The Water Services Corporation has issued a statement defending its choice of technology for the sewage treatment plants, following criticism in a statement made by Alternattiva Demokratika.

The Corporation said that it shared the frustration expressed by Dr Arnold Cassola with regards to the court action being taken by an unsuccessful bidder in the tender for the Malta South Sewage Treatment Plant, contesting the award to Degremont Consortium.

"The fact that someone has contested a contracting decision in Court does not in and of itself suggest a lack of transparancy or irregularity. It would be up to an eventual Court decision to decide on such a matter," the Corporation said.

The Corporation said that Carmel Cacopardo's criticism of the choice of technology was misguided and that both the Gozo and the Malta South plant were designed to treat sewage in full compliance with the Urban Wastewater Directive.

"The plant in Gozo is fully compliant with this Directive. The process of the plant is referred to as Extended Aeration, with settling tanks prior to discharge to sea. This is a typical design used for such volumes. Furthermore the treatment plant has an existing potential to further treat the effluent using sand filtration and chlorination up to irrigation standards. However, this is a costly process that the Corporation has tested but has not put into use as there is no current commercial environment to make this process a sustainable one."

The Corporation also confirmed that the design for the South Treatment plant, which will treat approximately 80 per cent of the island waste water pollution, is an attached growth technology using media filtration.

"The process was chosen at design stage as it can handle larger volumes and is more resilient to shock than Aeration Plants or other suspended activated growth processes whilst maintaining a small footprint. The plant will also produce energy from waste thus reducing its CO2 footprint a direction that the Corporation has actively and successfully pursued over the last years.

"As in the two other plants, the South Sewage Project will meet the Urban Waste Water Directive as well as restore the Xghajra coastline to meet the Bathing Water Directive. Due to the higher volumes of wastewater treatment in order to reach irrigation standard a different technology for tertiary treatment would be used. All this would have to fall within the framework of the Water Management Policy."

As to Carmel Cacopardo's remarks on the re-use of the effluent from the Malta South plant, the Corporation said it should be clarified that such an option has never been excluded and that it understands the re-use of this resource will be assessed against future demand and potential sustainability.