In 2022, 95.9% of bathing sites in Europe met the binding minimum quality standards set by European Union law, compared with 95.2% in 2021 (see EUROPE 12965/24), and 85.7% of them met the highest standards, according to the annual report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on Friday 9 June.
Last year, in Cyprus, Austria, Greece and Croatia, 95% of the water at bathing sites met the highest quality standards. By contrast, the worst performing countries were Poland (55.9%), Slovakia (59.4%), Hungary (63.1%) and Estonia (64.6%).
The quality of coastal bathing sites, which account for two-thirds of all bathing sites, tends to be generally higher than that of river and lake bathing sites. In the first category, 88.9% of bathing sites meet the highest requirements, compared with 79.3% that fall under the second category.
The proportion of poor quality bathing water has remained stable since 2015, averaging 1.5% of the total. Only two EU Member States have a proportion of poor quality bathing water that is above 3%: the Netherlands and Sweden.
The EEA has recommended that measures are taken to inform the public and to help identify and eliminate sources of pollution.
Further information: https://aeur.eu/f/7eu (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)