The 'Google Maps' with the worst beaches in Spain that you should avoid this summer

With the summer around the corner and a large part of the citizens thinking about the good times they will have on the beaches of the Spanish coast, it is interesting Know which beaches are best to avoid. This information is collected every year Ecologists in Action with the publication, since 2005, of its report black flags. This comes accompanied by an interactive map that you can see belowmade with the technology of Google Mapswhich allows you to clearly identify which beaches are and the reasons why they have obtained a black flag.

The environmental organization selects each year a total of 48 locations throughout the more than 8,000 kilometers from the Spanish coast, two for each coastal province and autonomous citya flag for pollution and another for poor environmental management. This criterion does not allow us to distinguish regions that are more polluted than others, but yes the most serious cases in each of them. The map does not only include beaches, but also other types of locations such as river mouths or ports.

Of the 48 black flags awarded this year, fifteen They have been due to urbanization of the coast, sometimes invading the Maritime-Terrestrial Public Domain (DMPT); 16 due to spills, deficiencies in sanitation systems and serious purification problems; 6 due to chemical, light and/or acoustic pollution; 3 due to accumulation of marine litter; 3 for dredging and port expansions without justification; 1 for damage to historical and cultural heritage in DMPT and 4 due to effects on biodiversity, although generally this is collateral damage in any of the other black flags awarded, says Ecologistas en Acción.

To know the information about any of them, you just have to click on the flag so that A panel is displayed in which all the information is collected: if the flag is due to pollution or poor management, its exact location providing the coordinates and a text explaining the specific reasons that have led to that location obtaining it.

Ecologists in Action highlights the biggest problems on the Spanish coasts as the tourism and urbanization of the coast and the concentration of plastics. In this sense, he points out the case of the Canary Islands due to 'the action of hotel development with the authorization of public administrations' and the dumping of pellets that affected the Galician coast at the beginning of this year.