There has been inevitably a certain amount of massaging the information regarding this kind of thing in Andalucia. Call it murky local politics if you will. Emphasis on murky. A few years back Nerja Burriana beach was classified as a Blue Flag beach (Playa Bandera Azul ) - not sure how it was classified as such - but these days it does not fall within the Blue Flag beaches along this coast line. If you look at this web site it would appear that Burriana beach has a Blue Flag but who actually controls what goes on this kind of web site? It looks kind of official but is it ?

https://www.nerja-turismo.com/en/beaches/burriana/

Clearly until the water treatment plant is running I for one would not swim in that sea. Just look at the video !

The Blue Flag awards became a farce once they were changed from independent inspections to self-reporting by the local authorities. Easy to choose the most benign time to ‘test’ the water. The organisation that runs the scheme stripped Nerja of all its Blue Flags once it was informed of the lack of a sewage treatment plant.

The fact that many websites (most of which are merely a front for lettings agencies, or in the case linked above, restaurants) continue to lie to their potential clients is a disgrace, they probably hide behind the ‘we’ve never seen it so it doesn’t really exist’ deceptions when trying to square what conscience they may have with the reality.

The reason why this has become a matter for wider concern is the fact that the EU is now fining Spain a million euros a month for not getting it sorted by the 2015 deadline. No wonder taxpayers are annoyed at the incompetence.

I always felt sorry for restaurants that have probably been blamed over the last few years for giving someone food poisoning but there’s a very good chance it was something that was picked up whilst swimming. I used to swim here but stopped once it was obvious there was a problem. There’s a lot more to Nerja than swimming in the sea but it’s sad it is taking so long to be resolved.

Today’s SUR has been asking locals about the situation - unsurprisingly they are upset and angry, also annoyed that nothing has been done for so long:

https://www.diariosur.es/malaga/triste-toallitas-pegadas-20190321174403-nt.html?fbclid=IwAR0pC5ABK1aL3B_IzDrBCl-e5uR1Bu2NS-na-rzuUmD_yMYGHImvoLOYuz8#ns_campaign=jcbt&ns_mchannel=diariosur&ns_source=fb&ns_linkname=ltl1553193498

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Yuk, yuk, NoSoyGuiri - that picture is disgusting! As is the text:

€€€ «Están desde las famosas toallitas, hasta bastoncillos de los oídos, heces, detergentes, fármacos o aceites. Es decir todo lo que la gente tira por los retretes de sus casas va a parar al litoral. Pero también los deshechos de las actividades que se realizan en polígonos industriales o en las empresas que se encuentran en la localidad».

£££ "They range from the infamous wetwipes to cotton buds, turds, detergents, drugs or oils. In other words, everything that people throw in the lavatory at home ends up on the coast. But also the waste of the activities carried out in industrial estates or by local companies ».

The article also says that when there is a storm the yukky stuff is dredged up from the seabed and ends up on the beaches and stuck on the cliffs.

The sad thing, the really sad thing, is that the beaches - Burriana in particular - are just gorgeous. Gorgeous. And so lively, with bars and restaurants, playgrounds, people parading up and down the prom. Everyone having a great time.

And two weeks ago the water in Burriana was a sparking turquoise, looked lovely and clear. Quite inviting in fact!

There was no yukky stuff floating, no cloudiness, but of course the thing about contaminated water is that you cannot see the faecal bacteria, etc.

Crystal clear.

https://goo.gl/maps/inQDee16Wyr (it's a twirly photo)

As I said, just gorgeous.

Best wishes

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westwing you are quite correct.

It had been mentioned somewhere that visitors may have experienced an upset stomach whilst away and had put it down to the Spanish Tummy without ever thinking it could be down to swimming in the sea.

These latest revelations are a damning indictment on the local authorities and will not sit well with visitors and locals alike, I'm sure.

As I said previously, let us hope this can kick-start the required action after all this time; it's disgraceful really.

Turista, I love sitting at Rincon del Sol at Burriana enjoying a glass of vino in the spring sunshine but nowadays find myself wondering just what is in the nearby stream. There’s plenty of enjoyment to be had in Nerja but there really ought to be warning notices on Burriana beach (as required by EU seabathing laws). We’re all see to incompetent Ayuntamientos in Andalucia, but Nerja’s does seem especially so.

