Brazil issues water quality warnings for Bahia and Alagoas beaches

The Bahia State Environment and Water Resources Institute (Inema) released a new beach‑water quality bulletin covering 147 monitoring points along the state’s coast. Several beaches in Salvador, such as Tubarão, Cantagalo, Itapuã and Flamengo, remain suitable for swimming, while key spots including Porto da Barra, Farol da Barra and Bonfim are classified as unsuitable due to elevated Escherichia coli levels. Inema attributes the deterioration to a frontal system bringing persistent rain, which can wash sewage and runoff into the sea.

The Alagoas State Environment Institute (IMA) issued its weekly balneability report, finding 11 stretches of coastline unsuitable for bathing and 57 suitable. In Maceió, eight locations—including Jatiúca, Pajuçara, Ponta Verde and Avenida—are flagged as unsafe, and two sections in Maragogi (the river mouths of Maragogi and Persinunga) are also deemed unsuitable. The assessments follow national standards that deem a beach proper when at least 80% of recent samples show E. coli concentrations below 800 NMP/100 mL, and unsafe when concentrations exceed 2,000 NMP/100 mL.