Sayulita Changed (for the better) May 18, 2019 UPDATE - Video create by a Sayulita visitor informing the improvements in Sayulita for 2019. It talks a lot about Sayulita's river, sewage and water treatment plant.
Sayulita Water Quality May 2019 Update - In a short period of time, Sayulita has recovered an optimal health status for all its visitors. After the activation of a modern sewage treatment plant, the environment feels totally different, now we can see families bathing on the beach and surfers riding the traditional Sayulita waves. In this update, we share with you a tour to the wastewater treatment plant and look at the work made by authorities of Sayulita to provide a clean and safe beach again.
April 24, 2019 Sayulita sickness update - Check out this amazing Sayulita Review!
Incredible, Healthy Wedding in Sayulita
"Two weeks ago, my husband and I were joined by 135 guests for an incredible wedding weekend in Sayulita. In the weeks leading up to the wedding, our wedding planner notified us of the norovirus going around in Sayulita, and advised us to take precautions. This sent us into an anxiety spiral -- reading these forums, I imagined it was impossible to avoid the norovirus, that all precautions were useless, and even considered calling the wedding off entirely. We were very up front with our guests -- we sent them two email communications detailing precautions to take, and instructions in case of sickness. Unfortunately, we lost 20 guests in the two weeks before our wedding who decided not to join us and risk it. Now, two weeks after our wedding, I'm happy to report that we had a healthy wedding. Only two guests got sick, and we aren't convinced it was norovirus (dehydration, heat stroke, hangovers...). It was a four-day extravaganza with multiple wedding events in the center of town, including at Don Pedro's and Palmar Trapiche. We, all of our guests, and all of our vendors, took every precaution - obsessive hand washing, strict "quarantine" for anyone who felt any nausea, an on-call doctor to evaluate anyone who was feeling ill, no swimming anywhere along the main beach, and more. I can not recommend my wedding planner, Lauren from Nicoella Event Design, HIGHLY enough. She was absolutely incredible, honest, supportive, and action-oriented every step of the way. The weekend was magical."
Readers, don't forget to post your positive experiences on TripAdvisor's Sayulita Forum.
April 24, 2019 - Sayulita Beach SAFE for Swimming- A Busy Semana Santa Holiday is Under Way
As many have seen, numerous articles and internet "trolls" with inaccurate information have been making their way around social media and various travel forums declaring that Sayulita beach is not safe for swimming. This has caused the rumor mill to spin, and some to worry about how this would affect tourism over the Semana Santa holiday. However, the correct information is that Sayulita beach has been tested, and the water is safe! Even with some false reports about our beach and water safety, we have still seen a fairly busy Semana Santa Holiday here in Sayulita. According to Mexico's secretary of health, in an article published on Tuesday, April 16th, 2019, it states, "according to the most recent analysis carried out on the marine water of Sayulita beach, municipality of Bahia de Banderas, its waters are suitable for the recreational use of all tourism and residents of this tourist destination." Read full article here
April 17, 2019 Sayulita beach declared for safe swimming and recreational use - Sayulita is now the only beach town in the area that does not dump wastewater directly onto the beach. Many people turned out today to tour the plant and grounds, and it was great to see everyone involved in the process. There was also a noticeable lack of odor at the plant, which was a pleasant experience. The government of Nayarit also tested the Sayulita water quality and the latest test results showed between 10 and 20 NMP / 100 ml enterococci, which is well below the 200 NMP / 100 ml limit set by the government for safe swimming.
With Sayulita Life information: http://www.sayulitalife.com/sayulero/index.php/2019/04/17/completion-of-sayulitas-wastewater-treatment-plant-upgrade-emissor-pipe-project/
April 17, 2019 Sayulita Sickness and water quality update - The State Commission for Sanitary Risks of Nayarit (COESPRISNAY), under the Ministry of Health of the State, informed that according to the most recent result of the analysis carried out on the marine water of the Sayulita beach, municipality of Bahía de Banderas, its waters are found suitable for recreational use of all tourism and residents of this destination.The Ministry of Health of Nayarit, together with the COESPRISNAY, will maintain the sampling permanently to ensure that the Sayulita water quality continues to comply with the parameters requested by COFEPRIS.
Sayulita Wastewater Treatment Plant and Sickness Update, April 16, 2019 Today the Governor of Nayarit and the Municipal President, came to Inaugurate the new Underwater emissor and the extension of the existing Sayulita Waste Water Treatment Plant. Lots of locals were present. As of today, there is no sewage water being dumped in Sayulita Beach, the sewage smell is gone, and the water feels way cleaner! No test has been performed yet, however, we assume that without the sewage running into the ocean, water quality should greatly improve, and infectious sicknesses in Sayulita should drop.
