Water & waste treatment within The Maltese Islands

Waste treatment in MaltaInside the premises of the St.Antnin project, a family park has been built on top of construction waste to reduce pollution and land usage. This also shows how waste can be used to our advantage.

The processWaste is managed and compressed inside tents,

these tents have a machine called a Bailor which compresses waste and feeds/carries it to the next tent.

The sorters will ultimately pick up a specific material from the conveyor belt, which will later be compressed and sold.

BaysBays are large stores which contain

machinery which compresses the material into blocks, they are sorted accordingly by the MRF standard

Glass is not sorted in this plant but paper and plastic are sorted by hand accordingly, but metal is managed by magnets

PlasticTypes of plastics: PeT soft plastics such as soft drink bottleshdpe hard plastic such as washing liquid container

Plastic is ultimately sold according to the market price of oil, this is because plastic’s main material is oil.

Private companies can deposit their recycable waste directly to this plant in which the companies will benefit from lower tariff fees.(20 euro charge for each ton)

Waste is mainly sold to these countries each buying specific type of recyclable waste : Portugal, India, China, Japan, Italy, UK.

Organic waste processOrganic waste is filtered from the

rest of the waste and sifted .After this process is completed it is

then mixed with water(H2O).Later on, this substance is broken

down inside digestion tanks in which this substance is held there for 28 days.

This process helps to gain gas from organic waste, which can be used for fuel later on.

After the gas is extracted, the wet compound is separated from the solid waste and delivered to the sewage treatment plant.

The remaining solid compound which is now compost is mixed with rubble and quarry waste and eventually used for landscaping purposes.

Wastewater Treatment

The Institute of Water Technology was established in 1993 with the mandate to undertake research, development, investigation education and international exchange in the field of water related issues.

The Institute's primary objective is the development of the Corporation's workforce, but it also provides training facilities for the private sector.

 

◦Pembroke R. O. Plant

 Pembroke Reverse Osmosis Plant is a

55,000 m3 per day seawater reverse osmosis plant. This plant was built in 1993. The process involves the use of very high pressures to enable the production of potable water from sea water. 

 Apart from the Pembroke R.O plant, there

are two more found in Ghar Lapsi and Cirkewwa.

Cirkewwa reverse osmosis

Ghar Lapsi reverse osmosis

Reverse OsmosisReverse-Osmosis is a process through which

filtered seawater is forced under very high pressure against permeable membranes.

The membranes are so fine that they can filter out molecules, including salt and some bacteria, purifying the source water to potable standards.

Because of the Reverse-Osmosis system, usage of water remained the same, however because of the electricity reduction, this lead to the depletion of pollution and less water is being wasted.

 Before they used to dispose the water in the sea

but now only nitric acid is added instead of formaldehyde which is carcinogenic.

The new type of water filters used.

The Previous type of filters used.

A cross section of the previously used filters.

Groundwater extractionGroundwater production, however, is not

enough to meet demand which means that the Corporation has to convert seawater into high-purity drinking water in its three Reverse Osmosis plants at Pembroke, Cirkewwa and Ghar Lapsi and blend it with groundwater.

Moreover, the underground water table, is affected by illegal extraction, causing its salinity to rise to unacceptable levels, which has forced the Water Services Corporation to increase Reverse Osmosis water production.

The WSC’s Wastewater Operations Unit operates and maintains a large network of gravity and pressure sewage mains throughout the Islands.

A comprehensive preventive maintenance program ensures that the sewer mains remain in proper working order thereby avoiding many problems before they occur.

Reverse Osmosis

Ta’ Barkat Sewage Treatment Plant