:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/DSSAY2JHVVEWFHXMXDND7H6PIU.jpg "Summer 2024: Only 23% of beaches nationwide are healthy | Statement | Beaches | Digesa | Minsa | Garbage | Bacteria | Peru")
Although summer officially starts in just a week, the truth is that it feels like months. As proof of this, the country’s various beaches, including those facing the sea and those near fresh water bodies, are visited in large numbers by bathers. Across Peru, the General Directorate of Environmental Health (Dekesa) – an agency of the Ministry of Health (MINSA) – has evaluated the condition of 312 beaches to identify their health. Year after year, the findings are encouraging.
More than three hundred analyzed beaches, whose information is available on the portal.A healthy summer‘, at the end of this edition only 72 were able to comply with the minimum requirements established by Digesa. That is, only 72 beaches are classified as healthy beaches. This means microbiological indices are within appropriate limits, cleaning quality is optimal and functional sanitation services are in place.
La Dikesa explained Trade The first assessment point measures the current level of thermotolerant coliform bacteria, which – the specific entity – can be harmful to health if ingested by bathers. The directorate clarified that these – occur naturally in the sea, but can also spread due to man-made pollution. The second criterion assesses the presence of garbage cans distributed in the area and the cleanliness of the beaches, while the third refers to the presence and operation of toilet services.
Scary statistics
Nationally, 77% of beaches are considered unhealthy, according to the aforementioned organization. 205 cases have no or non-functioning toilet services, which is a major deficiency across the country. Similarly, 196 beaches that did not meet the minimum cleanliness criteria were recorded. Finally, Digesa determined that 78 spas had bacteria levels higher than recommended.
Although most records fail to meet one or both of the criteria simultaneously, there are 56 beaches where all three criteria are not met.That is, 27% of beaches classified as unhealthy exceed microbiological limits, do not meet cleanliness criteria and sanitary services are not implemented.
These cases were witnessed in the provinces of Padre Abad (12), Colonel Portillo (10), Tumbes (1), Piura (1), Menas (2), Huara (2), Hural (6), and Canet (3). Ravine (9), Lima (1), Lambayeque (1), Sigleo (2), Viru (1), Trujillo (1), Sand (1), Islay (2), Santa (1).
Missing Lima and Gallo
For Lima, Digesa evaluated 63 beaches distributed among thirteen districts with spas. Of these, only 28 – equivalent to 44% – were classified as healthy. These are located in Barranco (3), Chorrillos (1), LurÃn (3), Miraflores (6), Pucusana (1), Punta Hermosa (6), Punta Negra (2), San Bartolo (4) and Santa MarÃa de . Sea (2). Only the last two districts are in metropolitan Lima, and all of their beaches are classified as healthy by Dikesa.
The opposite happens at Mamakona Beach located in Lurin District. It is one of 56 beaches across the country that exceed all criteria, the only instance in the metropolitan province. The municipalities of Ancón, Santa Rosa and Villa El Salvador do not have any beaches recognized by the Health Agency. It should be noted that Ancon and Santa Rosa were affected by the oil spill at Repsol’s Pampila refinery.
On the other hand, in Chorrillos –Metropolitan Lima is the district with the most beaches, eleven in total– It is the only two beaches declared healthy. This is the Agua Dulce Spa, which is divided into north and south beaches. These beaches receive tens of thousands of bathers on summer weekends. The fishing district has two beaches with microbiological problems: Pescadores and Villa.
Digesa has evaluated fifteen beaches in the districts of Barranco and Miraflores that have access to the busiest beaches of the Costa Verde. Of the six in Barranco, three are healthy—Los Sombrelas, Los Uyos, and Barranco—. In Miraflores commune houses, six sanitary filters—La Pampilla I, La Pampilla II, Miraflores, Makaha, Redondo I and Estrella—passed.
In Callao, the trend is similar. In total, the districts of Callao, La Punta and Ventanilla – the only districts in the constitutional province with access to beaches – have thirteen resorts. Only one beach has been recorded as healthy. It is Malecon Bardo in Bunda District. On the other hand, Arenilla Beach in Callo District does not meet all three criteria and is fully included in the list of 56 unrecognized beaches. However, except for Arinilla, no other beach in Salaca province showed problems with microbiological indices.
A constant
Since at least 2017, the health of beaches across the country has been on record as a problem. La Digesa conducts weekly evaluations of various spas in Peru, which are transparent through a web portal. El Comercio evaluated these statistics and found that the annual average of healthy beaches did not exceed 30% in the last five years – it was decided not to consider the 2020 statistics.
As mentioned, MINSA conducts assessments every week. In some cases, more than 200 beaches have been recorded. However, there are other periods when only fewer than ten spas are analyzed. However, since 2018 it has been possible to know the percentage of healthy beaches obtained for each seven-year period. The number that Dikesa contemplated in 2017 was alarming: only 22 beaches out of 132 (16.6%) were rated positively.
In 2018, the annual average for healthy beaches was 27.4% over a forty-week period. During the week most beaches were assessed, only 59 out of 222, equal to 26.6%, were healthy. The annual average fell to 22.5% in 2019. When Dikesa assessed 246 beaches in the same week, 39% were healthy. Despite the registrations in 2020, it was decided not to include them in the calculation due to statistical differences due to the pandemic.
By 2022, the annual average of healthy beaches is 25.3%. The week with the highest ratings included 107 beaches, of which only 27 – or 25.2% – passed the hygiene standards. The year 2022 ended with an average of 30%. The largest record of supervised spas was 190, with 38.9% of beaches classified as healthy.
