Arenal beach pipeline work set to restart
A POPULAR Jávea beach is set to lose its blue flag this year as works will restart on a sewage plant outfall pipe offshore.
Last summer's bathing on the Arenal was blighted by partial closures and fears of polluted water after campaign group Ecologistas en Acción staged a protest along the shore. Jávea council was forced to issue a statement assuring the pipe was not leaking sewage, but purified water, and that the sea was safe to swim in. The outfall pipe deposits water a kilometre out to sea once it is fully cleaned at the treatment plant, but it cannot be channelled back into the mains as it is not drinkable.
Some electoral candidates have pledged to redeploy it for farming irrigation, and the regional water treatment board, EPSAR, has confirmed it will look into doing so once the leak is mended. But after the outfall
was found to be cracked following storms last April, work did not start until summer, involving closing part of the Arenal beach. And the second phase of the repairs is only now about to start.
The initial job last summer was merely an emergency repair and diversion, to make the purified waste water flow out around 350 metres from the shore, rather 30 or so metres.
The pipe, which runs underground through the sands, will take until at least the last week in June to fix.
Water board divers will be sent out to check the parts needed on or around May 15.
Given that blue flags are normally awarded in May, maintenance works being carried out on the beach at the time of inspection could mean the Arenal will not retain its kitemark. But the council has assured the water will be – and is – completely safe for bathing and very clean.