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Description of Tasks and Activities
Task 1 – Identification of the main water management issues
Based on
the results of the Article 5 report, the review of new reports
and information and discussions with experts and stakeholders,
the main water management issues for the groundwater bodies of
Malta will be identified. A short document presenting these main
issues will be produced as basis to future public consultation
on significant water management issues as required under the EU
WFD.
Task 2 - Risk-assessment for
inland water bodies*
The results
of the Article 5 report in terms of risk-assessment will be
revised and updated with more recent data and information.
Specific attention will be given to the integration of
information on future trends in economic sector development and
implementation of environmental regulations with technical
information on today’s pressures and impacts on the status of
groundwater resources. This will help assessing the problems in
groundwater resources one might expect by 2015.
*: i.e. water bodies falling under the responsibility of MRA,
thus excluding surface waters found in areas protected by
scheduling declarations under the Development Planning Act/
projected under the Development Planning Act and the Environment
Protection Act that fall under the responsibility of the Malta
Environment and Planning Authority.
Task
3 – List and quantification of basic measures
All basic
measures already proposed in the policy pipeline and for which
financing is secured will be identified for the main economic
sectors (municipal, agriculture, industry, tourism…) and water
regulation of Malta. These will include, for example, measures
and projects proposed for implementing the Urban Wastewater
Treatment Directive or the Nitrates Directive. Information will
be collected on the current status of implementation,
organisational aspects, financing, possible implementation
constraints…. Review of existing reports, strategies and plans
will be complemented by interviews with experts and stakeholders
of the main economic sectors and of relevant administration
services.
Task 4 – List and quantification of potential supplementary
measures
A wide
range of supplementary measures will be identified for the main
economic sectors (municipal, agriculture, industry, tourism…)
and pressures on water resources. Information will be collected
on these measures on organisational aspects, financing, possible
implementation constraints…. Specific attention will be given to
demand management measures and to so-called soft measures
such as information campaigns, education… A review of measures
proposed in other countries to tackle water management issues
similar to those of Malta will be the starting point of the work
– complemented by review of existing reports, strategies and
plans and interviews with experts and stakeholders of the main
economic sectors and of relevant administration services.
Task
5 – Programme of measures draft framework
The
overall process and organisational framework for the development
of the programme of measures and river basin management plan
will be developed. A database will also be developed for storing
all information on possible measures. The lists of basic and
supplementary measures identified, the overall framework and the
database will be discussed and validated with experts from
relevant departments and stakeholders during a specific working
meeting organised at MRA.
Task 6 – Cost assessment
Costs
(investment costs, operation and maintenance costs, indirect
economic costs imposed on economic sectors…) will be assessed
for all potential measures identified. Whenever information on
costs will not be available in Malta, cost figures from other
countries facing similar situation as Malta and currently
implementing the EU WFD will be collected. All cost information
will be stored in the measures database developed under Task 5.
Task 7 – Efficiency assessment
Information
will be collected on the expected effect or environmental impact
of proposed measures – looking at both quantity and quality
aspects. Whenever information on effects/environmental impact
will not be available in Malta, effect/impact figures from other
countries facing similar situation as Malta and currently
implementing the EU WFD will be collected. The possibility to
use existing groundwater models for assessing effects of
potential measures will be investigated. All effect/impact
information will be stored in the measures database developed
under Task 5.
Task 8 – Cost-effectiveness analysis
The cost
and effectiveness/effect information will be analysed jointly to
identify the measures that are likely to be the most
cost-effective, i.e. to yield improvements in groundwater status
at lowest costs. The combination of measures required for
restoring groundwater status to required levels will be
identified.
Task 9 – Draft programme of measures
All
information produced as part of the previous tasks will be
combined and presented as proposed draft programme of measures
that is cost-effective. Total costs of the proposed draft
programme and the share of burden among different economic
sectors will be investigated. Additional (mostly qualitative)
assessments will be made to investigate the possible
socio-economic and cost-recovery implications of the draft
programme of measures. All results will be presented and
discussed during a workshop with experts and stakeholders – and
discussed at a high level policy meeting with relevant decision
makers.
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