Photo © haveseen – Fotolia
(COPENHAGEN) – More than 85 per cent of bathing water sites monitored across Europe in 2016 met the most stringent ‘excellent’ quality standards, according to the EU environment agency’s latest bathing water quality report.
This means they were mostly free from pollutants harmful to human health and the environment, according to the annual bathing water quality report published by the European Environment Agency.
The report, which covers bathing water locations across the EU, Albania and Switzerland, confirms that European bathing waters are much cleaner than forty years ago, when large quantities of untreated or partially treated municipal and industrial waste water were discharged into water.
“It is encouraging to see that more and more bathing water sites across Europe are meeting the highest quality standards,” said EEA Executive Director Hans Bruyninckx: “This helps Europeans make better informed choices about the bathing sites they plan to visit this summer. It also shows the effectiveness of our environmental policies and the practical benefits to human health protection and our daily lives when excellent data collection and analysis are conducted.”
The assessment compiled analyses of water sampled at more than 21,000 coastal and inland bathing sites and gives a good indication where the best sites with the highest water quality are likely to be found this summer. Bathing water is sampled and monitored for contamination by faecal pollution from sewage or livestock.
Key findings
- All reported bathing water sites in Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Romania, and Slovenia achieved at least ‘sufficient’ quality in 2016.
- In five countries, 95% or more bathing waters were assessed as being of ‘excellent’ quality: Luxembourg (all 11 reported bathing sites), Cyprus (99%of all sites), Malta (99% of all sites), Greece (97% of all sites), and Austria (95% of all sites).
- In 2016, 1.5% (1.4% for EU countries) of bathing water sites were rated as having ‘poor’ water quality. Between the 2015 and 2016 bathing seasons, the absolute number of bathing waters classified as ‘poor’ dropped from 383 to 318 (from 349 to 302 for EU countries).
- The highest number of bathing sites with ‘poor’ water quality were found in Italy (100 bathing water sites or 1.8%), France (82 sites or 2.4%) and Spain (39 sites or 1.8%)
The major sources of pollution are sewage and water draining from farms and farmland. Such pollution increases during heavy rains and floods due to sewage overflow and polluted drainage water being washed into rivers and seas. Faecal contamination of water continues to pose a risk to human health, especially if it is found at bathing water sites. Swimming at contaminated beaches or lakes can result in illness. All EU Member States, plus Albania and Switzerland, monitor their bathing sites according to the provisions of the EU’s revised Bathing Water Directive. The legislation specifies if the bathing water quality can be classified as ‘excellent’, ‘good’, ‘sufficient’ or ‘poor’, depending on the levels faecal bacteria detected. Where water is classified as ‘poor’, Member States should take certain measures, like banning bathing or posting a notice advising against it, providing information to the public, and suitable corrective measures.
