“The results of the analysis of the spills are urgent to advance in the knowledge of the origin of the same”, said Ben Magec Ecologistas en Acción, who recalls the obligation of the administrations to “monitor and control the impact of the spills in the short term. and medium term in biodiversity and affected ecosystems ”. The conservation organization assures that in the absence of a hypothesis about the latest crisis in Tenerife, all possibilities must be kept open, even that the spill of piche could have come from activities on land, not only at sea through irregular cleaning of the holds of ships or oil tankers that cross international waters between the Islands.
Ben Magec Ecologistas en Acción points to “a confluence of factors” in the polluting episode that will keep all Candelaria’s beaches closed until at least next Monday. «The appearance of dispersed ponds has been mixed with the continuous affectation of land-sea discharges, with sewage and subsequent beach closures. They are pre-existing, persistent and serious problems that must be solved now. There are groups, such as the Isla Baja Platform, that put proposals on the table and are ignored. This environmentalist federation produces the Banderas Negras report every year, with the most paradigmatic cases – not the only ones – in Spain “where there are beaches in Tenerife that have now been closed again.” For example, in 2018 the beaches of La Tejita and El Médano were black flags due to continuous wastewater discharges. The latter was closed last week again due to sewage. And the previous year, all of Tenerife took the black flag for dumping more than 57 million liters of sewage into the sea –amount equivalent to the water of 23 Olympic swimming pools– Without complying with the legislation, 96% of those generated.
“That two of the 15 illegal dumping deserving of a multimillion-dollar fine from the European Commission to Spain are in Tenerife and that the island council itself has recognized the situation, only aggravates inaction in this regard, especially when the population attends closures intermittent on its beaches due to contamination by Escherichia coli (bacteria of the microbiota of the gastrointestinal tract present in fecal waters), “Ecologistas en Acción denounced in 2017, recalling that” the tourism sector, in addition to suffering from the problem, is part of its aggravated by its high water demand and the low commitment to the management of its wastewater ».
Another aspect in which the greens believe that there have been failures in this crisis is in the information. “We ask for transparency in the information available to the administration.” A total of 11 days took the competent authorities to issue an official statement on the situation. It was on Thursday, when Maritime Captaincy, dependent on the Ministry of Transport and Mobility, reported that in recent days inspections have been carried out on the coast of Tenerife, with the boats and the Maritime Rescue helicopter, “without detecting stains in the sea ».
Small spots continue to appear on the beaches of the southern municipality of Candelaria, the only ones that remain closed in Tenerife and which will continue to be so at least until Monday, according to the Candelariero City Council.
