Brussels, 25/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The improvement in the quality of bathing water in the EU is still on the up. In 2015, 96% of bathing sites monitored met the minimum standards of quality laid down by European law and more than 84% achieved the more stringent “excellent” level.
The annual report on bathing water quality published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Commission on Wednesday 25 May confirms the continuing trend towards improved water quality and shows the benefits of EU legislation in this area.
The report, published each year for the preceding bathing season provides potential bathers with information on conditions they might expect to meet in the coming season.
It report compiles analyses of water sampled at more than 21,000 coastal and inland bathing sites across the EU, Switzerland and Albania indicating whether or not it has been contaminated by faecal pollution from sewage or livestock, in line with the revised directive on bathing water quality (Directive 2006/7/EC).
Bathing water was found to be of an acceptable standard in 96% of cases (compared with 95% in 2014) and 84% were of an excellent standard (compared with 83% in 2014). This, according to Environment and Maritime Affairs Commissioner Karmenu Vella, is “the result of 40 years investing in water and waste water infrastructure”.
Several large tourist areas and cities like Blackpool, Copenhagen and Munich are also starting to benefit from investments in improved sewage systems. “In some cities, people can even enjoy swimming in public harbour baths”, said Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director.
Heading the 2015 table of excellence was Luxembourg, all 11 of its bathing sites being found to be of excellent quality. Next were Cyprus (99.1% of bathing water sites), Malta (97.7%), Greece (97.2%), Croatia (94.2%), Italy (90.6%), Germany (90.3%) and Austria (90.2%).
Only 385 bathing sites were assessed as having poor bathing water quality, 1.6% of sites (compared with 1.9% in 2014. The countries with the highest numbers of bathing sites with poor water quality were Italy (95 bathing sites, 1.7%), France (95 bathing sites, 2.8%) and Spain (58 bathing sites, 2.6%). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)