Zambujeira do Mar beach, in the municipality of Odemira, in the district of Beja, has been banned from bathing due to microbiological contamination of the water, according to the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and the town hall.
This beach in the Alentejo is on the list of places not recommended or banned for bathing, published on the APA’s website and consulted today by the Lusa agency.
In the document, the APA stated that the water at Zambujeira do Mar beach has been banned since Tuesday due to microbiological contamination.
Also in a statement published on its website, which was also consulted today by Lusa, the Odemira council said it had been made aware of the “perception of a bad smell and inconsistent tones in the watercourse”.
“The preliminary reading of the harvest scheduled for Monday confirmed the contamination, thus determining that bathing should not be recommended,” it said.
The municipality stressed that it had been informed by the company Águas Públicas do Alentejo (AgdA) that, on Monday, it had been diagnosed with “a deficiency in the aerators and recirculation pumps of the WWTP [Wastewater Treatment Plant]”.
“However, the same entity stresses that it is its understanding that these situations did not have a significant impact,” it said.
According to the municipality, on Tuesday, in an unrelated event, there was a rupture in the irrigation system of the Mira Hydroelectric Plant, upstream of the WWTP, which “significantly increased the flow of the watercourse that flows into the beach and caused a strong drag on the bed of the stream”.
“From what we have been able to ascertain, and despite the coincidence of events, the water from this rupture does not represent a danger to public health, nor should it contaminate the counter-analyses that the council is still awaiting in order to restore normality to Zambujeira do Mar beach as soon as possible,” it said.
In the statement, Odemira Câmara pointed out that, over the last few years, the results of the analyses carried out on the water samples at Zambujeira do Mar beach have shown microbiological contamination, which even led to the loss of the blue flag this bathing season.
“In order to identify the causes and definitively solve the problem, in collaboration with APA and SEPNA [GNR’s Nature and Environmental Protection Service], the municipality has started a program to monitor water quality along the Zambujeira do Mar ravine,” it said.
This monitoring, explained the municipality, “focuses on searching for possible improper discharges, taking samples at points affluent to the water line and in its bed, upstream and downstream of the wastewater treatment plant that serves the population”.
“This is an ongoing procedure that will determine the specific actions to be taken in the short, medium and long term,” he added.