The unsightly cream-coloured trail has reappeared floating off Salobreña's beaches much to the chagrin of the Mayor and disgust of bathers.

It’s the currents from the west (poniente) that brings it when it does appear, spreading it from Playa de La Guardia towards the Peñon and beyond.

“It appears all along the coast and now that the current from the west are flowing, it’s turned up here, said the Mayor, María Eugenia Rufino, adding, “each time it appears we inform the relevant administration, in which case is solely the Junta, yet each time we do inform them, they ignore it.”

According to the Mayor, who pointed out that sea off the municipality’s beaches is beyond her authority and that the Junta promises to provide a ship to track down where these emissions come from, but has always failed to follow up on this pledge.

She also reiterated that despite the arrival of this trail of creamy flotsam, the sea is safe to bathe in, pointing out that the sewage pipe that emptied into the sea from the Salobreña sewage system disappeared over 20 years ago when Motril sewage-treatment plant came online.

The Town Hall will not be using skiffs to skim off floating rubbish and vegetation this year because the Mancomunidad, who provides them, has decided not to use them unless there is an emergency.

The Guardia Civil said that nobody had reported the incident to them but if it returns then their environmental department, Seprona,  will take samples for analysis – they have to be quick because it disappears within an hour. “Disappears” is euphemism, in this case, as it really means that it has been washed up onto the beach and is no long floating on the water.

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