Zebbug Council Restores Centuries-Old Cistern Hidden Underground

The cistern, which sits beneath the council offices, was stripped down to its bare walls after workers had been drawing approximately 35,000 litres per week from it to irrigate trees. The sustained draw-down finally emptied the reservoir, giving workers their first real opportunity to inspect and clean the structure properly.

What they found inside told a story of years of neglect. Over 90,000 litres of sludge had built up within the cistern, alongside discarded stone and tree roots that had pushed their way down through the ceiling. Mayor Steve Zammit Lupi acknowledged that workers carried out the clean-up under far from comfortable conditions.

The cistern itself is a significant piece of infrastructure. It stretches 27.5 metres in length, drops 6.5 metres in depth, and is supported by 24 arches, giving it a storage capacity of 600,000 litres of rainwater. The council relies on it as a key source of water for its day-to-day operations, making its upkeep a practical necessity rather than a heritage exercise alone.

Mayor Zammit Lupi framed the restoration as a matter of stewardship, describing the cistern as a water heritage site created by previous generations that must be preserved for those to come. With the clean-up now complete, the structure is better positioned to serve that purpose going forward.