During the day of yesterday they have continued carrying out the necessary tests so that the bathing area can reopen “as soon as possible”. The local government (PSOE-ACP) announces that “as soon as it reopens, it will be reported through the official networks.”
One-off closures due to fecal contamination problems are common in San Telmo. In the last three years this central bathing area has had to close six times: from November 12 to 15, 2018, on August 22, 2019, on September 17 and 30, 2020, on November 10 and 11, March 2021, and again this October 26.
In the health map of the beaches in the Canary Islands, prepared by the Environmental Health Service of the General Directorate of Public Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, it was specified in September 2020 that the reason for the closure was the detection of “fecal contamination values”. Regarding the possible origin of the contamination, Public Health cited in that report the San Telmo Wastewater Pumping Station (EBAR) and its spillway, as well as the drains of the Lake Martiánez.
“We must continue to make progress in improving sanitation in the municipality to put an end to this type of incident”
The CC-PNC spokesperson in the Portuense City Council, Sandra Rodriguez, considers that this new closure is “further proof that the mayor, Marco González (PSOE), does not give priority to important issues for this city. We must continue to make progress in improving sanitation in the municipality to put an end to these types of incidents, which have a solution, but only if we intervene ».
