Beachgoers upset at lack of warning at polluted beach

With just one small sign at the beach warning of the danger, lifeguards spent their time telling people to stay out of the water.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Hundreds of beachgoers went to Tel Aviv's polluted Hof Hatzuk during Pessah vacation last week unaware that the water there was unsafe for swimming, reports the Hebrew weekly Yediot Tel Aviv. With just one small sign at the beach warning of the danger, lifesavers spent their time telling people to stay out of the water, much to their surprise. According to the report, the holiday heatwave sent people from all over Israel scurrying to the beaches, including to Hof Hatzuk. Even Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was seen and photographed at that beach, bare-legged and engrossed in a book. Many people headed straight for the cooling water, unaware that four months ago the Health Ministry declared the beach unfit for swimming after large quantities of fecal bacteria were found in the water, apparently washed there from the nearby Herzliya waste purification plant. A Tel Aviv municipal official said the city had done everything possible to prevent people from going into the water, including placing a sign warning of the danger and a black flag at the beach. But because people had continued to come to the beach anyway, the city had also posted lifeguards there to warn visitors to stay out of the water. Many beachgoers found themselves confused, and said they had not noticed the small warning sign at the beach. They said the city should have advertised the situation and should have put up more signs near the water, or should have closed off the beach entirely. A Herzliya municipal spokesman denied that his city was the source of the pollution, although a Tel Aviv spokesman insisted that it was. The Tel Aviv spokesman said the water had been tested again in recent days, and the level of bacteria had dropped sufficiently to make it fit for swimming once again.