Suspected pollution, analysis underway... Cagnes-sur-Mer is closing several beaches to swimming this Friday afternoon.

"Exemplary quality!" This Wednesday, July 16, the town of Cagnes-sur-Mer used these words to congratulate itself on its social media for the purity of its bathing waters. "The Regional Health Agency (ARS) has just confirmed it: all the beaches in our town have been classified as 'excellent' in 2024, except Grand Large, which was classified as 'good'. No impact of the reported pollution on neighboring towns. [Our] waters are safe, monitored, and protected," it read.

The problem: two days later, this Friday, July 18, the same municipality sent a press release at 5:30 p.m. to announce the immediate "preventive closure" of part of its shoreline.

"Due to suspected pollution at sea, the beaches located from epi 15 to Saint-Laurent-du-Var are closed as a precautionary measure. The relevant lifeguard stations have closed their bathing areas, and a notice is being posted to inform the public."

, we learn. The beaches concerned: the port beaches, the port entrance beaches and the Church beaches.

A curious collision that did not fail to provoke a reaction from opposition councillor Philippe Touzeau-Menoni (Union for Cagnes group). Because, by coincidence, the man, who has been warning for months about the quality of bathing water in his town and the discharge from the Saint-Laurent wastewater treatment plant, was at sea just this morning.

With video evidence, he filmed his rowing session in the middle of an unappealing brown foam. When he learned of the closure, he was rather dismayed: "I took a deep breath and forgot that I was an opponent: I've been swimming here almost every day for years. Before, the sea could be murky around 11 a.m. or 4 p.m. depending on the discharge from the station. This year, it's murky from the morning. It's catastrophic! And it's a total loss of credibility for the mayor who, in 72 hours, says 'everything is fine' and then 'we're closing'. The problem with the authorities, whether it's the Metropolis and its Eau d'Azur authority, the town of Saint-Laurent-du-Var or Cagnes, is that they bury their heads in the sand."

For several years, it is true that the saga of poor bathing water quality has clung to the neighboring town of Saint-Laurent like a Band-Aid on Captain Haddock's hand. In May 2025, the regional center specializing in environmental damage was seized with the case of the Laurentine wastewater treatment plant and its polluting discharges.

While some beaches have since reopened , those of Cousteau and Landsberg (near Cap 3000) will remain closed until 2025. An administrative sanction: after five consecutive years of poor results. This Friday, July 18, as soon as the information was made public by the city of Cagnes on its social networks, the scathing comments went wild.

"It seems to me that yesterday we could drink the sea water, as the quality was so good on the beaches of Cagnes. But that was yesterday," Nathalie said. For its part, the municipality mentioned in its press release that "analyses are underway" and that the population would be informed of the results in the future.