Not too long ago there existed muted controversy over the pipes that dispel semi-treated human sewage into the sea. As with all such controversies, once the shores were officially declared safe enough for swimming the simmering outrage subsided and today the issue is practically all but forgotten, buried beneath other more contemporary issues. However the pipes continue to spew sewage and while the quality of treatment of the sewage may have improved it remains sewage.

Of course even such treated slurry has its effects upon the environment. Certain kinds of sea vegetation, upon which both desirable and undesirable fish may feed, thrive upon any opportunity for a ‘nutrient-rich’ zone, and certain bays make for perfect examples. The full effects of such artificial enrichment of sectors of sub-aquatic Malta are unlikely to be fully appreciated by the public for many years to come. After all, being a small set of islands we have the blessing of having our poor environmental choices shunted wherever the winds and the waves dictate.

However upon a different level the choice of the Maltese Islands to literally waste tonnes of sewage every day is a choice of incredible stupidity. While a Swiss city with one quarter the population of Malta worries about producing enough cow excrement to generate alternative fuel, we of the Maltese Islands appear to feel that we are wealthy enough to toss our excrement into the sea, not only soiling our chances of using it as an energy source but also soiling the “Sun and Sea” tourism life-line that the Malta Tourism Authority seems stuck on (which is every bit as reductionist in nature as some males’ demeaning perspectives of the female).

In Malta we have a population of 400,000-odd persons. That represents 400,000 individuals each using the sewage system several times a day. We currently throw the vast majority of it all into our seas.

Why do we do it? Biomass is by no means a new energy and has been used successfully in much cooler countries, just as solar panels have and, unlike the use of crops to directly make fuel, this is not nearly so great a threat to world food supplies. Why does the Nationalist government persist in dogging every effort to introduce alternative energy sources? Not only do ministers state that it is more expensive than exponentially pricey fossil-fuels but when a foreign company expresses interest to open an alternative energy laboratory in Malta the initiative goes up in smoke! Also, why is the Nationalist government hedging its bets with a highly expensive form of alternative energy (an offshore wind farm) which I honestly doubt they are capable of maintaining in good repair?

Could it be possible that spending a bomb upon another inadequate white elephant would pave the way to future excuses not to introduce further alternative energy? In other words could it be a case of yielding a foot to save a yard for as far as oil interests are concerned? Is it possible that the oil gurus have dipped their fingers into the pockets of Maltese politicians? Would this have anything at all to do with the redoubled efforts in “oil-exploration”? Sometimes I seriously do wonder whose interests the politicians, the supposed servants (’not’ masters) of the people, are safeguarding…