Majori beach water standards modified

JURMALA - On June 26 the blue flag came down at Majori, the beach that merited the flag this summer for the first time, after it was stated that its beach has been polluted with oil slicks.

The oil from the beach was removed in a day. Right after that, Majori faced another problem - high bacterial contamination, according to Latvian water quality standards.

On July 7, two weeks after the day the oil appeared, the blue flag's repeated raising stated that the same bacterial contamination did not exceed European standards, only more stringent Latvian standards.

"As soon as we received a paper from the Ministry of Environment and Regional Development confirming this fact, we raised the flag again," said Veronika Ramane, spokeswoman for the Jurmala City Council.

The blue flag could have been hoisted in Majori as usual right after the oil day, but because of red tape, Majori residents and visitors swam in Jurmala waters under the lowered flag for almost two weeks.

For previous three weeks, nine out of 11 Jurmala beaches were ranked unclean by the National Environmental Health Center, based on the data obtained from regular weekly monitoring. Majori ended up in the "recommended to abstain" swimming category.

The unusually high bacterial contamination recorded in the sea water this year is probably caused by the sea currents and the air and water temperature, said Nikolajs Kirejevs, head of the Jurmala Environmental Health Center expertise division.

"This is the fortune of the weather. You cannot do anything about it or predict when it will end," he said.

Throughout last week most of the eight Jurmala life guard stations posted red and black marks, recommending that swimmers stay out of the water. Unaware visitors, who enjoyed their swim without hesitation, could proudly claim they live in accordance with European standards.

"All was not so bad, as some media reported," said Ramane. People concerned with the quality of water could take a free shower in the Majori life guard station.

"If a healthy person takes a swim in such water, nothing can harm him, unless he has some wounds or swallows some water. But the shower will not change anything. It happens instantly - whether you got infected while you were in the water, or not," said Inna Arinska, a doctor from the National Environmental Health Center.