According to the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and the city council, Zambujeira do Mar beach in the municipality of Odemira, Beja district, is closed to swimming due to microbiological contamination of the water.
This Alentejo beach is included in the list of recommended and prohibited places for swimming published on the APA website and consulted today by the Lusa agency.
The APA document says the water at Zambujeira do Mar beach has been closed to swimming since Tuesday due to microbiological contamination.
Also in a statement published on its website, which Lusa also saw today, the Odemira City Council said it was aware of “the sensation of an unpleasant odor and irregular tones in the watercourse.”
“A preliminary crop test scheduled for Monday confirmed the infestation, which determined that bathing is not recommended,” he said.
The municipality stressed that the company Águas Públicas do Alentejo (AgdA) informed it that on Monday it had been diagnosed with a “lack of aerators and recirculation pumps of the treatment plant”. [Estação de Tratamento de Águas Residuais]”.
“However, the same organization emphasizes that, as far as it understands, such situations have not had a significant impact,” he stressed.
According to the municipality, an unrelated event on Tuesday caused a rupture in the irrigation system of the Mira hydroelectric power station located upstream of the treatment plant, which “significantly increased the flow of water flowing onto the beach and caused a strong back-up of water into the river bed.”
“From what has been established, and despite the coincidence of events, the water from this rupture does not pose a risk to public health and should not contaminate the counter-analyses that the chamber is still waiting for in order to restore as soon as possible the normality of the beach of Zambujeira do Mar,” he said.
In a statement, the Chamber of Odemira indicated that in recent years, the results of analyses carried out on water samples at the beach of Zambujeira do Mar have shown microbiological contamination, which even led to the loss of the Blue Flag during this bathing season.
“In order to identify the causes and finally solve the problem, in cooperation with APA and SEPNA [Serviço de Proteção da Natureza e do Ambiente da GNR]The municipality has launched a water quality monitoring programme in the Zambujeira do Mar gorge,” he stressed.
This monitoring, as explained by the municipality, “includes searching for possible illegal discharges, collecting samples at points coming to the water supply and in its bed, upstream and downstream from the treatment facilities serving the population.”
“This is an ongoing procedure that will determine the specific actions that need to be developed in the short, medium and long term,” he added.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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