FLASH NEWS
The Guardian: Gibraltar dumps raw sewage into the Mediterranean
2026-05-06 22:28:37 / BOTA
Wastewater from nearly 40,000 residents and businesses is pumped directly into the sea, as Gibraltar does not yet have a treatment plant, writes Rachel Salvidge for the prestigious British newspaper "The Guardian".
For decades, untreated sewage has been flowing into the Mediterranean from the southern tip of the peninsula, where the Gibraltar government says there are "high levels of natural dispersion".
"The area is supposed to be protected for wildlife, but there are often wet wipes and plastic pollution tangled in the algae and all over the rocks," said Lewis Stagnetto, of Project Nautilus, a local environmental charity.
Pollution from untreated sewage can cause toxic algal blooms that strip water of oxygen, choking aquatic life. It exposes fish and mammals to a cocktail of chemicals and plastics that can disrupt reproduction and harm health, and it puts humans at risk by spreading pathogens and antibiotic-resistant genes.
Unlike BM, Gibraltar's sewage system uses seawater and drinking water comes from desalination.
The Gibraltar government says salinity has "historically created challenges that are not present in other wastewater treatment plants around the world."
She also claims that wet wipes "that occasionally appear on our beaches have ... come from outlets in neighboring Spain."
In 2017, the European Court of Justice ruled that the UK had breached wastewater law by failing to treat Gibraltar's wastewater, but the European Commission lost any power to take action after Brexit.
Efforts to solve the problem have repeatedly failed.
In 2018, the Gibraltar government awarded a contract to a joint venture between NWG Commercial Services (Northumbrian Water) and Modern Water to design, build and operate a treatment plant, only for the deal to fall through after a subsidiary of Modern Water went into liquidation.
"This had a significant impact on the delivery of this vital project," a Gibraltar government spokesman said.
"Preliminary talks with the European Investment Bank also failed as a direct result of the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union," they added.
In June 2025, the Gibraltar government awarded a 25-year contract to Eco Waters to build a wastewater treatment plant at Europa Point.
Advanced work has begun on the design and geotechnical aspects of the plant and a planning application was submitted in March 2026.
Northumbrian Water, which worked with the government from 2003 to 2024 through a joint venture called AquaGib, was keen to distance itself from wastewater failures.
"'Northumbrian Water' was never responsible in any way for sewage operations in Gibraltar," a spokesman said.
"Its involvement was as a shareholder and strategic partner, not as an operator or regulator. All decisions regarding wastewater management were made by the Gibraltar government," he added.
AquaGib said it operated a number of pumping stations that pumped sewage from low-lying areas into Gibraltar's main sewer, but "is not responsible for the main sewer or any sewage treatment".
The sewer itself appears to be in poor condition.
Last year, the opposition Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD) party described “popular tourist hotspots… shamefully subjected to the stench of untreated sewage”, with waste “penetrating straight through the city walls… causing damage to the marine ecosystem”.
The government blamed decades of underinvestment for the problem, including the years when the GSD held power.
The government said it had a “major project underway to lay new sewerage pipes in phases: a £15 million investment in Gibraltar’s sewerage infrastructure”, as well as “various rehabilitation projects which… have resulted in the reinforcement and improvement of the main sewerage within the city walls”.
Regarding beaches, the government said that "the bacteriological quality of the water is regularly measured at all Gibraltar beaches... and the latest results show that all bathing areas in Gibraltar achieve excellent water quality."
Last year, England's water companies released untreated sewage into rivers, lakes and the sea almost 300,000 times, despite having sewage treatment plants on site.
Hugo Tagholm, director of the charity Oceana UK, said: "The public is outraged that our rivers and seas are being treated as dumping grounds for waste. It is an environmental and economic injustice, with the footprints of big business everywhere."
"The government must act at home and abroad - our seas need proper protection from sewage and plastic pollution. It is high time they ended the outrage and stopped pumping untreated sewage into the Mediterranean," he stressed.
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