The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) has announced in a statement that six beaches in Mexico do not meet standards for recreational use and pose a risk to the public. The agency determined this after conducting a test using the most probable number (MPN) technique, which estimates the number of bacteria in a water or food sample. The results showed that Rosarito, Rosarito I, Tijuana, and Tijuana I beaches in the state of Baja California; Icacos in Acapulco, Guerrero; and Sayulita in Banderas Bay, Nayarit, have levels above 200 MPN fecal enterococci per 100 milliliters of water. The contamination at these locations represents 2% of the 289 recreational beaches in Mexico. This is the first analysis of the Clean Beaches 2025 program.
The sampling included a total of 2,337 tests and concluded that 98% of the beaches meet recreational use standards, according to the report. The six beaches that have been reported contain fecal enterococci. Enterococcus, formerly classified as streptococcus, is a genus of bacteria from the phylum bacitola that can survive under extreme conditions and are also highly resistant to some antibiotics.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), they live in the intestinal tract of warm-blooded animals (including humans), and waters with high levels of the bacteria indicate contamination by fecal waste. Infection with these microorganisms can cause urinary tract and intra-abdominal infections, prostatitis, bacteremia, endocarditis, diverticulitis, meningitis, and wound infections.
The bulletin was published this Monday, April 7, 10 days before the start of Holy Week. According to Secretary of Tourism Josefina Rodríguez Zamora, this holiday period is expected to attract nearly 15 million tourists across the country, generating an economic impact of more than 280 billion pesos, a 4.4% increase compared to 2024.
Before the start of each holiday period, Cofepris, together with the State Sanitary Risk Protection Areas (Apcrs), monitors seawater quality along Mexico’s coasts, spread across 76 tourist destinations. It highlights that since 2023, the federal agency has alerted the public about the same four beaches in Baja California: Rosarito, Rosarito I, Tijuana, and Tijuana I.
On the other hand, Cofepris adds that Oasis Beach, in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, was classified as unsuitable in the previous monitoring corresponding to December 2024, but had a favorable result in this first sampling in 2025. The location joins the list of beaches suitable for recreational use.
According to the bulletin, the federal commission has coordinated with the APCRs of the three contaminated states so that the Beach Committees can implement immediate sanitation actions to achieve optimal conditions for the six beaches and prevent health risks for national and international tourists.
Source: elpais
