Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026 · updated 1:40 p.m.
Beach water quality
Monitoring is closed for the winter
The Intendencia samples bathing water and posts flags from Nov. 15 to 31 March. Outside that window nothing is measured, no flags are raised, and no lifeguards are posted — so we publish nothing rather than publishing a stale flag from March.
Monitoring resumes
Nov. 15
In 84 days. Lifeguards are posted from the same date.
Last season, in one line
Every Montevideo beach was rated suitable for bathing on the large majority of sampling days, with short closures after heavy rain.
Swimming anyway?
People do. There is no ban — but there is no lifeguard, no sampling, and the river runs about 11°C · 52°F in August.
The rule that matters all year
Whatever the flag says, the Intendencia advises against swimming for roughly 48 hours after heavy rain. Runoff carries the contamination, and the sampling that produced yesterday’s green flag happened before the storm. This is the single piece of local knowledge that most newcomers are missing, and it holds in season and out.
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Bathing-water flags from the Intendencia de Montevideo, read directly from its open data. Active Nov. 15 to 31 March only. Water temperature and UV from Inumet.