Quercus, the 'Gold Quality' awarding body for Portugal’s beaches now is questioning the Gold status for three beaches about which complaints have been made - in the Algarve the beach in question is Dona Ana in the Lagos council area.
The president of Quercus says that work done by the government at one of the Algarve most internationally recognisable beaches means that the prestigious award will be removed.
Quercus is looking at three beaches where a variety of problems means their coveted Gold status will be removed and joins Almargem in condemning the work done at Dona Ana under the banner of safety with little, if any, regard for the surrounding environment.
The worst case mentioned by Quercus is that of the Dona Ana beach which is almost unrecognisable now that the Minister of the Environment’s contractors have nearly finished scraping away the cliffs and dumping 140,000m3 of sand from the seabed to make an artificial beach.
The other two beaches under scrutiny are in Figueira da Foz at Leirosa and Costa de Lavos where chemical pollution by industrial sludge has been reported.
In the case of Dona Ana beach, recently classified as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, the president of Quercus admits that in his opinion the Gold Quality award should be withdrawn and the banner removed.
João Branco points out that what has happened at Dona Ana Lagos is a clear example of altering an area renowned for its natural beauty into something totally artificial.
The Golden Quality award is based on water analysis published by the Portuguese Environmental Agency, but this no longer should be the sole criterion, according to Branco, "Quercus does not want its banner on a banner on a beach of which we are ashamed, such is the case at Dona Ana. We delivered an award but this thing is so serious that the award must be withdrawn.”
The environmentalists also accused the government of destroying the immediate area in front of the beach.
The contractors started to suck up the sand from the seabed but when they realised that there would not be enough sand, they dug up submerged rocks and used them as the foundation for the beach extension.
These large rocks will reappear when the sea starts again erodes the beach and will result in a dangerous beach/water interface due to the shortcuts taken by the contractors who appear to have been unsupervised.
The beach now is 'totally artificial,' which according to Quercus is happening to bathing areas all over the country under the mantle of safety work.
As for the lack of a Blue Flag at Dona Ana beach, Catarina Gonçalves who coordinates this additional scheme explained that everything depends on the completion of the works which, according to the Portuguese Environment Agency, must be signed off today.
Gonçalves explained that the major changes at the beach will have no influence on the Blue Flag award as this depends on water analysis and an assessment of the security conditions when the contractor’s 'machinery has been removed from the bathing area.
The minister in charge, Jorge Moreia da Silva, hit back at critics yesterday asking them through his Facebook page whether they 'would like to see tourists killed by rockfalls' should his beach safety programme not be completed.
This asinine defence did not answer the question from Almargem as to why no environmental impact assessment had been undertaken as required by law and why there had been no involvement with Quercus and Almargem in presenting beaches to the tourist market that are both safe and beautiful.
