The Portuguese Environmental Protection Agency (APA) has lifted its advice against swimming on the beaches of Matosinhos in the Porto area, now maintaining “regular and careful” controls, the vice president said on Monday.
“Beaches [de Matosinhos] were released on Saturday morning because the tests showed good results. We will now follow the usual program of regular and careful monitoring of bathing areas,” José Pimenta Machado told Lusa in a statement.
On Wednesday, the APA warned that swimming at the northern, central and southern beaches of Matosinhos is not recommended due to “microbiological contamination”.
A notice from the APA was posted on the site advising not to go into the water on the beaches of this municipality in the Porto area until this Monday.
The next water quality tests in Matosinhos are scheduled for Friday, with the municipality’s beaches being assessed weekly.
The head of the APA also indicated that the municipality had issued recommendations against him “for specific reasons” because “the values were slightly changed” and the causes of pollution were “not established.”
“It could have been something in Ribeira da Riguinha, or boat washing, or even the Lesa River, but we don’t know for sure,” José Pimenta Machado said.
After this incident, the APA also carried out tests on the beach in the municipality of Porto, Praia Internacional, with “good results”.
In June, swimming on the beaches of Matosinhos was also banned due to water pollution.
This Monday, APA Vice President Luce also indicated that swimming at the Ophir and Vila Cha beaches in Vila do Conde, also in the Porto area, “is not recommended, but the warning has already been lifted.”
“There [Vila do Conde], the advice was given as a precaution. Analyzes will now be done every 15 days. In Matosinhos, analyzes are carried out once a week by the number of people who visit them and by history,” he said.
The APA estimated that a malfunction of the Vila-Cha pumping station, which has “already been repaired”, may have been the cause.
On Friday, environmentalist association Zero warned of deteriorating water quality on beaches this swimming season, saying 28 had already been banned and dozens were already inappropriate or banned from swimming.
In a statement, Zero clarified that it evaluated the bathing water quality results for the current season provided by the National Water Information System by comparing them to the same time period in 2022.
Although the analysis is a week earlier this year, the problems are “already more significant,” Zero said.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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