is in the cistern and what is not for when I do the scattered data interpolation view. This can be seen to the right.

IRB Forms, Omeka and Water and Society Project

The Water and Society Project, I am working on is mainly targeted at educators and classrooms that are interested in learning more about water and its impact on Malta and its culture. Envisioned for this project is to be able to set up curriculums and lesson plans based around gathering information from sources and references that ICEX has collect throughout its research on Malta.

This past week and a half, I have been working with Jane to fill out and submit IRB forms for my part of the project. For my project, specifically, we needed to gather information about the cisterns and interview people who came into contact with them. However, to be able to interview individuals and use the information we receive from them we needed to submit three forms to the Human Research Committee, who would determine whether the research we are doing will not harm any of the individuals we come into contact with and that the research is acceptable. We spent quite a bit of time, writing, revising and changing the forms to describe all aspects of the project. I submitted the forms this morning, so we are hoping the Committee will review our documents and approve our project soon, before we leave we hope!

Jane, Erik, Brent, and I also decided that Omeka was going to be our UI & database. It will hold all of the sources and information we collect. Zoe introduced Jane, Erik and I to Alan in the Computer Science Department and we discussed with him the possibility of us using Cal Poly server space to hold the Omeka information. We decided that was probably the best for this project, however, Alan said that usually projects that use the Cal Poly server space are not permanent and thus get little bits of space. We don't think that the project will use a lot of space, so we think this will be alright for the time being at least. Once we get to the point where we need more space or want to change the duration of the project, etc. we will decide the next step then.

Lastly! The four of us also had a skype session with John Lester about unity 3D and Jibe products and their abilities and limitations. I think we will use this for Erik's project, specifically for the archeologist side, however, Jane and I have bounced around the idea of using it in collaboration with Omeka for the Water and Society Project as well. We haven't figured out all the details yet, but from my knowledge it would be really cool to use.

The program is a virtual world program, which enables a person to create a character and walk around and interact with a world that we (the ICEX members) can build. Characters can come into contact with each other, have meetings, presentations, look at specific locations, and do a bunch of other things that can make it more user friendly to get information about Malta and its cisterns.

The part that Jane and I were most interested in for the Water and Society Project, was the ability to hold tours or classroom 'field trips' to the various locations in Malta with the information that we will collect once over there. I think this would be a great tool for educators to be able to use and I would love to try and work with it for the project, but due to the cost and some other factors, we haven't decided yet whether we will officially try to use it yet or not.

That's the most of it so far! I will be working more with Omeka and looking at unity 3D and Jibe in more detail in the near future and we will be waiting anxiously from the Human Research Committee to see if our study has been approved and we can move forward!