Discharges into the sea in Tenerife cause pollution on one of the island’s most important beaches: an analysis of a predicted disaster.
A report from 2022 had already highlighted ongoing wastewater discharges at Playa Jardín, on the coast of Puerto de la Cruz, but no action was taken until the beach had to be closed some time ago. A new study has just presented the first diagnosis of the origin of the fecal contamination, confirming the discharges into the sea in Tenerife.
Causes
A report from the Canary Islands government has presented the first official diagnosis on the source of the polluting discharges into the sea at Playa Jardín, which led to the closure of the three beaches in this coastal area of Puerto de la Cruz in July 2024.
The document, signed on January 29, 2025, points to four main causes: the malfunctioning of the Punta Brava water treatment plant, located next to Playa Jardín, the rupture of the discharge pipeline from this facility, the serious deficiencies in the sewage system of the Punta Brava neighborhood, and the poor operation of the overflow drains at El Caletón, Playa Chica, and Playa Jardín.
A problem that was already known
On August 12, 2024, the Directorate for the Transition to a Sustainable Environment commissioned an investigation into the origin of the discharges at Playa Jardín. This request was urgent, as just a month earlier, on July 3, the municipality of Puerto de la Cruz had imposed a swimming ban due to high levels of bacteria from sewage, posing a serious health risk.
The investigation was conducted by Elittoral, an environmental consultancy specializing in marine ecosystems. The results, now published, are overwhelming. The report provides, for the first time, a complete picture of this environmental disaster, with significant consequences for residents, tourists, the economy, marine biodiversity, and the city’s reputation.
Until now, the involved authorities—the Canary Islands government, the Tenerife administration, and the Puerto de la Cruz municipality—had not been able to provide a clear diagnosis. Each entity pointed to a different responsible factor: one to the sewage system of Punta Brava, another to the discharge pipeline, and another to the treatment plant.
Even the reopening of Playa Jardín remains uncertain: while the municipality claims that the beach could reopen before summer, the Environmental Department of Tenerife states that this is not feasible for now.
The harsh reality
The publication of the Elittoral report, compiled between September and December 2024, has now dispelled all doubts about the causes of this disaster. The report paints a troubling picture:
- Unknown pipes are continuously discharging wastewater into the sea.
- Waterfall-like discharges into the sea in Tenerife create a persistent source of pollution.
- A structurally flawed sewage system is causing direct discharges into the sea.
- Old cesspits are allowing contaminated water to seep into the ground, eventually reaching the ocean.
- The Punta Brava treatment plant lacks the capacity to properly process wastewater.
- A constant presence of fecal contamination, highly variable due to the specific sea conditions at Playa Jardín.
- The rupture of the discharge pipeline just 100 meters from the coast, allowing polluted water to flow into the sea daily.
What is striking is that these issues were already known. An official report from 2022, compiled by the Tenerife Water Board, had already warned about the ongoing pollution at Playa Jardín. This report was part of the environmental impact assessment for the project to build a new water treatment plant at the current site of the Punta Brava plant, which processes wastewater not only from Puerto de la Cruz but also from La Orotava and Los Realejos.
A disaster foretold
As early as 2022, the Tenerife Water Board issued a clear warning with these words: “The seawater of Playa Jardín is affected by various sources of pollution, with the most significant being the discharge pipeline at Punta Brava and the overflow drains at El Caletón, Playa Chica, and Playa Jardín.”
The report concluded that multiple discharge points were severely degrading water quality. In other words, the closure of Playa Jardín had been a disaster waiting to happen for years.
Juan Rumeu, president of the Canary Islands Association of Environmental Consultants, asserts that the responsible authorities were fully aware of the situation but failed to act. According to Rumeu, the reason for this passivity is simple: everything related to sewage management and wastewater treatment is a bureaucratic headache for administrations and does not win votes in elections.
Old problems, new consequences
According to Rumeu, the problem has been known for over 15 years. The treatment plant in Punta Brava does not have enough capacity to process all the wastewater. The sewage system in Puerto de la Cruz has serious deficiencies that have been known for more than 30 years, but because no action was taken, the inevitable happened: an environmental disaster.
The Tenerife Water Board did its job by drafting reports and proposing solutions. However, the politicians responsible for implementation failed to act.
Ongoing pollution
This 2022 report is not the only one that warned about the problems on the coast of Puerto de la Cruz. As early as 2020, the Tenerife Water Board had sent a warning to the Canary Islands government about a leak in the Punta Brava discharge pipeline, which at that time was considered minor.
In 2022, the Ministry of Public Health of the Canary Islands determined that the water quality at Playa Jardín was deteriorating dramatically.
Since 2016, levels of the bacteria Escherichia coli and enterococci had been steadily increasing. In 2021, the contamination reached alarming levels.
At Playa Grande, one of the beaches of Playa Jardín, Escherichia coli levels increased by 1,000%.
Too little, too late
Despite all these warnings, the authorities only acted when the pollution became extreme, public health was at risk, and the swimming area was closed in July 2024.
What now?
The government has now announced three urgent measures:
- Repairs to the discharge pipeline—though previous repairs have had no effect.
- A comprehensive overhaul of the discharge system—this is expected to provide a definitive solution.
- The construction of a new water treatment plant in Punta Brava.
Additionally, the Puerto de la Cruz municipality is working on a new sewage system for Punta Brava and improving all pumping stations. The total estimated cost exceeds 35 million euros. Meanwhile, Playa Jardín remains closed, and a protest march is scheduled for March 23, 2025, in Puerto de la Cruz to demand action.
Pixabay © Photography
Discharges into the sea in Tenerife ©
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