Brussels, 11/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - The high quality of bathing water, of which the EU can be proud for several years in a row now, improved once again in 2008 reaching new heights. This quality level must now be maintained and may even be further improved if member states adopt stricter standards and non-binding guide values, as they are invited to do by the European legislation.
The annual bathing water report for 2008, published by the European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA) on Thursday 11 June reveals that, last year, some 96% of coastal bathing areas complied with minimum standards set out in Community legislation (directive 76/160/EEC which will continue to be in force until 2014). This level is higher than that of 2007 (95.2%), but exactly the same as the 2006 level.
92% of bathing sites in rivers and lakes complied with minimum standards, compared with 89% in 2007 and 2006.
“High quality bathing water is essential for the well-being of European citizens and the environment - and this goes for all other bodies of water too. I am pleased to see that the overall quality of water in bathing areas is improving throughout the Union,” Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told press. The 2006 directive, which updated the physical, chemical and biological parameters of the1976 directive reducing risks to bathers' health and modernising the management of bathing water, brought in new standards and a new classification system for the quality of waters (unsatisfactory, satisfactory, good and excellent) to better inform the public.
Luxembourg was the first member state to test its bathing waters using the new standards in 2007. Since then, 11 other member states (Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden) have followed suite. “I encourage all the other member states to do likewise because this new directive allows better monitoring of waters and better communication of information to the public,” the Commissioner added.
“This information is for 2008, but it will be constantly updated. The EEA communicates the information to the public by internet, through WISE (Water Information System for Europe) which does more than give the quality of bathing water. The more information delivered in real time, more the public will become involved. I hope that you will be able to use this interactive instrument,” said EEA Executive Director, Professor Jacqueline McGlade. She added that next year's report would be more comprehensive. People would have to try to get information at the local level to see if things have improved, she said.
The countries where the highest percentage of bathing waters met the guide values were Cyprus (98.2%), Greece (97.7%), France (96.3%) and Malta (94.3%). Then come Italy (86%), Finland (85.9%), Sweden (85.5%), Portugal (80.9%) and Germany (80.8%).
In eight countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and the United Kingdom), there are a significant number of non-compliant bathing sites.
In four member states, bathing was not allowed or was closed throughout the season on more than 10 sites: (Italy (553 sites, 9.7% of all bathing waters), the Czech Republic (15 sites, 8% of the total), Germany (13, 0.6%) and Spain (10 sites, 0.5%).
The 2008 bathing report was based on information provided by all 27 member states and covers 21,400 bathing sites all of which were duly tested. Two thirds of these sites were on the coast, and the remaining third were on lakes or rivers. Seven member states provided the EEA with their information on a voluntary basis. Three member states (Cyprus, Malta and Romania) provided information only on their coastal waters. Five others have no coastlines (Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg and Slovakia).
A summary of the report and detailed reports on each member state are available online and in English on the Commission website: http: //ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-bathing/report_2009.html
Zoomable maps of all European bathing areas can be viewed on the EEA website: http: //http://www.eea.europa.eu (A.N./transl.rt)