Misleading reporting

the problem is under-reported

The problem of contamination is made worse by vague language, half-truths and what some residents feel is 'lies' from the local council and local media.

As a result, the public don't have the right data during episodes of contamination caused by sewage overflows to make choices about their health.

Microbiologic data every 2 weeks

Agència Catalana de l'Aigua (Catalan Water Agency) publishes microbiologic quality results every 2 weeks and includes only 2 parameters. This isn't enough to evaluate the impact of contamination on the levels of bacteria on our beaches in the days after contamination takes place.

Misleading and disappearing information

Ajuntament de Badalona maintains several pages about the quality of waters and a Twitter page @PlatgesBadalona.

After episodes of combined sewage overflow, we see red flags on the beaches of Badalona, prohibiting sea bathing. However, usually on such days there is rarely information about water quality, only that it is 'pending analysis'.

Ajuntament de Badalona doesn't publish the microbiologic results when they are received, just the change of water quality from 'pending analysis' to 'excellent' or 'good'.

This also isn't enough for the public to assess the safety of waters.

There were no updates on the @PlatgesBadalona twitter page from 29th of July until 7th of August 2019.

There were several instances when @PlatgesBadalona deleted a tweet, for example on 27/08/2019 following a contamination episode.

Some local media use language that is easy to misunderstand.

For example, on 21/08/2019 Diari de Badalona wrote that an 'extension of the sewage network' was among some of the 'measures already adopted'. This isn't the case, the sewage network hasn't been extended as a direct result of the EU project referred to in the article.

We appreciate the response, however we find it unconvincing and would prefer local media to use clear accessible language that doesn't require separate explanation.

Reporting only during beach season

In the winter, contamination episodes are harder to spot, as water quality isn't monitored outside of the beach season (usually June-September).

Role of inadequate infrastructure diluted

During the beach season, authorities and local media often use 'rain' and 'waves' as reasons for the red flag, instead of more accurate description of sewage water discharge into the Mediterranean sea caused by lack of adequate infrastructure.

Such messaging trivialises the problem and makes it invisible to the public who don't have the time or capacity to 'read between the lines'.

See examples of lack of transparency when it comes to contamination reporting.

What's the true scale of the problem?

We think that lack of data, misleading reporting and historic industrial contamination in Badalona all add up to the true scale of the problem being unknown by the general public and underestimated in all reporting.

Even with limited reporting the quality of beaches in Badalona along the Barcelona coast has been decreasing in the recent years.