The Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) has lifted the advisory against bathing on the beaches of Matosinhos, in the district of Porto, now maintaining a “regular and attentive” control, the vice president said today.
“The beaches [of Matosinhos] were released on Saturday morning because the analyzes showed good results. Now we will follow the usual program of regular and attentive control of bathing areas “, revealed, in statements to the Lusa agency, José Pimenta Machado.
On Wednesday, the APA warned that bathing on the North, Center and South beaches of Matosinhos was not recommended due to “microbiological contamination”.
At the site, an APA notice was posted advising against going to the water on the beaches of that municipality in the district of Porto until today.
The next water quality tests in Matosinhos are scheduled for Friday, and the frequency of assessment of the waters of the county’s beaches is weekly.
The APA official also indicated that the advisory in the municipality was “for specific reasons”, since “the values were slightly altered”, and that the causes of the contamination “have not been identified”.
“It could have been something in Ribeira da Riguinha or a boat washing up or even the River Leça, but we don’t know exactly,” said José Pimenta Machado.
Following this incident, the APA also carried out analyzes on a beach in the municipality of Porto, Praia Internacional, obtaining “good results”.
In June, the beaches of Matosinhos were also closed to bathing due to water contamination.
Today, to Lusa, the vice president of APA also indicated that the baths on the beaches of Ofir and Vila Chã, in Vila do Conde, also in the district of Porto, were “not recommended, but the warning has already been lifted”.
“There [Vila do Conde], the advice was precautionary. The analyzes will now be carried out every 15 days. In Matosinhos, the analyzes are once a week due to the number of people who attend them and the history “, he said.
The APA estimates that a breakdown at the Vila Chã pumping station, “meanwhile already normalized”, may have been the cause.
On Friday, the environmental association Zero warned of the worsening water quality on the beaches this bathing season, revealing that 28 have already been banned and dozens have already had bathing advised against or prohibited.
In a statement, Zero explained that it has evaluated the results regarding the quality of bathing water in the current season, made available by the National Water Resources Information System, compared to the same period of time in 2022.
Although the review is a week early this year, the problems “are already more significant”, Zero said.
PFT (JCR/LIL/RCP) // VAM
