A FRESH row has erupted between Spain and Gibraltar over raw sewage contamination in the Strait – with both sides pointing the finger across the border.
In a parliamentary motion filed on Monday, Spain’s far-right party Vox blamed the Rock for the pollution, urging the Spanish government to press Gibraltarian and UK officials for answers.
It comes only a week after Levante Beach in La Linea de la Concepcion was closed to swimmers due to water quality tests which detected bacterial contamination above permitted limits.
READ MORE: WATCH: Raw sewage seeping directly into the sea from Spain closes beach just metres from Gibraltar
Gibraltar officials insist that water quality monitoring at nearby Eastern Beach found no signs of pollution on their side of the border.
They also stress that all of the Rock’s beaches currently hold an ‘excellent’ bathing water classification and instead put the discharge down to failures on the Spanish side of the border.
Gibraltar’s Environmental Agency said it has been carrying out fresh checks on sea water samples at Eastern Beach ‘as a precaution’.
The group added that ‘all results to date show no indication that water quality at Eastern Beach has been affected by sewage discharges in La Linea’.
Gibraltar Marine Reserve even reacted with fury to suggestions that the Rock ‘pay’ for the discharges, blaming the ‘two V’s (Vox and environmental group Verdemar Ecologistas en Accion) for running a ‘false and irresponsible’ campaign against them.
In a surprise turn, however, Antonio Muñoz of Verdemar confirmed to The Olive Press that the spill which closed Levante Beach does originate from a broken pipe on the Spanish side of the border.
“We have reported the situation several times over the past six months,” Muñoz said.
“We know that a contractor, Arcgisa, is working hard to repair the pipe, but as of today, Monday (June 8), the beach remains closed.”
The row comes just days after Gibraltar’s Development and Planning Commission granted planning approval for a long-awaited treatment plant at Europa Point after decades of the Rock pumping its raw sewage into the sea.
The project, which includes a pumping station at Little Bay and new connecting infrastructure, is designed to replace the current system and significantly improve marine water quality around the Rock.
The issue was brought back into recent light after a report in the Guardian highlighted that ‘raw sewage from nearly 40,000 people and businesses is being pumped straight into the sea’.
Muñoz stressed that while Gibraltar was not responsible for the closure of Levante Beach, the raw sewage discharges from the Rock were a separate issue that Ecologistas en Accion has also reported to the EU.
“That is a separate matter, but according to our investigation, Gibraltar has also been discharging wastewater into the sea,” he said.
For more than a decade, authorities on the Rock have argued that pollution entering the sea from the Bay of Gibraltar and the heavy Spanish industry stationed there was responsible for incidents affecting Western Beach.
Gibraltar has repeatedly blamed Spanish storm drains, sewer overflows and wastewater discharges for contamination along its coastline, even taking complaints to European institutions.
Fresh water samples have now been taken at Levante Beach, but until the results are known, the source of the contamination remains officially unconfirmed.
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