19 February 2025 - Today, at Malta’s National Water Conference, Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) and Malta’s Energy and Water Agency (EWA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch the Alter Aqua RECAP project—an initiative focused on advancing Malta’s water resilience through promoting the use of recycled greywater for domestic uses. It builds on more than a decade of collaboration delivering tangible non-conventional water resources applications, thanks to consistent funding and support by The Coca-Cola Foundation and EWA. The MoU was signed by Vangelis Constantianos, Executive Secretary, GWP-Med and Manuel Sapiano, CEO of EWA, in the presence of Ms Miriam Dalli, Minister for the Environment, Energy and Regeneration of the Grand Harbour, and Mr. Stephen Bonnici, Deputy General Manager, GSD.
The new project’s focus is to gain practical experience that will help remove obstacles to upscaling greywater recycling and reuse, and inform relevant enabling policies in Malta’s 4th River Basin Management Plan, which is currently under development.
The Alter Aqua project has been running consistenly in Malta since 2011, delivering 25 non-conventional water resources applications, mainly on rainwater harvesting and stormwater management.
A Mediterranean island ‘Living Lab’ for Water Innovation
Malta’s overwhelming reliance on desalination and finite groundwater reserves necessitate innovations that will drive efficiency and diversification in the use of water resources. Alter Aqua RECAP will address this need by demonstrating proven solutions for decentralised greywater reuse, combined with rainwater harvesting.
Greywater is water from non-toilet plumbing, mainly showers. Being less soiled and carrying a much lower bacterial load, its safe treatment is much simpler and possible within a domestic setting. Even so, GWP-Med’s project manager, Dr. Nikos Skondras, is upfront about the challenges facing Alter Aqua RECAP: “Cost is an important issue: although safe treatment is 100% possible, we need to ensure this is also done in a cost-effective way at the domestic level to give people an incentive to install and maintain these systems. We also need to address public misconceptions about recycled greywater head-on. It won’t be easy, but we must remember that its widespread adoption can have phenomenal benefits for Malta: according to the EWA’s calculations, it could reduce individual water daily consumption down from 110 litres to 70 litres.”
The previous phase of Alter Aqua, which was concluded in December 2024, included the restoration and return to active use of historical cisterns in the Birgu area.
A Public-Private Partnership with tangible results
This ambitious new project builds on a public-private-civil society collaboration which has already a successful track record of transformative applications in Malta. Since 2011, Alter Aqua has installed 25 non-conventional water resource systems, mainly on rainwater harvesting and stormwater management, replenishing nearly 20 million liters of water annually and benefiting over 70,000 people. With Alter Aqua RECAP, the emphasis shifts on how these model applications can enable changes in national water policy.
On 31 October 2024, at the closing event of the previous phase of the Alter Aqua project, Ms Sofia Kilifi, Sustainability & Community Director, Europe, presented the sustainability strategy and long-standing commitment of The Coca-Cola Foundation to supporting the Alter Aqua initiative in Malta.
“Over the years, the tangible integrated applications of Alter Aqua have grown alongside broader advances Malta’s water management strategy. This new phase, through Alter Aqua RECAP, is again not a standalone effort, but aims to achieve an even deeper integration of proven solutions into our national strategy”, said Manuel Sapiano, CEO of the Energy and Water Agency.
Malta’s pioneering role in the Mediterranean
Malta’s role as a testing ground for innovative water management solutions is critical. The knowledge gained in this island nation will extend beyond its shores, feeding into Mediterranean and European discussions on sustainable water management.
“The solutions we develop here can become blueprints for water and climate resilience, especially for islands and other water-stressed regions in the Mediterranean. By showcasing tangible examples and using them to refine non-conventional water resource strategies here in Malta, we are creating models that can be replicated across the Mediterranean” said Vangelis Contantianos, Executive Secretary, GWP-Med.
Alter Aqua RECAP is a 30-month project which will be completed in June 2027. It is implemented by GWP-Med with the close collaboration and financial support from the Energy & Water Agency, primarily funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation, and facilitated by GSD, Coca-Cola’s bottler in Malta.