Es Codolar torrent turns green again, up to 12x the E. coli limit

Today's essentials (3 key points)

• Open-Meteo forecasts a warm, dry Sunday across the Balearics, with a high of 32 degrees in Palma and no rain expected on any of the islands.
• With flats shrinking and rooms rented out, more Menorcans are paying for storage units and laundrettes to reclaim living space, reports Es Diari.
• Montuïri's Cossiers danced in the Plaça Major to open the eve of Sant Bartomeu, while the Bresh party again filled Amnesia Ibiza, according to the Mallorca and Ibiza press.

Today's essentials

Es Codolar torrent turns green again, up to 12x the E. coli limit. A greenish layer has spread again over the es Cirer torrent, which empties onto the es Codolar beach beside Ibiza airport, signalling a fresh discharge less than two weeks after the beach reopened to swimmers, according to Diario de Ibiza.

The torrent, also known as sa Font, runs through the Ses Salines Natural Park in Sant Josep de sa Talaia before reaching the sea. Sant Josep town hall first flagged a discharge there in early August and, after analyses pointed to a faecal origin with high readings of E. coli and enterococci, it closed the stretch of es Codolar beach in front of the torrent's mouth on 7 August, La Voz de Ibiza and Periódico de Ibiza reported. Cleaner results on 11 August allowed the council to reopen that section, per Periódico de Ibiza, so today's new green film marks a relapse rather than a first alert.

The pollution has turned into a legal fight. The group Alianza por el Agua bases its case on four sampling campaigns run between 12 June and 22 July, with E. coli readings above 2,420 colony-forming units per 100 ml, which it puts at up to 12 times the legal limit, according to the figure carried by eldiario.es. On 14 August it lodged a criminal complaint for an alleged environmental offence against Aena with the environmental prosecutor's office and handed its reports to the Guardia Civil's Seprona unit, Noudiari.es reported.

Aena tells a different story. The operator says the Seprona is investigating and that it is cooperating, but it denies breaching authorised limits in its own tests and suggests the discharge may not come only from the airport's facilities, according to its response to La Voz de Ibiza. Environmental groups point instead at the airport's wastewater plant, the EDAR, which they say releases poorly treated water into a highly protected wetland that shelters migratory birds, flamingos among them.

For context on the ground: es Codolar is a long, mostly natural beach at the southern tip of Ibiza, in the term of Sant Josep de sa Talaia, sitting right against the runway and the salt pans of Ses Salines. Only the short section in front of the torrent's mouth has been shut in these episodes, so the rest of the shoreline has stayed open; the airport's EDAR is the plant campaigners hold responsible. Because the area lies inside a natural park, any pollution there carries extra legal weight.

What this means for you: if you swim at es Codolar, check Sant Josep's official notices before heading down, since a fresh discharge like today's can trigger another closure of the torrent-mouth section within days. Keep an eye out over the coming days for the council's next bacteriological results on this episode, which will decide any new ban, and for the outcome of the Seprona inquiry and prosecutor's case against Aena opened on 14 August, according to Diario de Ibiza and Noudiari.es. Until then, treat the water nearest the torrent as best avoided and pick a stretch well away from the mouth.

Weather today

Warm and dry across the islands, up to 32 in Palma. Open-Meteo expects a hot, rain-free Sunday 23 August across the Balearics, with highs of 32 degrees in Palma and no rain forecast on any island.

In Palma the day runs from a mild 24 degrees overnight to 32 in the afternoon under a cloudy sky, with rain probability at 0% and a light breeze topping out around 14 km/h, per Open-Meteo. It is beach-and-shade weather rather than storm weather, so pack water and sunscreen and keep the midday sun in mind.

The rest of Mallorca is a touch cooler and brighter: Manacor sits between 22 and 31 degrees with only patchy cloud and winds up to 13 km/h. Over on Menorca, Mao ranges from 25 to 30 degrees, also mostly clear with a gentle wind near 15 km/h and no rain expected. Early morning or late afternoon are the comfortable windows for anything active.

Transport & traffic

No transport or traffic incidents reported at time of publication.

What's changing for you

• Storage units boom in Menorca as homes shrink. More Menorcans are renting storage units to stash belongings as flats get smaller and spare rooms are let out, and self-service laundrettes are spreading for the same reason, according to Es Diari. If you have squeezed into a smaller flat or rented out a room to cover the bills, a rented trastero is now a common workaround on the island, and the trend has been strong enough to draw new operators, per Es Diari. Before signing, compare monthly rates and check access hours and insurance for what you store; the same space crunch is behind the rise of automatic laundrettes, a cheap option worth knowing if your place has no room for a washer.

Local news to know

• Montuïri's Cossiers open the eve of Sant Bartomeu. Diario de Mallorca and Ultima Hora write that the Cossiers of Montuïri set off at half past six on Sunday from the Plaça Major towards the church for the Completes marking the eve of Sant Bartomeu, as tradition dictates.
• Xavi Cañellas takes a double win in Sant Joan. Arabay's elite rider Xavi Cañellas won both the open and junior race and the overall Challenge d'Estiu standings that wrapped up in Sant Joan, report Diario de Mallorca and Ultima Hora.
• Mallorca open their away season at Granada. Ultima Hora writes that Real Mallorca visit Granada on Sunday for matchday two of the Liga Hypermotion, their first official game away from Son Moix this season, with the aim of taking three points.
• Adam Buksa: Mallorca belong in the top flight. Polish international striker Adam Buksa has joined Real Mallorca and says the club's place is in Primera División, recalling his spell there last season, according to Ultima Hora.

Tonight and tomorrow, the Balearic Islands

• Bresh packs out Amnesia Ibiza with Dalex. The Bresh party drew another big crowd to Amnesia Ibiza overnight with reggaeton headliner Dalex, confirming its grip on the island's urban-music scene, according to Periódico de Ibiza y Formentera.

See the full agenda, tonight and tomorrow