Beach Water Concerns! Madeira Loses Beaches Awarded "Golden Quality"

Madeira Loses Label For Eight Beaches

This year, the environmental association Quercus has awarded 356 Portuguese beaches with the "Golden Quality" label, which is 38 fewer than in the 2023 bathing season. The "Golden Quality" label recognizes beaches with exceptional water quality based on recent bacterial analysis. This year, Madeira fell short of these criteria for eight of its beaches.

Quercus Hints At Bad Water Quality Due To Tourism

The reasons behind this decline remain unclear, but Quercus, the environmental association responsible for the awards, points to potential issues with water quality during the 2023 bathing season. Factors like persistent pollution levels, possibly linked to tourist pressure, could be at play.

“There were somewhat persistent levels of pollution, which have not been fully explained, but to which the impact of tourist pressure in some regions may have contributed (…) these episodes of pollution led to temporary bans on bathing and had an impact on the parameters of 'Intestinal Enterococci' and/or 'Escherichia coli', with the maximum values ​​considered in the attribution of this award having been exceeded.

Quercus spokesperson

More Golden Quality Beaches In The Azores

Despite this setback for Madeira, other regions in Portugal saw significant gains. The Tejo/Oeste and Northern regions enjoyed a substantial increase in awarded beaches, with 74 and 71 more, respectively. The Azores also saw a positive shift with 12 more "Golden Quality" beaches than in the previous year.

Beaches In Madeira Ranked Golden Quality

The following beaches are ranked as “Golden Quality“ in Madeira 2024. Note that one of Madeira’s most important beaches, Praia Formosa in Funchal, is not listed.

- Barreirinha (Funchal)

- Clube Naval do Funchal (Funchal)

- Calheta (Calheta)

- Ribeira das Galinhas Beach (Calheta)

- Portinho Beach (Calheta)

- Porto Beach (Calheta)

- Banda d' Além (Machico)

- Ribeira do Natal (Machico)

- Prainha (Machico)

- Lugar de Baixo (Ponta do Sol)

- Madalena do Mar (Ponta do Sol)

- Seixal Naval Club (Porto Moniz)

- Porto Moniz (Porto Moniz)

- Porto do Seixal Beach (Porto Moniz)

- Laje Beach (Porto Moniz)

- Porto Santo -Lagoa

- Porto Santo - Penedo

- Porto Santo - Ribeira Salgado

- Palmeiras (Santa Cruz)

- Rocar Mar (Santa Cruz)

- San Fernando (Santa Cruz)

- Reis Magos (Santa Cruz)

- Ribeira do Faial (Santana)

- São Vicente Naval Club (São Vicente)

Source: JM-Madeira.pt