CASTELLON city’s Gurugu beach was closed to bathers between Monday and Tuesday this week due to pollution.

The authorities launched an emergency protocol and banned swimming in the area from 3 pm Monday after the water tested positive for microbiological contamination.

One day later, at midday yesterday (Tuesday), the tests came back negative for E coli and other bacteria, and bathing was allowed once again.

Meanwhile, an investigation has been launched to discover the causes of the pollution. All signs are said to point to an illegal private residue dump, as municipal experts have ruled out the possibility that it could have come from council-owned infrastructure.

Castellon beach pollution
Photo by Cordon Press

Castellon city Ecological Transition councillor Fernando Navarro visited the site to oversee the situation and called upon residents to keep an eye open and report any unlicensed dumps of hazardous material into the sea.

The council initially feared that the beach would have to remain closed off for several days, but luckily the water quality improved rapidly and it could reopen again after just 24 hours.

The closure of Gurugu due to contamination this week was the latest in a series of problems affecting the Castellon tourism trade this summer.

Previous setbacks have included the closure of the chiringuito beach bars throughout June due to environmental reasons – as reported previously by The Olive Press – and the failure of Serradal beach to obtain a Blue Flag award for quality for the second consecutive year.

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