This Insane Email Thread Over A Sewage Leak Complaint Proves Malta Is A Bureaucratic Dystopia That Never Stops Giving

Sometimes a good citizen stumbles upon an environmental hazard which requires immediate action. Said citizen would of course report this hazard, as one would normally do.

Very often Maltese bureaucracy discourages such audacious civic-mindedness with apathy and contempt. On very rare occasions, the good citizen is ready to go the whole nine yards to see some action taken. And the result, is simply unfuckingbelievable.

Meet Marco. This guy discovered a sewage leak at the Msida Yacht Marina, and decided to report it to the local council.

Three months ago.

What follows is exactly how it went down. Trust us, it’s worth the read.

This long-drawn narrative has been going on since the 28th of May — at least. Marco, reached out politely to the local council about a sewage leak at the Msida Yacht Marina. The concerned citizen sent them a video of the leak too. Pretty helpful of him.

Allegedly this pipe has been leaking sewage into the sea for the last couple of months.

Day One

Good morning,

I would like to inform you that today morning (28.05.2018) area close to Busy Bee cafeteria (Msida sea front) was stinking of sewage. Someone was throwing the sewage and rubish straight into the sea from the big pipe (next to boat parking area).

I dont need to explain how serious and bad this situation is for Msida and Malta.

Please check this and do something to stop this procedure.

video and map attached.

Regards,

Marco

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your email below and attached video, note of which is being taken. We would like to thank you for your concern.

Best regards,

Note taken.

So far so good.

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your reply, but I would like to ask you also for immediate reaction. Current situation is tragic and each hour delay make it worse and worse.
Around 6pm the sewage and rubbish have been still thrown out directly to the sea. Trash, such as paper, cans, and bottles, that is left lying in the water cause really disgusting smell. Sewage has spreaded among whole Msida Yacht Marina already . You almost can’t find clear and azure water any longer.

If someone will not stop it soon other marinas from West side of Valletta will be polluted and dirty as well.

Regards,

Marco

Honestly it does look revolting AF

Day Two

Our Ref: IF0244/18-F

Dear Marco,

Kindly note that ERA officers inspected area on the 28th May, and matter seems to relate to a sewage outflow that is not related to a particular permitted facility or source.

As per our communication of the 28th May, we are keeping in copy the Water Services Corporation for any necessary repair works to be carried out.

Regards.

Ok, seems like this is getting somewhere

Day Three

A couple of days later, on the 31st of May, our homebro, Marco gets an email stating that his query has been closed.

Good Morning,

Kindly please note that notification 000302583831 has been closed since work has already been carried out.

Regards,

And down the rabbit-hole we go.

But Marco ain’t having none of that.

He snaps back asking the corporation within less than two minutes, what it is that they did to solve the issue.

Good morning,

Can you please provide more details about notification which you mentioned below and what work has been done?

Regards,
Marco

The people from customer care decide to throw some bureaucracy at Marco to make him lose his balance. They start throwing in numbers and big names to intimidate this guy.

Good Afternoon,

Kindly please note that notification 000302583831 has been closed since work has been carried out on the 29^th May, however another notification 000302585513 has been lodged and sent to the attention of the Operations manager.

Regards,

Good afternoon,

Can you please explain what notifications 000302583831 and 000302585513 are? For me they are just numbers and it is hard to say what it’s about and what work was carried out.

I will be grateful for more detailed explanation.

Regards,

Marco

Good Afternoon,

Kindly note that notification number 000302583831 is an internal case reference issued at our end for your complaint which we received via email on the 29^th. However, since we were informed that work has been carried out on the 29^th another notification 000302585513 has been created for your complaint.

Regards,

At this point we’re already feeling really weird and clueless about this whole thing.

Why do they keep mentioning numbers?

How are they solving the issue?

Is this code for ‘please leave us alone?’

Thank you very much for explanation reg notifications.

I would like to ask also for more explanation about work which was carried out on 29th. What kind of work was done and how it would help to solve the problem? I am asking because even if work was done the problem was not solved and sewage was still throwing straight into the sea today.

Regards,

Marco

Jesus take the wheel.

We give up at this point.

What’s happening?

Dear Sir / Madam,

Thank you for contacting Water Services Corporation.

Your E-mail was forwarded to the attention of the section concerned.

It was indeed a pleasure to be of service to you.

Please feel free to contact us again should you require additional assistance.

Marco gave the local council peeps a break. He took eighteen days off to monitor their progress closely.

Sadly for them, they did not try to stop the leak, and he came back with a vengeance.

Good morning,

Can you please tell me what is the status of the below issue?
2-3 weeks passed from the moment as I informed you about environmental pollution in Msida Marina and so far nothing changed.
The problem repeted few times during these 2-3 weeks and today I recorded sewage outfrol again (film attached)
Can you please do somethig to stop this procedure?

Regards,
Marco

Day Four

These guys are throwing numbers at Marco like ninja stars u hekk. It’s like these guys are trying their best to not fix the problem.

