Around 200 metres of Nerja’s biggest beach was closed to bathers last month after a fractured pipe began discharging raw sewage into the sea. The western end of Playa Burriana was cordoned off by local police until the pipe was mended.
The problem was first discovered on September 20 and the town hall acted swiftly to prevent anyone getting into the nearby area as a precaution. It is believed that recent heavy rain resulted in some land movement which in turn caused the pipe to break.
Nerja’s mayor, Rosa Arrabal of the PSOE, said such problems with the pipe had happened before, and she regretted the “inconvenience” caused by the partial closure of the beach. However, she added that a €87,000 project to protect the area had been shelved as the socialists, who govern in a minority, did not have the support of other groups at the town hall. In response, the opposition Partido Popular immediately blamed the “irresponsibility” of mayor Arrabal and her inability to manage.
Meanwhile, at the other end of Playa Burriana, work is progressing well on the construction of the station which will pump the town’s sewage up to the new water treatment plant on the N-340 between Nerja and Maro. First tests are expected early next year, and once fully operational, the new facility will render the old infrastructure, including last month’s broken pipe, redundant.
