MARBELLA town hall has declared three beaches closed over a fecal bacteria scare available for swimming again.
Health experts carried out tests on the beaches of Rio Real, El Cable and Los Monteros, and gave them the all clear.
The Malaga Health and Consumer Affairs office confirmed that the levels of tested seawater are now within acceptable limits for swimming.
In Marbella, health inspectors flagged a rise in intestinal enterococci, a gut bacteria used to test seawater for sewage, in a sample taken on Monday, July 20 from waters off the three beaches in a stretch of the town’s eastern seafront a few kilometres from the centre.
Marbella council said the recommendation to avoid swimming applies only to a single marked-off stretch of water, not the beaches themselves, which have remained open throughout.
Early reports on Friday described the contamination as E. coli above the legal limit, but the council said those E. coli readings were in fact compliant, and that initial signs on the enterococci count were not elevated either.
READ MORE: Marbella and Nerja among Spain’s ‘Black Flag’ coastal pollution hotspots, activists say
The council continues to insist in avoiding ‘inaccurate’ claims spreading on social media and messaging apps, which it said were causing unnecessary alarm among residents and visitors.
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