The beaches of the region experienced a contradictory journey yesterday. While in the municipalities of the Güímar Valley (Southeast) normality was restored when the hydrocarbon remains disappeared, in Granadilla de Abona (South) two bathing areas were closed after detecting the presence of E. coli (linked to the presence of excrement).
In the middle of the afternoon, the Granada City Council reported that it was proceeding to prohibit bathing, temporarily, on the Leocadio Machado beaches, located in El Médano, and Los Abrigos, in the town of the same name. It did so once the presence of E.coli was found at a higher level than allowed.
The municipal government explained, through a statement, that the detection of this contamination occurred through the results of routine analyzes carried out by the company awarded the municipal water analysis service in bathing areas.
The City Council of Granadilla de Abona proceeded to provisionally close these two points of the coastline “as a precaution and in order to guarantee adequate security levels for the population, pending the results of the pertinent analyzes in the coming days.”
On August 12, the central beach of El Médano was closed due to the same circumstance that led to the prohibition of swimming in Leocadio Machado and Los Abrigos. On that occasion, it was reopened the next day. Then, the local government ruled out that the contamination was related to the activity of the underwater outfalls in the environment.
Situation in other municipalities
In the case of Candelaria, the City Council progressively reopened the beaches yesterday after carrying out the intensive cleaning of the hydrocarbon remains found on them last Tuesday. The first to return to normal were the beaches of Las Caletillas, sector 1 of the beach of Punta Larga (the closest to the urban area of Candelaria), La Hornilla and Playa de Olegario. Throughout the afternoon, attending to the tidal schedule, the cleaning teams completed their task and reopened the so-called sector 2 of Punta Larga Beach (they are closer to Las Caletillas), Playa de la Viuda and Playa of the Guanches.
In Güímar, after the assessment carried out by the Lifeguard service, during the morning the last beach on which bathing was prohibited since Tuesday was reopened, that of Cabezo A or “L” beach, in the popular denomination. With this, the Güimarera coast was also available to public use from the first hour, according to the mayor of the municipality, Gustavo Pérez.
His counterpart in Arafo, Juan Ramón Martín, also reported that Playa de Lima beach – the only one in this municipality – was once again open to public use. During the morning, the operators carried out a new inspection of the coastline and, “in the absence of any hydrocarbon remains,” the bathing area was opened. The Arafero councilor announced that the inspection tasks of the municipality’s coast will continue for several days as a preventive measure and within the framework of a continuous evaluation of the situation.
