Last year, over 96% of bathing water sites met minimum quality requirements set out under the European Union’s legislation and more than 85% of bathing water sites monitored across Europe in 2016 met the most stringent ‘excellent’ but non-binding quality standards in the revised directive on bathing water quality (directive 2006/7/EC).
In other words, 85% of these sites were mostly free from pollutants harmful to human health and the environment – a figure that has never previously...