It was at the end of July last year that Salobreña was plagued by a floating streak of discoloured foam – well, it’s been back.

The long streak was slowly making its way to the beach between El Peñon and La Caleta, as can be seen in the photo, which I took on Sunday.

The Mayor quickly had one of the cleaning boats sent out to try and disperse it, as well as take samples.

Mayor María Eugenia Rufino said although they don’t know what it is, they know what it is not, she claims (i.e., sewage).

When this all blew up last year the Mancomunidad and the Provincial Council investigated its origin but no findings were published… and here we are again this summer.

It was the Asociación de Los Residentes de la Playa that raised the alarm, sending in photos of the stain to the Town Hall. Its Chairman, José Manuel Martínez, said that they merely want the Town Hall to take the required measures to counter this reoccurring problem.

He also said that there are groups of locals that are talking about getting a private company to take samples and run tests, which is, perhaps, an indication of distrust of the official line as to what it is and where it is coming from.

Editorial comment: the fact is that it appears when the currents and winds are coming from the West and when they change, it disappears. Nobody in the Town Hall will point the finger at Nerja because to do so would be to admit that the floating stain could be sewage, which is not something that a Mayor would like to acknowlege in the middle of August.

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