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ORIHUELA COSTA RAISES BLUE FLAGS

To celebrate the award of Blue Flag accreditation awards for seven beaches on the Orihuela Costa, members of the government team held a press conference on Tuesday to explain some of the standards that result in these awards.
The Mayor of Orihuela mun…

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Martina Scheurer, Monserrate Guillén and Rosa Martínez

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To celebrate the award of Blue Flag accreditation awards for seven beaches on the Orihuela Costa, members of the government team held a press conference on Tuesday to explain some of the standards that result in these awards.

The Mayor of Orihuela municipality, Monserrate Guillén, accompanied by the councillors for tourism, beaches and the coast, and international residents, Rosa Martínez and Martina Scheurer respectively, to speak of their pride in the Orihuela Costa being one of the most recognised areas of quality beaches along the Mediterranean coast.

With less pomp and ceremony than previous years, the councillors all spoke about the different elements and improvements made this year, including the extension to the life guard services, the facilities provided by the Chiringuitos, and the quality of the water, amongst other things.

The former councillor for the coast, Pedro Mancebo, also called by at the Playa Barranco Rubio, but didn´t hang around for the presentation. Mancebo has been critical of the beach management once again, and feels that the standards have slipped, risking the awards in the future.

In his speech, the Mayor of Orihuela, Monserrate Guillén, said, “We are very happy to have seven flags, in addition to receiving the congratulations of the Valencian Consell vice president. It’s not easy to keep monitoring services and other aspects that distinguish Orihuela´s beaches. To those who doubted we could get them, we must say that we have achieved it”.

In this sense, has detailed the surveillance and rescue service on the beaches including an increase in staff of two lifeguards that will serve Playa Barranco Rubio. In addition, there will be a water chair for disabled bathers in this beach, where it was never provided before. The mayor has predicted that, as of the 10th of June, there will be an enhanced street cleaning team of two people in each development of the coast. Thus, 14 people will be hired and scheduled to start work next week. This team of cleaners will be increased with the season and may reach up to 25 people during the summer.

As for the collection of algae, Guillén has advanced the working of the service contract, which includes “the collection, transport and processing, not the elimination, of algae at minimal cost, rather than the atrocities that were paid in the past”. For Safety, there will be a service of prevention and monitoring of Civil Protection comprised of 20 volunteers. “We are waiting to see if we can hire local police, as there is difficulty in doing so”, he continued.

The Councillor for the Coast, Beaches and International Residents added that there is now a line of seaweed on the beaches because the FEE indicates that they should leave it on the shore during the offseason to promote the regeneration of the beach and prevent the loss of sand. “After removing the algae, we do not waste it, but it is reused”, she stated. In addition, signs provide all information about the blue flags in several languages, in addition to information on water quality set out in other devices in the access to the beach. “Municipal staff visit the beaches every day and makes a list of the minor deficiencies that may have to have to be repaired”, she concluded.

Representing the tourism department, Rosa Martínez stressed that Orihuela has seven Blue Flags over 16 kilometres, which makes this town “of the highest concentration of blue flags in Spain, if not Europe”. Continuing to state that “Throughout the year, the government team has been working for these flags”, detailing the Infrastructure responsible for maintaining access to the beaches, sanitary toilet facilities and furnishings, which has needed two brigades of three people with the support of two other operators if necessary. The annual cost of this maintenance is 400,000 euro.

The breakdown of investment that makes this possible was explained in some detail. The maintenance of the lighting is charged at 450,000 euro and maintenance of green areas adjacent to beaches and shores costs 899,000 euro annually to the City Council. The surveillance and rescue and ambulance on the beaches has gone out to tender for 310,000 euro and maintenance of footbaths costs between 1,500 and 3,000 per year. “This amounts to 2,064,000 euro, plus rainwater collectors that Aquagest has in Campoamor, with a total investment of more than three million euro this year”, said Martinez, who considered that “our shoreline is good of the first order”.

As with previous years, there were questions from a handful of people who questioned the cleanliness of the beaches, although not as many or as vocal as previous years, the only complaint seemingly being the fact that seaweed is not cleaned away often enough, but as the councillors explained, along with the technical engineer responsible for beaches, it is part of the requirement of the Blue Flag standard to leave seaweed in place for periods of time, as this serves as both a natural barrier between the beach and the sea, and also helps to aerate the water. This point has been raised and covered on numerous occasions in the past.

All in all, the summer season is just about to get underway, with massive investment from both the town hall and private companies that should see the next wave of inspections clear for a continuation of the flag standard, on the beaches of Punta Prima, Playa Flamenca, La Zenia, Cala Capitán, Cabo Roig, Campoamor and Barranco Rubio.

Here is a story from 2011 about the benefits of seaweed.

Here is last year´s presentation and protest story, featuring Pedro Mancebo.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/39170/

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