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Nerja on the national news. Most of the national news programmes included something about what is (or isn't!) happening with sewage in Nerja.

Here's TV5

https://goo.gl/q4Qk2U

Shots of volunteers cleaning the cliffs by hand - the wet-wipes cling to the rocks with the faecal deposits - and underwater filming of broken outlet pipes spewing raw sewage a couple of years ago.

A brief interview with the Town Hall representative in charge of beaches who says that being on national tv with these pictures of Nerja is causing unnecessary damage to the town and unjustified alarm.

Not quite sure what would be necessary damage. :-)

Best wishes

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Here is the Town Council's Press Release. I have had to use Google Translate, I'm afraid, no time to do it myself, so apologies if it's a bit garbled. It is in fact pretty garbled . . . .

PRESS RELEASE "from the City of Nerja

During The present week has been repeated abundantly the publication in media of all kinds and scope of "information" on the discharges to the sea, without the proper purification, of the urban wastewater of this municipality, because we do not dispose of a purification Station. We would like to say that:

1) No Responsibility has this Town Hall where this municipality does not even have a sewage treatment plant. For decades the municipal Corporation has been putting all the means at its disposal to provide the municipality with this facility. At the time we were asked by the Administration of the State that work in obtaining the land in which to locate it, which we made by putting them at their disposal in the month of July of the year 2002, after the corresponding expropriations whose millionaire cost It was entirely assumed by the municipal coffers.

Since then, the municipal government bodies of all the Corporations have repeatedly been urging the state Administration and-as far as it is concerned-the autonomic execution of the works for its construction and putting into operation, Providing at all times, within our competences and availabilities (and according to the applicable regulations), the collaboration that has been interested us.

We Must refer to what Was concluded by the State Administration itself in the agreement to initiate the derivation of liability procedure for non-compliance with Directive 91/271/EEC on the Treatment of Urban Wastewater (agreement issued on 4 December 2018 by the General Secretariat of Territorial Coordination, of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Public Service, and procedure derived from the Judgment resolved on July 25, 2018 against the Kingdom of Spain by the Court of Justice of the Union European [Case C-205/17]):

We Must refer to what Was concluded by the State Administration itself in the agreement to initiate the derivation of liability procedure for non-compliance with Directive 91/271/EEC on the Treatment of Urban Wastewater (agreement issued on 4 December 2018 by the General Secretariat of Territorial Coordination, of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Public Service, and procedure derived from the Judgment resolved on July 25, 2018 against the Kingdom of Spain by the Court of Justice of the Union European [Case C-205/17]):

2) In Coherence with this the drafting of the construction works of the sewage treatment plant and its execution were exclusively contracted by the State Administration, without any participation of this Corporation in the process of its bidding. The contract was formalized on December 12, 2012, and the "Reconsideration Act" (Commencement of Works) was extended on December 10, 2013. Severe divergences between the project drafted by contractors and approved by the State Administration (without municipal intervention) and the preliminary draft that served as a basis for the tender (to which it had provided conformity to this City Council), They resulted in a partial paralysis or delay of the works in the town centre of Nerja.

Apparently Solved by the Administration of the State the consequences of such a declaration, the works were resumed in February 2018, after several municipal requests and citizens ' collectives for this purpose. And as stated on November 20, 2018 by the Secretary of State for the Environment before the Committee on Ecological Transition of the Congress of Deputies, would be completed "maximum" within the first quarter of this 2019.

3) No obstante la existencia de los vertidos sin el tratamiento exigible, en todas estas décadas sólo se han producido tres prohibiciones de baño, de corta duración y en muy concretos lugares del litoral nerjeño, sin que ninguna de ellas haya llegado a afectar espacios protegidos. Y las autoridades sanitarias han venido calificando anualmente nuestras playas y sus aguas como “aptas” para el baño y, en la mayoria de las ocasiones, con la categoría de “excelente”.

4) This City Council reserves as many legitimate actions as possible to protect the municipality of Nerja, in the face of the damages that are already causing its image and prestige and, above all, its citizenship, the persistence of the situation and the treatment that publicly is being given.

