Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) promotes sustainable water use based on a long-term protection of available water resources and aims at enhanced protection and improvement of the aquatic environment, through specific measures for the progressive reduction and phasing out of discharges, emissions and losses of priority hazardous substances. To reach its ambitious objective, the WFD requires a plan called the River Basin Management Plan which in the Maltese context is better known as the Water Catchment Management Plan (WCMP).
The Water Catchment Management Plan for Malta covers the whole of Malta and Gozo as one unit of water management. The plan is a direct requirement of the Water Framework Directive. The plan is holistic in that it addresses all waters including protected inland surface waters such as water courses, transitional waters, coastal waters and ground waters found in the Maltese Islands. The principal goal of the plan is to achieve “good status” in all surface waters and ground waters by 2015.
The Plan describes the natural characteristics of our water resources, the different uses of water, the threats to our waters and the impacts on the quality and quantity of our water environment. The state of health of our waters is identified in the plan together with management actions required to maintain or improve the status of these waters.
The plan addresses the factors harming our water ecosystems. Pollution is one, so are morphological changes such as dredging and coastal engineering works. The over abstraction of groundwater is another factor which has a long-term negative effect on the availability of the resource.
The management measures defined in the plan will be implemented over the next 3 years and are targeted to provide a significant improvement in surface and groundwater status by 2015. During this period the implementation of the measures and their effectiveness in improving the water status will be monitored by means of a monitoring programme. On this basis, the Plan will be revised and the WFD cycle re-launched in the next 6 years.
Different authorities and entities as well as NGOs and the public in general have an important role in the implementation of the WFD. The Directive itself states that "the success of the WFD relies on close co-operation and coherent action at Community, Member State and local level as well as on information, consultation and involvement of the public users".
On 12th July 2010 MEUSAC organised an open consultation session on the subject. It was held at Europe House in Valletta.
Mr John Mangion from MRA presented the part of the WCMP related to groundwater, while Ms. Yvette Rizzo from MEPA presented the part relating to coastal and surface waters.