Brussels, 27/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - The water at Europe's beaches, rivers and lakes was generally of high quality in 2013, with more than 95% of the sites meeting minimum requirements (compared with 94% in 2012), reveals the annual bathing water quality report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) for 2013 and the European Commission for 2012. The minimum requirements are binding and laid down in EU Directive 2006/7/EC rather than simple guidelines. Last year 83% of beaches were deemed to be excellent, compared with 79% in 2012.
EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik said: “It's good that the quality of European bathing waters continues to be of a high standard. But we cannot afford to be complacent with such a precious resource as water. We must continue to ensure that our bathing and drinking water as well as our aquatic ecosystems are fully protected”. Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director, said: “Europe's bathing water has improved over the last two decades - we are no longer discharging such high quantities of sewage directly into water bodies. Today's challenge comes from short-term pollution loads during heavy rain and flooding. This can overflow sewage systems and wash faecal bacteria from farmland into the rivers and seas”.
The EEA report tracks water quality at 22,000 bathing sites across the EU, Switzerland and, for the first time, Albania. Local authorities monitor the samples at local beaches, collecting samples in the spring and throughout the bathing season.
All the bathing sites in Cyprus and Luxembourg were deemed excellent. These countries were followed by Malta (99% excellent), Croatia (95%) and Greece (93%).
Bathing water is judged to be poor at 2% of beaches and the European Union member states with the highest proportion of sites judged to be poor were Estonia (6%), the Netherlands (5%), Belgium (4%), France (3%), Spain (3%) and Ireland (3%).
At coastal beaches, water quality was slightly better, with 85 % of sites classified as excellent. All coastal beaches in Slovenia and Cyprus were classified as excellent. Inland, bathing water quality seems to have been slightly lower than the average. Luxembourg was the only country to receive “excellent” for all its inland bathing sites, with Denmark close behind with 94% excellent. Germany achieved excellent quality at 92% of almost 2,000 inland bathing sites.
Bathing water can be rated “excellent”, “good”, “sufficient” or “poor”. The ratings are based on levels of two types of bacteria which indicate pollution from sewage or livestock. These bacteria can cause illness (vomiting and diarrhoea) if swallowed.
The report can be found online at: http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/status-and-monitoring/state-of-bathing-water/state (AN)