Playa De La Barra Pm1

Spain Coastal 1 - Excellent

Platja de la Barra is a sandy beach located in the municipality of Sitges, Barcelona, in a semi-urban residential environment. The beach is 494 meters long with an average width of 33 meters, composed of fine sand with a moderate water entry slope. It is bounded by breakwaters at both its northern and southern ends and experiences high occupancy during summer months. The beach is situated in the Garraf drainage basin on the Mediterranean coast.

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Water

Mediterranean Sea. The beach has a surface area of 15,210 square meters. The water body belongs to mass C23 Platja de la Barra, classified as a sandy shallow water mass with low continental influence. Average water temperatures are 21.0°C in June, 24.8°C in July, 25.6°C in August, and 24.1°C in September. Average salinity ranges from 37.1 to 38.5 psu. Significant wave height averages 0.74 meters with a mean period of 6 seconds and most frequent direction SSW. Predominant sea state is calm with weak SE winds. The coastal index for hydrological response velocity is high.

Location

Sitges, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The beach is located within the municipality of Sitges, which has a population of 27,668 residents. The northern end is separated from Platja de la Riera Xica by a breakwater, and the southern end is separated from Platja de Terramar by another T-shaped breakwater at the level of Josep Planas Robert street. Further information and facilities details are available on the Sitges municipal website.

Season

First week of June to third week of September. Microbiological monitoring occurs weekly on Saturdays during 17 consecutive weeks. Environmental monitoring occurs a minimum of three times weekly.

Water Quality

The bathing water is monitored weekly for microbiological indicators (Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci) according to European Directive 2006/7/CE. Environmental inspections occur a minimum of three times weekly, evaluating water transparency, coloration, floating solids, marine and terrestrial vegetation, foam, phytoplankton patches, hydrocarbons, and jellyfish presence. The beach is served by the Sitges-Sant Pere de Ribes wastewater treatment system, which provides biological treatment with phosphorus removal for 45,334 residents (108,000 population equivalent). Wastewater is discharged to sea via two submarine outfalls: Les Coves (2,000 m long, 15 m depth) and Aiguadolç emergency outfall (400 m long, 4 m depth). The beach has no freshwater inputs during normal or rainy conditions.

Risks

The beach is monitored for phytoplankton blooms that may occur naturally during summer months. In most cases, these blooms only form coloured patches and pose no risk to swimmers. A management and information protocol is in place for detecting toxic species.