What's going on with El Charcón beach in Mijas?

El Charcón beach in Mijas has had a complicated start to the summer season. In barely a month, the area has suffered two closures and their corresponding reopenings. The more recent incident happened on Tuesday, 10 June, and the beach has already been reopened.

The first was on 16 May, when a sewage pipe that runs through the area burst. According to the information provided at the time by Acosol (the company responsible for the installation), the situation was caused by the loss of sand on the support where the pipe was buried, due to the natural behaviour of the sea. The breakdown affected a section of approximately two metres, although the repair work ended up covering almost 50 metres "to secure the entire section".

The incident caused leaks in the sea, which led the Mijas town hall to immediately decree the closure of the beach and install signs warning that bathing was banned. El Charcón was closed for two weeks, during which time workers were fixing the issue. At the end of May, El Charcón reopened and bathing was once again allowed.

But the return to normality did not last long because the town hall closed the beach again just a few days later. On 5 June, the town hall announced: "Following indications from the provincial health delegation, Mijas town hall is closing El Charcón beach until the anomalies detected are resolved."

Following the leak caused by the rupture of a sewage pipe, the health delegation of the Junta de Andalucía took different samples to check the quality of the water, which led to closing the beach once again. The water was found not suitable for bathing.

After new tests and their subsequent results, the health delegation reopened the beach once again. El Charcón is slowly regaining the usual number of visitors for this time of year.