Porto now has all its beaches with a Blue Flag. The coastline of the city already had the Blue Flag on eight of its nine beaches, but the bathing area of Castelo do Queijo still lacked this status, now the flag also flies at this beach.

The news was already expected, due to the excellent beaches’ performance in Porto in recent years, not only in terms of the environmental quality of water and sand, but also with regard to the management of facilities, safety and environmental education.

Excellence is now achieved across the whole coastline, with the Bathing Area of Castelo do Queijo also having the Blue Flag status, last Tuesday, after the inspection by Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente (APA), representing the Associação Bandeira Azul da Europa (ABAE).

In order to be certain that this honour was granted, the Municipality has come a long way. 20 years ago, it was said that it was not safe to go bathing in Porto. But the successive investments made by the municipal company Águas do Porto, over the last few years, in the treatment and control of water quality, put an end to this generalised idea and led to the expected results: maritime water improved in all the parameters, and now is also subject to permanent monitoring.

At Castelo do Queijo Beach, this stabilization was more difficult to achieve, in an upward path that began in 2017 with the rating "good" on water quality and which moved up to "excellent" last year, as a result of the clean-up work carried out in Aldoar’s stream over the past few years. This rating is a fundamental requirement for the Blue Flag, which is also flying, for the 13th consecutive year, in the bathing areas of Foz, Gondarém and Homem do Leme.

With this new award, Porto has Blue Flags in the entire four bathing areas, consisting of nine beaches (Pastoras, Carneiro, Ourigo, Ingleses, Luz, Gondarém, Molhe, Homem do Leme and Castelo do Queijo).

Awarding the Blue Flag depends on complying with the Blue Flag Programme criteria. Regarding the quality of bathing water, the results of water quality from the previous four bathing seasons are also taken into consideration.

 

Porto has beaches accessible to people with reduced mobility

In addition to the award now obtained for the bathing area of Castelo do Queijo, Porto maintains the status of "Accessible Beach" on the beaches of Homem do Leme and Carneiro. These two beaches have been adapted for people with reduced mobility and meet the requirements of the "Praia Acessível, Praia para Todos" Programme, in line with the common objective to promote the access of all citizens to Portuguese beaches.

Among the various services and infrastructures available, the adapted sanitary facilities stand out; access with ramps and handrails; the existence of amphibious bathing support equipment and a support service for the using it is provided by the Batalhão de Sapadores Bombeiros do Porto (firefighters); parking spaces near the beaches, among others.

 

"Marés de Mudança" Campaign

In view of the current context, going to the beach implies a change in behaviour and compliance with the rules concerning personal protection and safety for all. For this reason, all services and equipment to support bathing practice were reviewed in 2020 in order to ensure compliance with the hygiene and safety requirements recommended by Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente and Direção-Geral da Saúde.

Among the various measures adopted, creating the one-way system for entering and exiting beaches, increasing the hygiene and cleaning of equipment to support bathing, increasing the information made available to the public and creating a contingency plan where the guidelines and procedures to be adopted for occupying and using the beaches in Porto are outlined, during a pandemic.

In this sense, Porto City Hall launched, this bathing season, the "Marés de Mudança" campaign, publicizing an image that resembles the old beach huts, on all the infrastructures on Porto's beaches. The objective is to make the population aware of the behaviour change regarding the environment, but also to the rules of coexistence that are imposed in the fight against Covid-19.

[Via www.porto.pt]