This Alentejo beach is on the list of places that are not recommended and prohibited for bathing, published on the APA website.

In the document, the APA stated that the water at Zambujeira do Mar beach has been banned from bathing since Tuesday due to microbiological contamination.

Odemira City Council indicated that it had been aware of the “perception of a bad smell and inconsistent colours of the watercourse”.

“The preliminary reading of the collection scheduled for Monday confirmed the contamination, thus determining that bathing is not recommended”.

The municipality highlighted that it was informed by the company Águas Públicas do Alentejo (AgdA) that, on Monday, “a deficiency in the aerators and recirculation pumps of the ETAR [Wastewater Treatment Plant] had been diagnosed”.

According to the municipality, in an unrelated event, on Tuesday there was a rupture in the irrigation system of the Mira Hydro-Agricultural Project, upstream of the ETAR, which “significantly increased the flow of the watercourse that flows into the beach and caused a strong drag on the riverbed”.

“From what we have been able to ascertain, and despite the coincidence of events, the water from this breach does not pose a risk to public health, nor should it contaminate the counter-analyses that the council is still awaiting in order to restore normality to Zambujeira do Mar beach as quickly as possible,” it said.

In its statement, Odemira Council pointed out that, over the last few years, the results of analyses carried out on water samples from Zambujeira do Mar beach have shown microbiological contamination, which even led to the loss of the blue flag during this bathing season.

“In order to identify the causes and definitively resolve the problem, in collaboration with the APA and SEPNA [Nature and Environmental Protection Service of the GNR], the municipality has started a programme to monitor water quality along the Zambujeira do Mar ravine,” it stressed.