the beach of Faro it has been banned from bathing since this morning, after the presence of the bacterium Escherichia coli, aka E.coli, was detected at values much higher than those allowed.
The decision to ban bathing in this bathing area of Faro, advanced today by the newspaper Barlavento, was taken by the regional health delegate of the Algarve, as she confirmed to the Sul Informação.
“We screen this bacterium because it works as an indicator of the potential presence of other bacteria and even viruses, which are not so easily detectable. The concentration cannot exceed 1200 and a routine analysis carried out on the water collected this Monday at Praia de Faro it was already at 2 and would continue to increase. In view of this, and according to the law, we had to take this decision», revealed Ana Cristina Guerreiro.
The analysis in question was carried out by the Portuguese Environment Agency, which is responsible for controlling the quality of bathing water, but, «taking into account that this is a public health problem», the process was transferred to the Regional Administration of Algarve Health.
The regional health delegate believes that this is a "one-off situation", bearing in mind that this type of bacteria had never been detected before in the waters of Praia de Faro. "Neither I nor a colleague who has also been here for a long time remember any such situation."
This at Praia de Faro, because, occasionally, this type of contamination happens, mainly “on beaches close to localities, where there is the possibility of contamination via rainwater systems”.
Escherichia coli is closely associated with sewage and usually reaches the sea as a result of illegal discharges of wastewater into rainwater systems or even directly.
"We think that these unusual values may have been caused either by a large concentration of bathers who may have polluted the water or, more likely, by a discharge made by a boat, off the coast," he told the Sul Informação Ana Cristina Warrior.
Thus, and taking into account “that there have been several tides”, the most likely is that the source of pollution has already dispersed and that the analyzes carried out on the water collected this morning do not show the same concentrations of this bacteria.
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