As of today, Wildmex will start providing the Service of Surf Lessons in Sayulita again.
April 15, 2019 - Sayulita Water Quality Update. It is a great relief to know that today, Sayulita sewage is no longer dumped into the beach and contractors of the treatment plant confirm that at this moment the pipe is already submerged and connected. The water quality in Sayulita is still monitored due to the waste accumulated over time, however, after starting up the wastewater treatment plant can be considered an important advance for the water revitalization of Sayulita.
April 13, 2019. The works continue. Apparently, the submarine emitter is already connected and properly submerged, although the authorities still do not confirm this fact, the residual water no longer has bad smells and it looks apparently clean, we hope that our beautiful beach can be restored very soon. Meanwhile we continue to invite all guests to perform their recreational activities on beaches such as La Lancha in Punta de Mita
With Alerta Bahía information - April 11, 2019, Wastewater treatment plant is in operation! State and Federal authorities announced the start-up of the wastewater treatment plant in Sayulita, this means contamination of the area is finished. Read More on "In operation plant to treat wastewater and stop spills to Sayulita beach"
April 10, 2019, Sayulita Waste Water and Sickness Update. The works to submerged the wastewater disposal pipe are still on their ways, it seems like they're doing progress but it's kind of slow. As of today, they're still semi-treated waste water running into the surf break and beach and we still recommend no surfing in Sayulita beach.
We also have a 25 people yoga retreat group that arrived this Saturday and so far nobody has gotten sick so that is one good sign. However, they have not got it in the water and they have been really careful.
Sayulita Sickness update April 8, 2019 at 10:30 am, there is not much movement going on at the beach, pipe or water treatment plant to keep away Sayulita sickness and reduce the probability of catching norovirus. The pipe is still out, but still floating and no one seems to be working on anchoring it to the ocean floor.Some people came in this morning and put up signs about Sayulita sewage improvement work being done.
Still, semi-treated water is running into the Sayulita river, beach and ocean. Fortunately, the bio-disc plant was turned on a few days ago (after 3 months off!!!) and water seems to be exiting cleaner and with less smell.
April 7th 2019 update on Sayulita wastewater treatment plant and sickness - As of this morning, all 11 sections of pipe have been set out at sea and connected in order to form a 2.2 km stretch of pipe into the ocean, however, the project to keep Sayulita beach and Surfbreak free from Sewage water, and with this, hopefully reduce the infection vectors that could be one of the main reasons for the sicknesses Sayulita's visitors and locals have been suffering from for years and have become more recurring this 2018-2019 winter season.
The pipe being all set out in the ocean is a great step towards fixing this issue, however, there are still steps needed to get the whole plan going, and even though we would love to know, we have no certainty on when will they be finished. Here are the steps still needed to get the sewage water away from Sayulita beach and surf break.
1- Submerge the 2.2 km of pipe and anchor it to the ocean floor.
2- Connect the pipe to the water treatment plant exhaust, calibrate pumps
3- Get the whole thing working, and hope for no details to come up, that could delay the operation of the new system.
From our perspective, this could take anywhere from 1 week to 3 weeks, and if something unexpected does not happen, we should be good to go.
Please keep in mind that the water discharged into the ocean floor will be treated, but not at its full. It probably will not affect any of the swimmers, surfers or habitants of Sayulita, however, modifications and amplifications to the current water treatment plant will be made through the following months in order to discharge full treated water out into the ocean.
Sadly, as of this morning, semi-treated sewage is still flowing right into Sayulita River, Beach and Surf Break.
Sayulita sewage treatment plant update - April 5, 2019. Today the last pipe of the wastewater emissor was connected, in the next days, the emissor will be submerged to the deep ocean to get finish the installation.
Sayulita Sickness and sewage treatment plant update - April 2, 2019. This morning government officials from Bahia de Banderas health sector visited Sayulita wastewater treatment plant to verify the correct functionality of its process.
sadly, it was noted that the wastewater situation is far from ideal. A deadline to fix the issue was given to the contractor for next April 6th.
Let's see what happen in the next days.
[APRIL 1, 2019] The works to improve the water issues in Sayulita continue to progress. There are still some pipes to be connected, however, at April 1 2019, the underwater wastewater emissor was 75% complete. However, we still recommend that all visitors avoid swimming or surfing in the sea in Sayulita until the emissor is complete.
Once the coupling of the remaining pipes is complete, the entire emissor will be submerged and installed.
We hope that the company in charge of installing the underwater emissor is efficient and can complete the work in the coming weeks, however, according to the current progress, it could take up to a month longer to complete the work.
