Ibiza had the most faecal contamination, but the department highlights the bays of Palma and Pollensa in Mallorca as being particularly problematic because of repeated discharges of wastewater.
This year's schedule is for 1,719 samples to be taken at 191 different points in the 32 coastal municipalities. This sampling started on May 9 and will end on October 6. Francisca Panadés, the head of the department, explains that a visual inspection of the water and the sand is carried out and that a sample of seawater is analysed to detect the presence of Escherichia coli or intestinal Enterococcus.
These two bacteria are indicators of faecal contamination. "The first is not very resistant in the water. If we detect it, this means that the discharge was recent. The other indicates that it is from a while back."
So far this summer, analyses have led to beaches being declared unsuitable for bathing on fifteen occasions. Panadés says that town halls are informed so that "they can carry out studies and tell us what is happening". The most common causes are wastewater that is poorly pumped, which causes a spill, or that the sewers are in poor condition. "Finding a remedy is another matter, because sewage systems are municipal and the treatment plants come under the environment ministry and no one wants to accept the blame."
2 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
An over 20 per cent decrees in water quality is deeply shocking. It’s appalling - how can the Government of the Balearics allow this to happen?? They seem to be arguing about the details, while the islands are destroyed. Clean sea water and beaches are the lifeblood of Mallorca. Destroy it at your peril.
A fall in water quality by 20% since 2013 is an appalling statistic. Who’d want to come on holiday to a place with poo floating about in the water? Playing pass the poo parcel doesn’t get the problem fixed either, it just gets worse. Some authorities don’t do the Blue Flag rating anymore, now we know why. No hope of getting it. And where on earth is Armengol these days? I haven’t heard anything from her for months. She’s supposed to be in charge. The least she could do is make some noise about how bad a scenario this is! Or even…here’s a radical thought…earn her salary and get something done about it!