The Lanzarote Health Area confirmed this Tuesday morning that the analyses carried out at Punta del Camello, next to El Reducto beach, have tested positive for fecal bacteria contamination. The most visited beach in the capital of Lanzarote already had a ban on swimming in its waters for almost six months due to contamination between late 2025 and early this year.
The Arrecife town council had ordered the red flag to be flown at El Reducto as a precaution after detecting a possible wastewater discharge. The Arrecife City Council places the new contamination source next to the Water Consortium's outfall in the area.
The island's capital, the most populated city in Lanzarote, registers the highest number of recorded discharges in the Census of discharges from land to sea, updated last August. In total, seventeen sources discharge urban wastewater and other substances into the sea.
The ban on swimming remains in place
Given this confirmation from the Health Department, the Arrecife Beaches Department maintains the protocol active and prohibits swimming in the waters of this area of the Arrecife coastline, where the red flag remains hoisted.
From the Arrecife City Council's Beaches Department, headed by councilwoman Davinia Déniz, Public Health had been asked to carry out water analyses in this enclave of the Lanzarote capital's coastline after detecting wastewater discharges last weekend. Following this, the Arrecife Local Police confirmed these discharges and drew up a report.
Déniz, who is also the Environment councilwoman, has requested that the Water Consortium officials verify the pumping stations they have in the areas near the Lanzarote Island Council building (area of the old city cemetery) and on Portugal street.
The town council links it to the network rupture in Argana Alta
The Arrecife City Council attributes this new fecal contamination in El Reducto to the aftermath of the rupture of the pumping network in Argana Alta.
The Councilor for Beaches and Environment has reported these days that the presence of wastewater next to the spillway at Punta del Camello may be a consequence of the rupture, on the night of last Thursday, the 23rd, of the sewage pipe of the Water Consortium's network in the Argana Alta neighborhood, which pumps sewage from Playa Honda and the lower area of Arrecife towards the treatment plant in Montaña Mina.
As acknowledged by the Water Consortium, that serious breakdown caused the sewage pumping to be shut down in order to proceed with the repair of the fiber pipe, which has had numerous breaks in its system in recent years. The Arrecife City Council has requested the Water Consortium to check the condition of these pumping stations at Punta del Camello and Calle Portugal, and to verify the causes of these discharges through the spillway at Punta del Camello, whose bacteriological contamination has been confirmed by Health.
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