The US travel guide “Fodor’s” this year included the Canary Islands in its “No List” – a list of places that travelers are advised to “think twice about”.
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The guide warns that about 100 million liters of almost untreated wastewater are discharged into the sea around the Canaries “daily”.
The Tenerife Nature Friends Association ATAN also warned that “swimming in the Canary Islands poses a health risk”.
Juan Rumeu, president of the Canary Islands Environmental Consultants Business Association, said that the discharge of untreated wastewater along the resort coast is a “very serious public health problem”. According to him, it can take up to three days from the report of wastewater discharge to the closure of the beach.
“It takes several days to wait for the research results,” Rumeu said. “What happens during those 72 hours before the beach is closed? And what about all the people who swam there before?”
Local resident Alba Domínguez told “El Diario” that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a beach safe for swimming.
“The first thing I check before choosing a beach is whether there are any pollution warnings and whether it is not near places that have been closed for the same reason,” she said.
Alba added that as a child, she spent entire summers with her family on the beaches of El Médano.
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“Now it’s one of the places where I definitely wouldn’t go swimming. There’s no question about it,” she said.
On July 6, the bacterial level on this beach did not even meet the minimum European water quality requirements.
For example, Leocadio Machado beach, popular among water sports enthusiasts in the El Médano area, was closed earlier this month due to high levels of E. coli bacteria found in the water. On July 6, the bacterial level on this beach did not even meet the minimum European water quality requirements. It was reported that about 800 colony-forming units of E. coli were detected in 100 ml of water.
The World Health Organization has warned that untreated wastewater can contain dangerous pathogens such as rotavirus, enterovirus, hepatitis A, and salmonella. These can cause diarrhea, fever, vomiting, respiratory illnesses, skin infections, and other health problems.
Although the city council stated that the exact cause of the pollution remains unknown, the beach was reopened for swimming on July 9.
In Lanzarote, the main beach of the capital was closed for six months due to fecal contamination. In June, another beach in the popular tourist center of Playa Blanca, located in the southern part of the island, was closed for the same reason.
According to the latest sample test data published in the National Bathing Water Information System, fecal contamination cases have been recorded on Gran Canaria’s El Confital beach for more than eight years, and swimming there is still temporarily prohibited.