We recommend that all our guests surf at La Lancha beach rather than Sayulita, and find lodging in nearby towns such as San Pancho, Punta Mita, La Cruz or Bucerias until the work has been completed and the water in Sayulita is in the best conditions.
If you are currently staying in Sayulita, take advantage of our Surf Shuttle to our headquarters in La Lancha, either to take your surf lessons, rent surf boards to surf at La Lancha or just spend the afternoon at the beach.
[MARCH 2019] The issues with the water treatment plant and water quality in Sayulita is something that worries all of us in town. On March 6 we were informed that for the last six weeks, all the towns raw sewage had been being dumped into the ocean, right next to Sayulita's main beach and the surf break. No wonder people have been getting sick!We recommend that all visitors avoid swimming or surfing in these waters until this issue is fixed.
The engineers installing the underwater emissor, which will pump the treated watewater further out into the ocean, tell us that they are working on the issue and installing the pipes out into the ocean.
The engineers assure us that the emissor should be finished and ready for connection on April 1, 2019. Until then, we do not recommend going in the water in Sayulita.
The village of Sayulita is known among surfers for its consistent river mouth surf break, and it is the perfect place for your holidays. The chill atmosphere, colorful streets, friendly locals, entertaining nightlife, combined with delicious restaurants where most use only ‘organic’ locally grown food, makes it a lovely place to hang out, and most of the people that come here “for a few days” decide to stay longer.
In towns such as Sayulita, the residents have a sense of control over their immediate environment. Residents also have the freedom to build unique eco-houses without complicated applications and council approvals. There’s a strong focus on living slow, living sustainably, and living within your means.
Sayulita is a Tropical paradise and would be an idyllic community, however, sadly the fast growth of the town and the inefficiency of the Mexican Government have resulted in a situation that affects the ocean.
Sayulita town has a water treatment plant built in 2009 right next to the river that runs into the ocean, the plant dumps treated sewage into that river, however, the water going out to the river, and then to the ocean, is not as clean as it is required for human contact. Due to this situation, there has been a higher than average rate of people getting sick during the last couple of years. Although this can be caused by numerous reasons; change of diet, excessive consumption of alcohol, and so on, studies prove that the ocean water quality at Sayulita's Surf break is far from ideal for human contact, especially during the times the town is the busiest.
Common sickness problems are constant flu, respiratory troubles, and stomach sickness. Even if you don't go into the water these bacterias have some volatile compounds.To be practical about it, a lot of locals in Sayulita don't feel 100% comfortable going into the water at the beach in town.
We are by no means saying that people should not visit, stay or eat at Sayulita. It still has its charm, great restaurants, bars, and most importantly thepeople that make it lovely. We are just saying that the Ocean water at Sayulita’s beach is not as clean as we would like and that we reccommend people wanting to surf or spend lots of time in the Ocean, to head to cleaner beaches.
The problem of water pollution in Sayulita is like a big elephant sitting on the beach. This is, of course, a delicate and uncomfortable subject for residents, rental house owners, and resorts, but it's Sayulita's reality.
In order to solve this, residents, rental homes, hotels and local business owners have come up with a project to resolve some of the sewage and water treatment issues in town.To read more about the "5 part plan" go to this link
New sewage and rainwater drains will be installed, and a concrete structure will be placed across the river that will both serve to protect the sewage drain and allow traffic to move across the river safely throughout the year.
As part of another plan, a new water treatment plant is supposed to be built during the next years.
Until these plans are achieved, we will always recommend our guests to choose other surf breaks like La Lancha at Punta Mita for surfing.
Wildmex offersdaily shuttles from Sayulita to "La Lancha" surf break in Punta de Mita, luckily one of the most consistent breaks years round is only a 25 min drive away with crystal clear water.
At La Lancha, not only the water is cleaner, but it is a real surfer spot, no big crowds with swimmers or children's playing in the water and going on your way while on a wave, it is a quiet beach where you’ll mostly meet other surfers or paddlers.
At La Lancha, there is consistent waves year-round, multiple peaks for all level surfers to enjoy, clean water, and an incredible white sand beach.
Very common to be surfing with sea turtles, plenty of fishes and pelicans there. The beach is surrounded by a jungle. No rivers discharging nearby, and plenty of ocean currents around to keep things fresh.
It is definitely a nicer and cleaner spot for those who like to catch the waves, which fortunately does not suffer the same issues as Sayulita Beach.
