The city council of Puerto de la Cruz, located in the northern part of Tenerife, following a report from the General Directorate of Public Health, has announced that the general public is prohibited from swimming in the entire Playa Jardín complex due to contamination from sewage, as reported on Thursday.
In collaboration with the aforementioned service of the Government of the Canary Islands, the city council will intensify water analysis and will abide by all recommendations and alerts from Public Health regarding water quality as per the analyses conducted. They will establish a monitoring protocol to evaluate whether the water quality improves, thus allowing the lifting of the swimming ban on the beach, added the council.
To implement this measure, all beach access points will be clearly marked from Thursday onwards with signs in various languages, indicating the temporary prohibition of swimming for health protection reasons. The water quality has been confirmed to be below standard for swimming due to the presence of sewage contamination, detected through bacterial analysis. There is epidemiological evidence that such conditions can lead to gastrointestinal issues, respiratory infections, and infections in the ears, eyes, nose, and skin if the contaminated water is ingested.
After reviewing the report prepared by the Health Department of the Canary Islands Government and consultations held on Tuesday with Public Health General Director José Fernando Díaz-Flores, along with the Environment Councillor Blanca Pérez and Island Water Council Manager Javier Davara, it was announced that this ban will be extended indefinitely. This decision is a response to the declining water quality that has been observed in the Playa Jardín area since at least 2016, particularly exacerbated in the year 2024.
The Public Health report provides a detailed overview of the water conditions in different coastal areas of the municipality, noting a deterioration in the quality of Playa Jardín’s waters over the years, transitioning from excellent to barely adequate and currently to unsatisfactory. This gradual decline in water quality has been limited to the Playa Jardín area since 2016, according to Public Health.
According to the same report, water quality at Martiánez and San Telmo remains excellent and good, respectively. San Telmo has seen an improvement in its water quality over the past two years, with no contamination incidents reported since September 2022.
Impact on the Port’s Reputation
The mayor, Marco González, expressed regret over the potential damage to the destination’s image and the island as a whole due to this decision. He emphasised the importance of caution and prevention in addressing the water quality issue and highlighted the need for collaborative action with other administrations. González believes that the situation can be reversed if all levels of government prioritise planned actions with the necessary funding.
The Community Well-being department, in conjunction with the city’s Sanitation service provider, has upgraded the surrounding network in the coastal area in 2022. They will conduct a comprehensive study to identify other underlying factors contributing to the deterioration in Playa Jardín’s water quality. Additionally, they plan to connect all homes, restaurants, and businesses in the Punta Brava area to the city’s sanitation network in the coming months after a thorough analysis of the coastal environment.
The locality is also engaging with the community, aiming to heighten public consciousness and encourage their involvement in the meticulous evaluation of each residence.
Efforts are also in progress for a scheme that will ensure that the sewage from La Vera and Las Dehesas is directed straight to the Regional Sewage Treatment Plant, bypassing the Playa Jardín Pumping Station.
Consequently, the mayor indicated that “we are in discussions with the Cabildo de Tenerife and its Island Water Council (CIATF) to expedite the launch of the project for the comprehensive restoration of the outfall, which has been a subject of concern for over a year for this City Council. This infrastructure, as per the project findings, has been afflicted by a fracture since at least last year” and also, according to CIATF, has been awaiting the necessary clearances from the Coastal Service of the Government of the Canary Islands since April 2023.
Nevertheless, the Surveillance and Control Programme for the regional sewage treatment plant in 2023 adheres to the prerequisites for the approval to discharge into the sea, as per the documentation provided by CIATF, thereby asserting that the establishment is in accordance with the stipulated environmental standards.
Moreover, the municipality has demanded an exhaustive report on the pumping stations, as well as the supervision plan for the outfall overseen by the Council, to acquire direct insight into the environmental condition in this region and the functioning of the facilities administered by the Island Water Council.
Furthermore, through this pressing avenue, a plea has been made “for the prompt progression and execution of the enhancement of the sewage treatment plant, for which we secured funding exceeding €25 million in the prior tenure. The plant has been operating at its threshold for years, while receiving an increasing inflow of sewage from nearby towns, Los Realejos and La Orotava,” the mayor explained. They are also anticipating the report from the Western Coast Service requested by CIATF since April 2023.
The Council will also accelerate the procedures to initiate the assessment of the crevice in the outfall, conducted yearly in October, to eliminate the possibility that this incident has hastened the issues in the vicinity of Playa Jardín.
