The trails of scum that are making regular appearances off Salobreña beach are creating a headache for the Mayor and other authorities.

The Mayor, María Eugenia Rufino, announced that she was stepping up cleaning operations with the municipal cleaning skiff, which will be in charge of eliminating the flotsam. However, it might not begin operating until Monday.

In the meantime, the Mancomunidad, which is the authority that manages waste-water disposal; i.e., sewage, says that it has checked all its installations, pumps, pipes and connections and that they have found nothing that may have caused any seepage or spills.

The Junta‘s public-health representative for southern Granada, Francisco Pérez says that the state of  sea water off the beaches is “apt for bathing,” and that there is “no problem.” He said that water samples are being taken periodically and analysed.

However, it is still not known what the composition of the scum is; or at least, it has not been disclosed, because after a whole week of this and ‘periodical analysis’ of the sea water it is surprising that none of the three authorities have made it known.

The Mayor said that she “has no clues as to where it is coming from.”

The Mayor also announced that she has requested the participation of the Junta‘s AGAPA ship (Agencia Agraria y Pesquera de Andalucía) so that a more thorough analysis could be made.

The Motril Port Authorities have confirmed that the scum trail is not coming from any of the ships moored in the port.

Naturally, the Mayor is not happy with the coverage that this affair has received, implying the present media coverage is disproportional and that a lower-key coverage would be more beneficial for the tourism sector for the Costa Tropical in general and for Salobreña in particular.

The Vice-Chairwoman for the recently formed Asociación Playas de Salobreña, Almudena García, considers the Mayor’s comments and intentions to be positive, however she feels that these steps should have been taken much sooner. She also made it clear that the association is not against the Town Council nor the town itself, but that it only wants the best for Salobreña.

Finally, the consumers’ association, Asociación de Consumidores y Usuarios en Acción de Granada, has expressed its concern over the affair and urges the Environmental Board to adopt urgent measures.

Editorial comment: it is worth remembering the Mayor’s original affirmation that the scum contained molasses and that a “certain factory” might be involved. There is only one factory that uses molasses above Salobreña and that is the rum distillery in Lobres – there is no other, even though the Mayor was evidently reluctant to mention the factory by name.

Some people in Lobres have their own theories and it should be noted that the installations have been reported twice before by environmentalist organisations, but such is the importance of this local industry for the municipality as far as employment, etc goes, that criticism from the Town Hall is muted if not, seemingly, non-existent.

Does this mean that this is where it is coming from? No, but it does help to clarify the Mayor’s words or lack of them.

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)