They told him that the sewage leak was not their problem, they created another query for his email, and forwarded it to someone else.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for contacting Water Services Corporation.

Kindly be informed that previous reports have been closed since faults were repaired. Therefore, another notification 302596463 is created and your email has been forwarded to the region concerned for their attention.

Please feel free to contact us again should you require additional assistance.

This feels like watching the most anticlimactic episode of Dejjem Tiegħek Becky unravelling itself in front of you.

This guy will never let it go, and the customer care is adamant on not doing anything about it.

It feels like this is turning into a Greek Tragedy.

Day-almost-a-month-later

Hello,

Thank you for reply.

Can you please provide more details of the work which was done to mark the previous notification as repaired?

I pass by this area everyday and I can confirm that nothing was physically done.

I will be grateful for your reply.

Regards,

Marco

Good afternoon,

Could you please inform us about status and work which was done to solve below problem?
If something was done, which I doubt, doesn’t work because situation repeated today 3.07.2018. water and air is polluted again.
I would like to ask you one more time for immediate reaction to avoid this situation for future, especially coming Msida Festa.

Regards,
Marco

Marco is demanding some answers goddamnit and he will not leave until he the problem is solved.

Honestly we really admire how persistent he is.

He literally sent them two emails asking them what’s up.

Dear Madam,

Thank you for your email.

Kindly be informed that your email has been forwarded to the attention of the region concerned for further feedback.

Oh no they didn’t.

This is the ultimate email diss, honestly.

They forwarded it to someone else. Again.

They also called him madam, but whatever.

They’ve been exchanging emails for at least two weeks already, they should be on first name basis.

After being called madam and handed to someone else, Marco brushed it off like a champ.

Pride injured and slightly miffed, he asks the customer care again what they’re doing about the sewage problem.

This has been going on since the last day of May, just in case you forgot.

Another Day?

Good afternoon,

Kind reminder for inform about status and work which was done to solve below problem.

Regards,
Marco

We have no idea what’s going on here and to be honest we really admire this guy for holding on.

Sorry but we honestly lost count of the days

Dear Sir,

Thank you for contacting Water Service Corporation.

Kindly be informed that your email has been forwarded to the attention of the _______ for further assistance

Thanks & Kind Regards

We cannot believe it.

Someone finally replied…

…By forwarding the email to somebody else.

Good morning,

I would like to notice that all my emails are forwarded to Regional Manager but for last 1,5 months noone replied and answer to my questions.
Could you please treat this issue more serious as this is relating to society, turists and environment.

Regards,
Marco

Dear Ms __________.

Following our earlier conversation I am forwarding all emails on the subject.

Can you please advise the Regional Manager to give his feedback as requested on the matter < notification numbers 000302585513 , 000302585513 , 302596463 > to Mr Marco.

Please keep The Local Council copied.

Thanks for your assistance.

Regards

Marco got forwarded again.

We have no idea how he manages this but this guy is seriously super patient and chill AF.

Also, does nobody care about this? seriously?

About two months later

Enter August, and the issue is still not solved.

This guy is not letting go, he’s worried about the environment and feels like nobody is doing anything about it.

He even got local NGOs and newsrooms into the loop too, to see if that would get a better response from the people involved.

Dear Mr. ______,

Kindly note that the region concerned has forwarded the following information regarding issue mentioned in previous emails:

Pending a permanent solution which shall involve a full rehabilitation of the Triq ta’ Xbiex sewer, the WSC is intermittently intervening in order to alleviate the problem in the short term.

These intermittent interventions usually involve heavy vehicle mobilization in this busy road, hence are planned and executed rapidly.

Every effort is being made in order to expedite the permanent project initialization, however major projects do take their administrative course from concept to implementation, that clients should be made aware of.

Please feel free to contact us again should you require additional assistance.

Marco got another reply which gave him a very vague answer about what is being done to stop the sewage. They’re basically telling him that major projects are underway in the area.

That also being a super busy area, the project planning turned out to be a bit difficult to schedule due to traffic and stuff.

Good morning,
I would like to remind you to solve pollution issue in Msida Marine.
For last 24h sewages are outflowing again directly to the see destroying local environment.
Maybe there is other way to solve this problem than ful rehabilitation of the Triq ta’Xbiex. I sugest to check in the source where that sewages are produced and start outflowing.
Below explanation and no activities will not solve this problem and sewages will outflow to the see forewer. Please solve this problem while it’s not too late.I would also ask local media and NGO (in CC) to public and inform society of the problem and government reaction (all correspondence and videos below).

Regards,

Marco

Good afternoon Sir,

Thank you for contacting Water Services Corporation.

Kindly be informed that your email has been forwarded to the region concerned.

We shall get back to you shortly.

Regards,

Sadly for Marco, this is the final reply he got.

The sewage is still leaking and he’s pretty much still pissed off about this whole situation.

Marco, do not give up. We feel your pain now that we have painstakingly read through all of this.

What do you think of this saga? Leave us a comment below

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