THE Ecologistas en Accion group have handed out their ‘Black Flags’ for 2025 to coastal areas of Spain which they say have environmental problems.
They include a flag to a cluster of Valencia beaches hit by pollution caused by the October 29 floods.
48 flags have been handed out this year across the country- two to each province or autonomous city.
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In Valencia province, the six beaches in the Albufera lake area have received the unwanted award for flood waste travelling over 30 kilometres to reach them.
The group said: “All the waste, sludge and wastewater from towns and industrial estates are continuing to reach the coast months later, given that sanitation and treatment systems were destroyed.”
They point out that waste removal has been ‘very delayed and superficial, without even working out the size or the composition of the pollution’.
A black flag for mismanagement has been awarded to the recently-introduced Valencian Coastal law.
They’ve called for its repeal as it focuses on privatisation rather than protecting marine public domain land.
Benidorm’s Levante Beach gets a flag for ‘increased touristification and predatory urbanism’ resulting in treatment plants breaking down causing faecal discharges in the water.
Further south, the adjoining Cala Mosca (Orihuela) and Cala Ferris (Torrevieja), are joint-award winners over an impending housing development.
Ecologistas say the beaches are in danger because courts have given the green light for 2,200 homes to be built at Cala Mosca.
The regular Murcia region winner- the Mar Menor lagoon area- is successful again due to poor environmental management.
A repeat joint-winner is also Portman Bay and the Sierra Minera for pollution issues.