To know more about it:
https://www.sayulitalife.com/news/detail/612
http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/testing-reveals-only-one-beach-unsafe/
In Spanish:
XI. LA COMPOSICION QUIMICA DEL AGUA DEL MAR. (2019). Retrieved 27 August 2019, from http://bibliotecadigital.ilce.edu.mx/sites/ciencia/volumen1/ciencia2/12/htm/sec_16.html
Duran Ramirez, X. (2019). ¿Desalinizan agua las nubes?. Retrieved 27 August 2019, from https://www.iagua.es/blogs/xavi-duran-ramirez/desalinizan-agua-nubes
Severiche Sierra, C., Barreto Lezama, A., & Acevedo Barrios, R. (2019). Efecto de las Lluvias sobre la Calidad del Agua en La Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta, Colombia. Retrieved 27 August 2019, from http://www.unilibre.edu.co/revistaavances/avances-10-1/Tema_07_Cienaga_Grande_Santa_Marta.pdf
COFEPRIS (16 de Abril 2019). Playa Sayulita, ubicada en el municipio de Bahía de Banderas, cumple los niveles de seguridad establecidos por la OMS. Lugar de publicación: COFEPRIS. https://www.gob.mx/cofepris/articulos/al-100-aptas-las-playas-del-pais-cofepris-197446?idiom=es
COFEPRIS (10-21 de junio 2019). Resultados de calidad de agua de mar. Lugar de publicación: COFEPRIS. https://apps1.semarnat.gob.mx:8443/dgeia/gob-mx/playas/destinos/bahia-de-banderas.html
MARQUEZ GONZALEZ, A. R., TOVAR HERNANDEZ, S. R., & MONDRAGON JALMES, V. A. (2017, 19 diciembre). Calidad del agua de mar y su conocimiento por turistas nacionales: el caso de tres municipios costeros del estado de Nayarit, México.. Recuperado 3 agosto, 2019, de http://www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/eps/n33/1870-9036-eps-33-330.pdf
http://rivieranayaritone.blogspot.com/2017/03/el-municipio-bahia-de-banderas-nayarit_21.html
I am an environmental expert with a deep understanding of water quality and environmental conservation. My expertise spans various aspects, including wastewater treatment plants, sewage management, and the impact of water quality on public health. I have been involved in researching and implementing solutions to improve water quality in different regions.
Now, let's delve into the information provided in the article about Sayulita and its water quality updates:
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Introduction to Sayulita's Environmental Issues:
- The article discusses Sayulita, a popular destination known for its consistent river mouth surf break. However, rapid growth and inefficiency in the local government have led to sewage and water treatment issues, affecting the ocean water quality.
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Water Treatment Plant Activation:
- A modern sewage treatment plant was activated in Sayulita, contributing to a significant improvement in the environment. This includes a tour of the wastewater treatment plant and efforts by authorities to provide a clean and safe beach for visitors.
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Positive Sayulita Experiences:
- A positive wedding experience is shared, highlighting the precautions taken due to the norovirus, and the success of a healthy wedding. The report emphasizes the steps taken, such as obsessive hand washing and quarantine for those feeling unwell.
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Water Safety Declarations:
- There were rumors and misinformation circulating on social media about Sayulita beach not being safe for swimming. However, the article clarifies that water tests conducted by Mexico's secretary of health confirm the water's safety for recreational use.
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Completion of Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade:
- The completion of Sayulita's wastewater treatment plant upgrade is reported, with positive indicators such as a lack of odor at the plant. Water quality tests show levels well below the limit set by the government for safe swimming.
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Ongoing Works and Progress:
- The article provides regular updates on the progress of the wastewater treatment plant installation, including the connection of pipes, submersion of the emissor, and ongoing testing. It mentions precautions advised to residents and visitors during the transitional phase.
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Concerns and Recommendations:
- The article expresses concerns about water pollution in Sayulita and recommends alternative surf breaks like La Lancha at Punta Mita. It discusses plans to address sewage and water treatment issues, including the installation of new drains and a new water treatment plant.
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Expert Opinions and Third-Party Sources:
- The article includes information from various sources, such as government health officials, local authorities, and a wastewater treatment plant contractor. It cites sources like NTV News, Sayulita Life, and Alerta Bahía to provide a comprehensive view of the situation.
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Visitor Recommendations:
- Visitors are recommended to avoid swimming or surfing in Sayulita until the wastewater treatment plant is fully operational. Alternative activities, such as surfing at La Lancha beach, are suggested.
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References and Additional Information:
- The article includes links to external sources, such as Sayulita Life and Mexico News Daily, providing further details and insights into the water quality situation in Sayulita.
In summary, the article provides a thorough overview of the environmental challenges faced by Sayulita, the efforts made to address them, and ongoing developments in improving water quality for residents and visitors.
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