Friday, September 05, 2008
Bathing Prohibited in Los Cristianos
The public heath department in the Canary Islands, on Thursday, decreed a prohibition on bathing at Los Cristianos beach, as bacteria in the water had exceeded safe levels. The cause of this microbiological contamination is not yet known and the prohibition will remain in effect until successive analyses show that the contamination is no longer present. Meanwhile, the beach should be adequately marked to prevent users from bathing there.
However and, far be it for me to take over from the Daily Mail in the job of alarming people, but the news report indicates that the samples of seawater were taken on Monday. Should anyone who bathed from Los Cristianos beach between Monday (or even before, if we aren't certain when the contamination began) and the closure on Thursday have any health concerns?
UPDATE 5/9: The bathing prohibition in Los Cristianos was lifted Friday, after analysis on new water samples confirmed that the water quality had returned to levels acceptable under current regulations. The cause of the contamination incident is still unknown.
