The poor appearance of the water in Cala Tarida has once again generated controversy and complaints among bathers. Thus, last Saturday afternoon, a brown stain spread towards the bathing area from the cliffs of the southern slope of the beach, accumulating in some corners and to acquiring an intense greenish color, almost like mashed vegetables.
One of the bathers who saw the phenomenon first hand was Mar Carretero, a resident of Sant Antoni, who was in the Cala Tarida area at four o’clock in the afternoon: “I saw how close to the coast a dark stain appeared and advanced towards where people were bathing,” she says. Carretero assures that the stain “smelled bad” so she assumes that “it was a sewage spill”. The Sant Josep City Council also confirms that last Saturday they received calls from citizens warning of a spill in that area.
The hypothesis of the spill has been categorically denied both by the Balearic Govern and the Sant Josep City Council. Thus, the Balearic Ministry of Environment has informed Diario de Ibiza that there has been no discharge of sewage from the treatment plant of Cala Tarida, managed by Abaqua: “We confirm that there is no record of any incident related to discharges from the WWTP [Wastewater Treatment Plant]”, and says that “our technicians on Ibiza believe that it could be some algae that accumulate in the coves of this area and that would have been this color because of the high temperatures”. They also explain that, in the event that there had been a discharge from the sewage treatment plant, it would never have been in that area.
No new sewage spills registered in Cala Tarida
An explanation that was supported by the City Council of Sant Josep. According to a spokesman of the Consistory to Diario de Ibiza, the color similar to fecal waters is due to the mixture of algae in suspension with the sand. This phenomenon would be a consequence of the water pumping system that was installed on this beach to cool the waters and, precisely, to avoid the production of algae mush: “When the system is put into operation, it also expels the sand that has accumulated inside the pipes during the hours that it has not been running”.
The Consistory also recalls that Cala Tarida has had this water pumping and recirculation system in place for years, and also insists that no sewage has been registered on this beach over the past weekend.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.