THE ORIGINAL:

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA” del Ayuntamiento de Nerja

Durante la presente semana ha venido sucediéndose de manera reiterada y abundante la publicación en medios de comunicación de todo tipo y ámbito de “informaciones” sobre los vertidos al mar, sin la debida depuración, de las aguas residuales urbanas de este municipio, por no disponer de Estación Depuradora (“E.D.A.R.”) en el mismo. Ante ello queremos manifestar que:

1) Ninguna responsabilidad tiene este Ayuntamiento en que este municipio no cuente aún con Depuradora. Desde hace décadas la Corporación municipal viene poniendo todos los medios a su alcance para conseguir dotar al municipio con dicha instalación. En su día se nos pidió por parte de la Administración del Estado que colaborásemos en la obtención de los terrenos en que ubicarla, lo que realizamos poniéndolos a su disposición en el mes de julio del año 2002, tras las correspondientes expropiaciones cuyo millonario coste fue asumido íntegramente por las arcas municipales.

Desde entonces, los órganos de gobierno municipales de todas las Corporaciones han venido instando reiteradamente a la Administración estatal y -en lo que le concernía- a la autonómica la ejecución de las obras para su construcción y puesta en funcionamiento, prestándoles en todo momento, dentro de nuestras competencias y disponibilidades (y conforme a la normativa aplicable), la colaboración que nos ha sido interesada.

Hemos de remitirnos a lo concluido por la propia Administración del Estado en el acuerdo de inicio del procedimiento de derivación de responsabilidad por incumplimiento de la Directiva 91/271/CEE sobre el tratamiento de aguas residuales urbanas (acuerdo emitido el 4 de diciembre de 2018 por la Secretaría General de Coordinación Territorial, del Ministerio de Política Territorial y Función Pública, y procedimiento derivado de la Sentencia resuelta el 25 de julio de 2018 contra el Reino de España por el Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea [asunto C-205/17]):

“En consecuencia, al existir una declaración de interés general del Estado, y en virtud de lo dispuesto en el convenio de colaboración entre el Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y la Junta de Andalucía, la competencia sobre el cumplimiento de las obligaciones derivadas de la Directiva 91/217/CEE sobre el tratamiento de las aguas residuales urbanas, en lo relativo a la aglomeración urbana de Nerja corresponde a la Administración General del Estado, sin que se aprecie, en principio, una responsabilidad concurrente de la recogida en el artículo 5 del Real Decreto 515/2013.”.

2) En coherencia con ello la redacción del proyecto de obras de construcción de la Depuradora y su ejecución fueron contratadas exclusivamente por la Administración del Estado, sin participación alguna de esta Corporación en el proceso de su licitación. El contrato fue formalizado el 12 de diciembre de 2012, y el “acta de comprobación del replanteo” (inicio de obras) fue extendida el 10 de diciembre de 2013. Severas divergencias entre el proyecto redactado por las empresas contratistas y aprobado por la Administración del Estado (sin intervención municipal) y el anteproyecto que sirvió de base a dicha licitación (al que sí había prestado conformidad este Ayuntamiento), dieron lugar a una paralización o demora parcial de las obras en el casco urbano de Nerja. Posteriormente las empresas contratistas fueron judicialmente declaradas en situación de concurso voluntario de acreedores. Solventadas, al parecer, por la Administración del Estado las consecuencias derivadas de tal declaración, las obras fueron reanudadas en febrero de 2018, tras varias peticiones municipales y de colectivos ciudadanos a tal efecto. Y según lo manifestado el 20 de noviembre de 2018 por el Secretario de Estado de Medio Ambiente ante la Comisión de Transición Ecológica del Congreso de los Diputados, estarían finalizadas “como máximo” dentro del primer trimestre del presente 2019.

3) No obstante la existencia de los vertidos sin el tratamiento exigible, en todas estas décadas sólo se han producido tres prohibiciones de baño, de corta duración y en muy concretos lugares del litoral nerjeño, sin que ninguna de ellas haya llegado a afectar espacios protegidos. Y las autoridades sanitarias han venido calificando anualmente nuestras playas y sus aguas como “aptas” para el baño y, en la mayoria de las ocasiones, con la categoría de “excelente”.

4) Este Ayuntamiento se reserva cuantas acciones legítimas puedan amparar al municipio de Nerja, frente a los daños y perjuicios que ya están causando a su imagen y prestigio y, sobre todo, a su ciudadanía, la persistencia de la situación y el tratamiento que públicamente le está siendo dado.

Best wishes

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