The Socialists have obtained the official statistics from the assessments conducted in Playa Jardín since July 2024 by public health authorities. The findings reveal that the pollution predicament caused by waste discharges—which the PSOE maintains predominantly stem from the rupture of the emissary—continues to result in incidents at the monitoring points in the principal bathing area of Puerto de la Cruz.
The data released by the PSOE yesterday contradicts statements made by the local government spokesperson, Pedro Antonio Campos (PP), and the Councillor for the Environment, David Hernández (ACP). They declared in the media on March 5 and 6 that the outcomes of the analyses have been favourable since December 17. “Nothing could be further from the truth: since that date, there have been three instances of pollution due to E. coli on February 10, 10, and 26, which in various sampling points surpassed the threshold set by the Ministry of Health of 250, in addition to one incident concerning enterococci on February 5, which exceeded the value of 100,” they cite from the analysis.
The Socialists assert that the General Directorate of Public Health of the Government of the Canary Islands specifies that “the Ministry of Health has established reference values to alert on potential microbiological contamination of bathing waters, with intestinal enterococci levels exceeding 100 UFC/100 ml and Escherichia coli (E. coli) levels greater than 250 UFC/100 ml. It is essential to take the necessary actions to confirm or rule out any risk factors that may impact the exposed population.”
Of the eight days in which analyses have been conducted thus far in 2025, three have recorded levels above the required limits at the three different sampling locations. Furthermore, they note that out of 40 days of sampling since July 1, 2024, 18 yielded results exceeding the allowable limits, indicating that nearly half of the samples over both years continue to show levels higher than those mandated for lifting the ban on bathing.
Consequently, the PSOE will formally request that the governing group comply with the law and publish all the analyses conducted in Playa Jardín, in addition to those in other bathing areas of the municipality. “This way, they will no longer have the chance to deceive and mislead the residents on such a critical issue of public health,” they state.
Roadmap
Moreover, the Socialists are also demanding that the roadmap proposed by the municipal government (PP-ACP-CC) be made public, as its content has yet to be consulted anywhere. “They have announced that we are in phase 0, yet no one knows how many phases there are, what actions are scheduled, or what timeline is being followed for their implementation,” questions Marco González.
The PSOE insists that “the governing group is misleading citizens regarding the status of pollution at Playa Jardín” and therefore calls for political accountability.
