The Rabat Local Council will be initiating works in the garden of Misraħ San Duminku, ir-Rabat. The construction works for a rain garden will be carried out under archaeological monitoring by the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage. This is to ensure the safety of the WWII shelter and the St Domenic Grotto underneath the Dominican’s Church and convent, which all lie in the vicinity.

This project will see the introduction of porous pavements to allow rainwater to percolate. 700 square meters of the ground will be covered in grass. The grass will then be covered in mulch to reduce the evaporation of moisture.

The rest of the area will be covered in hard landscaping, however, the material used will be porous, to allow stormwater runoff to filter and seep down the water table. This idea is innovative as the porous surface area will be at the top of the hill, so it will tackle the problem from the source. At the moment the runoff water normally moves downhill to Vjal il-Ħaddiem Road, Chadwick Lakes, and the sea.

As such, this project is an environmental assignment to control soil erosion and urban flooding in urban conservation areas. This project will also help mitigate the effects of climate change we are now facing.

The Rabat Local Council is doing its utmost to educate residents and the general public to re-start using their existing wells, consume less water and introduce second-class water systems for domestic consumption.