Watch: Three-Eyed Fish? Balluta Bay Lifeguard Jokes About Sea Contamination
A lifeguard stationed at Balluta Bay recently quipped that if the pollution persists, visitors might soon start seeing three-eyed fish—a humorous yet slightly unsettling reflection of the water’s severe contamination that lasted three months.
Part of a new feature on the state of Maltese beaches by Johnathan Cilia for Rakkont Media, the video delves into the challenges of Balluta Bay; a popular destination for both locals and tourists.
Despite its picturesque setting, recent events have cast a shadow over the area. A sewage leak recorded in May left the waters contaminated for three months, rendering them unsafe for swimming and forcing authorities to put up warning signs around the beach.
It has since been declared fit for bathing.
The lifeguards on duty, well aware of the situation, said that the contamination had been a persistent issue.
“Can I swim here at Balluta Bay today?” Cilia asked to which the lifeguard responded “Yeah, it’s contaminated.”
The lifeguard continued to explain that it’s been contaminated all month before joking that the water’s so toxic, it’s breeding “three-eyed fish”.
Lovin Malta spoke to the Water Services Corporation earlier this summer to figure out the causes for several of the contaminations plaguing Malta’s bays. Out of the five contaminations it was questioned on, it explained that four were the fault of private drainage blockages as well as illegal dumping in the WSC network.
However, the case of Balluta Bay was still being investigated and resolved at this point. It eventually stated that the contamination was caused by a stormwater tunnel that leaked into the sea due to cracks.
The island sells itself to tourists on beautiful, clear Mediterranean beaches, promising calm and relaxing stays by the water—water that should be clean. However, if you speak to tourists who came to Malta for the summer or read their reviews online, a very different, much grimmer picture begins to emerge.
Cilia takes a deep dive into the murky, sometimes contaminated waters of Malta, from Għajn Tuffieħa to Pretty Bay and everywhere in between, to find out what happened after decades of ecological degradation and commercial exploitation.
The environmental issues plaguing Balluta Bay are just one part of a much larger and more troubling story about the state of Malta’s once-pristine coastlines.
Would you swim in Balluta Bay?