Clean Water in Sant Elm: Three Pumps to End the Algae Bloom

Finally blue water in Sant Elm?

If you're in Sant Elm at midday by the small harbor, you know this: children splash, fishermen polish their boats, and sometimes the sea smells of green — algae have covered the bathing spot. For more than 15 years locals and summer guests have been bothered by brown-green waves. Now the Andratx council has started a tangible project that targets exactly where it hurts: in the water.

What has been done?

On orders of the municipal council, three pumps were installed to set the sea water in front of the bay in motion. The goal is not a chemical remedy but mechanical circulation: more exchange with deeper water layers, fewer stagnant masses, fewer nutrient accumulations, in short — fewer algae blooms. The installation cost around €350,000 and has been installed in recent weeks.

Trial phase and daily life

The technology is to be tested and fine-tuned toward the end of the season. This sounds uneventful but is important: pumps, currents and weather interact, and nobody wants an unexpected new current off the beach in October. After the tests the aim is for the system to run permanently from 2026 onward.

Locally you hear different voices. The owner of a small beach bar on the Paseo says dryly: When the water is clear again, the Aperol will last longer. An older fisherman from the bay wonders whether the fish will like the new current. Both questions are legitimate. The technical hope is that regular circulation simply makes the conditions for algae unattractive.

Why now?

The past years have been unusually warm, and local inflows have led to increased nutrient concentrations. Especially after heavy rains, more organic material is washed into the sea and feeds the algae. The pumps are meant to ensure that this material does not remain in the shallow bay.

Practically, this means for bathers shorter periods of murky water, fewer unpleasant smells, and more days when you can jump into the sea without worrying. And for residents? Fewer complaints, hopefully less work cleaning boats and piers.

What remains open?

A technical intervention does not automatically solve all problems. In the long run, land-based measures will also be needed — better fertilizer management, renatured inflows, and more sensitivity to inland construction projects. The pumps are a step, not the end of the story.

I will return to the harbor in the coming months, talk to people, and observe the visible effects. Small places like Sant Elm live from their beaches; when the water is right, the whole town breathes a sigh of relief. And honestly: I look forward to the first clear morning when the sea looks so blue again that you can see the stones under the water. That means more than vacation for many here — that is everyday life.