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Sustainability
Volume 17
Issue 21
10.3390/su17219792
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Article

Coastal Bathing Water Evaluation Under Contrasting Tourism Pressures at Herradura Bay (S-W Mediterranean)

by
Miguel María Granados-Fernández
1,
Salvador Arijo
2,
Andreas Reul
1,*,
Francisco Guerrero
3,
Juan Diego Gilbert
3,
Jorge García-Márquez
2,
Begoña Bautista
1 and
María Muñoz
4
1
Departamento de Ecología y Geología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, s/n, 29071 Malaga, Spain
2
Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, s/n, 29071 Malaga, Spain
3
Departamento de Biología Animal, Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Jaén, Campus de Las Lagnillas, s/n, 23071 Jaen, Spain
4
Departamento de Didáctica de la Matemática, de las Ciencias Sociales y de las Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, s/n, 29071 Malaga, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2025, 17(21), 9792; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219792
Submission received: 12 September 2025 / Revised: 21 October 2025 / Accepted: 30 October 2025 / Published: 3 November 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity, Biologic Conservation and Ecological Sustainability—2nd Edition)
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Abstract

Coastal water quality is crucial for ecosystem services, supporting biodiversity and tourism. However, high tourist influxes often overwhelm wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) capacities, leading to untreated discharge and eutrophication, which severely impacts bathing water. Water quality monitoring is currently limited to selected points at the beach and oceanographic sampling, which requires depths >20 m offshore, leaving a gap of measurements between 1 and 50 m from the beach. To resolve this gap, our study proposes a low cost-effective sampling and monitoring method by using a kayak with a submersible fluorometer FlowCAM, as well as fecal bacteria detection and quantification. The kayak sampling was carried out during high- and low-tourism seasons in coastal bathing waters surrounded by Marine Protected Areas. The results show a patchy phytoplankton distribution, with chlorophyll a concentration up to 5.5 μg/L, indicating local fertilization. The observed floating organic matter patches were fecal bacteria free, while effluents of the WWTP to the Jate river and shore exceeded the legal limits for bathing water. These results suggest that wastewater treatment was overwhelmed during the high-tourism season, likely discharging wastewater into the river that flows into the shore. These findings are discussed in a sustainable development and socioeconomical context.
Keywords: bacterial contamination; eutrophication; dinoflagellates; indicator microorganisms; monitoring; phytoplankton; bioindicators; beaches; public health bacterial contamination; eutrophication; dinoflagellates; indicator microorganisms; monitoring; phytoplankton; bioindicators; beaches; public health

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MDPI and ACS Style

Granados-Fernández, M.M.; Arijo, S.; Reul, A.; Guerrero, F.; Gilbert, J.D.; García-Márquez, J.; Bautista, B.; Muñoz, M. Coastal Bathing Water Evaluation Under Contrasting Tourism Pressures at Herradura Bay (S-W Mediterranean). Sustainability 2025, 17, 9792. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219792

AMA Style

Granados-Fernández MM, Arijo S, Reul A, Guerrero F, Gilbert JD, García-Márquez J, Bautista B, Muñoz M. Coastal Bathing Water Evaluation Under Contrasting Tourism Pressures at Herradura Bay (S-W Mediterranean). Sustainability. 2025; 17(21):9792. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219792

Chicago/Turabian Style

Granados-Fernández, Miguel María, Salvador Arijo, Andreas Reul, Francisco Guerrero, Juan Diego Gilbert, Jorge García-Márquez, Begoña Bautista, and María Muñoz. 2025. "Coastal Bathing Water Evaluation Under Contrasting Tourism Pressures at Herradura Bay (S-W Mediterranean)" Sustainability 17, no. 21: 9792. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219792

APA Style

Granados-Fernández, M. M., Arijo, S., Reul, A., Guerrero, F., Gilbert, J. D., García-Márquez, J., Bautista, B., & Muñoz, M. (2025). Coastal Bathing Water Evaluation Under Contrasting Tourism Pressures at Herradura Bay (S-W Mediterranean). Sustainability, 17(21), 9792. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219792

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