At least two beaches in Puerto Vallarta are not suitable for recreational use due to high bacterial rates, warned the Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks of Jalisco (Coprisjal) and the Secretariat of State Health (SSJ). These are Los Muertos and Cuale beaches, which have levels above the acceptable amounts.
At a press conference, staff from the Ministry of Health and the Coprisjal announced the basic preventive measures to follow during this Easter holiday period, where they also reported that bacterial analyzes have been carried out on 10 beaches on the coast of Puerto Vallarta and Bahía de Banderas, of which two had high levels of contamination.
This type of monitoring is carried out year after year, for which the analysis showed that the Los Muertos beach presented levels of 266 / PM (thousand particles) and that of Cuale 296 / PM, when the levels highest allowed are 200 / PM.
They indicated that with these levels, both beaches are not recommended for human recreational use, due to the risk of gastrointestinal and eye damage.
Officials from both agencies, headed by Maira Otila Zepeda Romero, from the Coprisjal services department, José Parra Mariscal, Cepal’s operational coordinator, and Armando Pimentel, director of Coprisjal’s health promotion, indicated that no human damage has yet been recorded due, however, they reiterated in the call not to use this beach and to exercise extreme precautions.
The agencies only test the level of bacteria in the water, further testing would need to be done to find the origins of the bacteria, but the agencies have not given any indication that they plan on further testing to determine the cause.
Los Muertos beach is the most popular in Puerto Vallarta, where the largest number of bathers gather. Cuale, which is the neighboring beach, is also widely used by vacationers.
Photo by: @kinga_g
