Yet another major embarrassment for the Orihuela Council last week as raw sewage caused the closure of 3 award winning beaches, details of which were widely reported in the UK press, attracting such headlines as The Sun Newspaper’s ‘Wish Poo were Here’?
Earlier in the year all 3 of the beaches concerned were awarded a blue flag for the quality of their waters, the renewal of which must now be called into question as the Orihuela Costa sewage system experienced yet another critical failure.
One local environmentalist told The Leader that the never-ending increase in the population of Orihuela Costa resulting from the council’s constant and totally irresponsible approval of projects for new housing (and commercial centres) is putting an impossible strain on basic municipal services?
“The approval of new house building, as we know, is not accompanied by the investment and provision of necessary services to deal with the ever-increasing population, and as such these failures in the sewage system are becoming a regular problem.”
However, just 24 hours after they were closed “until further notice” because of “a high level of pollution of residual origin” the Orihuela Department of Beaches reopened the 3 beaches, Cala Mosca, Cala Cerrada and Cala Bosque, after new analyses showed that “no polluting element had been detected that prevents bathing”.
The councillor responsible, Antonio Sánchez apologised to residents and tourists for the inconvenience caused, in addition to “thanking all Council departments, institutions and service companies for the work carried out during the 24-hour period, to resolve the situation on the coast”. The incident left strange images of beaches without bathers in the middle of the July tourist season.
When the sewage spills were detected, the red flag was raised while the Local Police deployed a drone and a jet ski patrol to ensure that no one got into the water. Officers were placed at the entrances to the affected beaches, where warning signs were also displayed.
Some of those who were hoping to take a dip left with the feeling of ” the summer starting off badly”, while others blamed the episode, once again, on the saturation of a coastline whose growth is not keeping pace with improvements in services and infrastructures.
But despite the council’s prompt action in reopening the affected beaches it seems that yet again they have failed to heed the warning of earlier sewage discharges on the coast. Would a similar situation be allowed to occur in Orihuela City…..we think not!
