Sixteen cases of sea contamination at beaches this summer

Regular analyses are made to check for any contaminants.

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma17/07/2017 00:00

Since 8 May, over 900 samples of seawater at beaches in the Balearics have been analysed. Of these, sixteen were found to have some type of contaminant above accepted accepted health levels.

The government's environmental health service conducts regular analyses of 193 sampling points at 157 beach zones. While there were sixteen negative results, there have - to date - been just two recommendations to ban swimming. These have been at Cala en Forcat, Ciutadella (Minorca) and at the Albercutx beach in Puerto Pollensa (this is the smaller beach in the resort). In both instances the prohibitions didn't last long, as the contamination was quickly dealt with and eliminated.

Personnel from the environmental health service make visual inspections of water and sand, taking into account the effects of weather conditions, and they also test for the presence of intestinal enterococci and escherichia coli bacteria.