Popular beaches in Azerbaijan deemed unsuitable for swimming

All the beaches in the village of Nabran to the north of Baku are unsuitable for swimming, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources has announced.

The area has never before been deemed entirely ‘unsuitable.’ In the past, studies have regularly shown, however, that the area is polluted.

The nearby sea, forests and hydrogen sulfide springs have made the town one of the most popular recreation sites in Azerbaijan, where one can find many hotels and boarding houses. 

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Ministry spokesman Arastun Hasanov said that before the start of the official beach season (which opens on June 15), they, together with the Republican Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, conducted monitoring of beaches in the north and south of the country.

The ministry analysed the sea water and found out that the sea on the beaches of Nabran is too polluted to swim in, including biological pathogens.

Hasanov also says that the ministry warned the owners of recreation centers and restaurants located on all polluted beaches to install cleaning devices, but they didn’t do anything.

Social media users say the announcement itself is not surprising – many have long known that the sea in Nabran is dirty, and thus discussion has focused around whether or not to close one’s eyes and ears to the information.

“It’s as if they’ve discovered America! The cows bathe there constantly, and poachers cast their nets with dead fish still stuck in them, there’s a stench all over the coast.”

“In 2013, I stayed in Nabran in a boarding house. And the sewer pipe from this boarding house went straight to the sea.”

Beach monitoring in Azerbaijan is carried out every year, and the dirtiest beach is usually Shikhovsky Beach – it is closest to the city of Nabran.

As a rule, such statements do not result in action – no one cleans the water, but people continue to bathe in it.