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Baiona Reopens Three Beaches as Tests Show Water Safe for Bathing

Regional teams are sampling the Río Miñor to locate possible sewage inputs and will report further results next week.

Overview

  • The Concello of Baiona lifted prohibitions at A Ribeira, A Ladeira and Santa Marta after Consellería de Sanidade analyses found bathing-water quality suitable on Friday, July 31.
  • July produced a record number of red-flag closures in the Ría de Vigo with the highest E. coli and enterococci readings since monitoring began in 2008.
  • Xunta technicians and the sanitation concessionaire Gestagua are taking systematic samples along the Río Miñor to find where fecal contamination is entering the estuary.
  • Officials are investigating specific causes such as sewage-pumping or treatment failures and exceptional sewer overflows from intense rain as possible triggers for the recurring episodes.
  • The river’s mouth has long been affected: the Foz do Miñor has been closed to shellfishing since 2010, raising economic and tourism concerns if the basin-wide probe finds chronic infrastructure or discharge problems.