The development of water conservation in Malta with special reference to the years 1930-1955

Abstract

This dissertation is intended to arouse the curiosity of the general reader in the conservation of water in these Islands. We drink it, wash with it, swim in it, fish in it, grow food with it, ration it, waste it, pollute it. Water can be the subject of personal quarrels, public litigation and international disputes. It is a source of health and wealth, as well as of major calamities. Since we cannot do without water but can do so much with it, quite a large amount of money has been devoted to its conservation, purification, distribution and disposal; and a great deal of research and investigation has been undertaken to locate and evaluate it as a national resource. Water in the Maltese Islands is badly needed as without it Malta would remain an under-developed country. This is because without water industries would not function, agriculture would be minimized, and the tourist would shirk a place without enough water in which he could bathe and which he could drink. Although the problem has a technical background the dissertation is certainly not an engineering text; nor does it pretend to be comprehensive and wholly profound. I have presented the facts just as they have shown themselves in past and present. The decision to improve them does not lie within me but in the hands of those who know best.