Do you go to the sauna? Warning, the water quality on the beaches of Portugal has worsened

The Zero Association warned Wednesday of the deterioration of water quality on Portuguese beaches, noting that 41 beaches have already been closed and 46 are off-limits for swimming this bathing season, most of them in the municipality of Cascais.

In a statement, the environmental association explained that these concerns arose as a result of comparing the water quality results on Portuguese beaches this bathing season with those of the previous year.

“There is currently a monitoring report for 664 bathing waters, with problems identified at a limited number of beaches, but more significant than in the previous bathing season,” Zero points out.

The environmental association says that since the start of the swimming season (May 1), swimming is not recommended or prohibited at 46 beaches, which is 17 more than during the same period last year.

“In these bathing areas, the analyses exceeded the technical limits set at national level for at least one of the two microbiological parameters assessed (E. coli and E. coli),” he points out.

Also, since the beginning of the swimming season, 41 beaches have been closed, 13 more than in 2023, most due to “low quality”, with 15 coastal and 26 inland.

The bathing waters that had the highest number of situations of unsuitable water for bathing were Matosinhos, with three situations where bathing was discouraged or prohibited, and Parede (Cascais), Camilo (Lagos), Bitetos (Marco de Canaveses), Vieira (Marinha Grande), Mole Leste (Peniche) and Azenhas do Mar (Sintra), each with two situations where bathing was discouraged or prohibited.

The municipality of Cascais, in the Lisbon district, has the highest number of beaches affected by “poor quality or closure” (six beaches).

Zero also regrets the presence of “errors in the information posted on the website of the Portuguese Environmental Protection Agency (APA)”, as well as “the reasons for the ban on bathing areas and the procedures of the regional health delegates”.

“There are 92 bathing waters without any analysis results (14% of the total number of bathing waters), and almost all of the beaches are in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. For example, the APA page on bathing recommendations and prohibitions (https://apambiente.pt/apa/desaconselhamentos-e-interdicoes-da-pratica-balnear) represents an improvement in communication efforts, but is not fully consistent with the information from the Water Information System,” he points out. out.

Zero thus defends the need to “investigate the causes” and, “above all, prevent pollution” of inland beaches, which have suffered proportionately more.

The same goes for bathing areas that “suffer from a lack of advice or closure during the current bathing season” but which “have an excellent rating”.

“In each case, it is important to identify the source of the problems and clarify responsibility, and the Portuguese Environmental Protection Agency and the General Inspectorate of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Territorial Planning play a decisive role,” says Zero.

On the positive side, the environmental association notes that “not a single Zero Pollution Beach” has caused “serious water quality problems.”

“None of the 59 beaches classified by the association as Praias with zero pollution (bathing areas where no pollution was detected in the analyses carried out over the last three bathing seasons) were subject to a ban related to exceeding microbiological indicators. However, it was not covered by a ban related to exceeding microbiological indicators. It is impossible to verify this circumstance for bathing waters of the Autonomous Region of the Azores due to the lack of information in the National Water Information System,” the association emphasizes.