Fourth failure in a row. Europe once again brings out the colors to the pollution of the coast at the mouth of the Besòs, due to pending metropolitan sanitation works for years. The Fòrum de Sant Adrià beach is one of the six Spanish beaches that the European Environment Agency considers unsuitable for bathing. It is among the half dozen bathing areas on the Spanish coast whose quality is considered "poor", according to data provided this week by the European agency.
The poor quality of the Fòrum beach has been repeated in the reports of the European Agency since 2019, while in the years between 2015 and 2018 its situation was rated between "sufficient" and "good". However, in 2013 and 2014 it also showed poor results.
Apart from the Fòrum beach, the European Agency includes in the document three more bathing areas in Catalonia that are also suspending the 2022 exam due to poor bathing water quality. These are the Rec del Molí beach in l'Escala, the Banyoles lake and the Torrassa reservoir, in Guingueta d'Àneu.
The European Agency estimates that the Confital beach in Gran Canaria, the Sopazos beach in Pontedeume and the mouth of the Ulla river, both in Pontevedra, are not suitable for bathing either. However, in the opinion of this body, the quality of bathing water in Spain (considering both beach bathing areas and inland areas, that is, pools, rivers, reservoirs, gorges) is "excellent" in 1988, 2% of the cases and "good" in another 7.6% of the areas analyzed. However, 1.7% obtained a "sufficient" and another 1.6% had a "poor" result. In other words, in total in Spain there are 37 areas not suitable for bathing: 31 in inland areas and six on beaches.
The quality of coastal bathing waters in Spain is superior to that of inland bathing waters: 92.8% of the first have a rating of "excellent" in the report, while in the second case the percentage drops to 55.9%. This is due to more frequent refresh and increased self-cleaning ability.
The European countries with the best bathing water quality on the beaches are Cyprus (with 99.2% of the coastal areas in an "excellent" state), Croatia (98.9%), Greece (96.5%), Slovenia (95.2%), Malta (94.3%), Denmark (93.9%) and Spain (92.8%).
Since the adoption of the bathing water directive in 2006, the proportion of sites in excellent condition has increased. However, some NGOs question these data, since the report essentially reflects the risks of bacteriological contamination of fecal origin. On the other hand, "they do not offer a true picture of the state of our bathing and leisure areas," says Lucille Labayle, head of the Surfrider Foundation Europe's Water Quality and Health Campaign. “On the one hand, algae blooms and plastic debris are only included in beach profiles or only visually inspected. On the other hand, chemical contamination is not taken into account at all”, laments Labayle.
