The quality of Ibiza’s bathing water has decreased “drastically” despite the coronavirus crisis, according to the IbizaPreservation Sustainability Observatory. In a statement, they explained that 25.5% of the samplings carried out in the last year recorded at least one case of faecal contamination, twice as many as in 2019.
Comparing the data of the Govern’s classification in relation to the years 2010, 2015 and 2020, according to IbizaPreservation there is a gradual decrease in the quality of the bathing waters in Ibiza.
In the year 2010 the waters analysed at 40 points of the Pitiusa coast were classified as “excellent”, but this quality has decreased throughout the decade. In 2015 38 sampling points showed “excellent” waters and, five years later, in 2020 the figure had dropped to 65% with only 26 of the 40 sampling points having water classified as “excellent”.
In addition, 12 sampling points had “good” water and three showed “sufficient” water quality. According to the organisation, the deterioration in bathing water quality has been continuous over the last decade and represents a 35 percent drop.
Sant Antoni is the municipality with the greatest loss of quality and it has also decreased at three of the sampling points in the municipality of Ibiza, on Talamanca beach and in ses Figueretes.
In Santa Eulària there are two bathing areas whose quality is “good” instead of “excellent”: Platja des Riu and Cala Pada
As regards Sant Antoni, this was the municipality with the greatest loss of quality recorded in four locations. Of these, two are in the bay area and show “sufficient” quality; another is in Cala Gració and the remaining one is in Caló des Moro. In Santa Eulària there are two bathing areas whose quality was “good” instead of “excellent”: Platja des Riu and Cala Pada.
Meanwhile, in the areas sampled in Sant Joan the water quality decreased at three sampling points: in Puerto de Sant Miquel, Portinatx and s’Arenal Gros, showing “good” water quality.
In Sant Josep there were three areas classified as “good”: Playa des Pinet, Bahía de Sant Antoni and Cala Vedella. IbizaPreservation explained that the occasional contamination by faecal matter in the waters is not reflected in this classification.
The individual samplings
The technical coordinator, Inma Saranova, has stressed that in order to analyse water quality accurately it is preferable to stick to the individual samplings carried out on the beaches during 2020.
In this sense, last year samples were taken at 43 bathing spots in the Pitiusas and, of these, 12 gave values higher than those legally permitted due to occasional contamination by faecal bacteria.
In these cases, it was recommended not to bathe in these areas on one or more occasions during the summer period of 2020.
“It is striking that in a year in which there was an unparalleled halt in tourism, and therefore of human interference and economic activity, water quality has suffered such a significant decline,” acknowledged the coordinator of the Observatory, who considers the inadequacy of current infrastructure may have an influence “since many of these situations occur after rainfall events.
For all these reasons, the IbizaPreservation Sustainability Observatory has urged the authorities to rigorously and scientifically study and identify the causes of the decrease in the quality of bathing water on the island of Ibiza.