Abstract
The small Mediterranean country of Malta, an island located between Italy and North Africa, has been facing and will continue to face water stress and scarcity in the coming years, receiving the designation as the most water stressed country in Europe. In the past, Malta’s water challenges were centered around water quantity concerns, but in more recent years, the severity of their water stress has been strengthened by the deterioration of the groundwater quality and quantity. Through the over-extraction of their groundwater, saltwater intrusion has steadily occurred into their freshwater aquifer systems, worsening their groundwater quality for both domestic and agricultural purposes. The objective of this paper is to conduct an extensive review on the history of Malta’s water problems and how Malta is working to combat its water scarcity concerns. Additionally, this paper investigates the impact of Malta’s water scarcity on its food and energy security challenges. Our study concludes that while Malta has obstacles to overcome in their pursuit of water security and sustainable development, the future remains hopeful, with several alternatives still available. Some of the alternatives explored in this review include wastewater reuse, increased awareness, use of alternative energy sources, rainwater harvesting, and implementation of nation-wide strategic water policies.
Highlights
To be a truly sustainable society, the needs of the people must be met
Other countries in Europe that fall within this climatic designation include Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Cyprus, which are located within the Mediterranean region [9]
The European Union is currently working to develop a standard for the quality of wastewater including levels for E. coli, biological oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), and turbidity [48]
Summary
Society needs food, energy, and water to survive and thrive Do they need these, they need them to be provided in a sustainable manner, meaning the success of future generations should not be compromised by the current generation’s use of resources. While Malta will have to prepare for the future impacts of climate change, the country is already facing depleting groundwater levels, which is the only source of naturally replenishing waters. The resulting brine solution is primarily discharged back to the sea, where strong currents exist to quickly disperse the highly saline solution [2] While this serves as an alternative way to create additional resources of good quality water, it comes at a price due to the high amount of energy needed to treat the water [2,13]. The purpose of this paper is to conduct an extensive literature review of the historical and current water resource management and infrastructure in Malta, current and projected water, food, and energy security concerns, and suggested solutions to help reduce the water, food, and energy security concerns
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