Slight decrease in bathing water quality

The Commission’s annual report on quality of EU’s bathing water shows a slight decrease in the quality of costal bathing areas in 2007.

“In 2007 the quality of bathing waters in the EU remained at the highest standard, though not exactly as good as it was in 2006. We have noted a slight decrease in quality,” said Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, presenting the Commission’s annual bathing water report for last year on 2 June.

According to the report, costal areas did the best, with 95% (94% in 2006) of the bathing areas meeting the minimum quality standards set out in the EU’s Bathing Water Directive. Inland and freshwater bathing areas (rivers and lakes) fared slightly worse, with only 89% meeting the standards and thus constituting no improvement from the 2006 values.

Individual member state reports show that in particular the UK bathing areas’ compliance with EU mandatory values has sharply decreased since 2005. As for the sites totally banned throughout the bathing season, Italy scored the worse. All of the 296 banned bathing sites in the Mediterranean Sea were located in Italy.

The current Bathing Water Directive was adopted in 2006 to bring the original 1976 directive in line with other EU water legislation and the bloc’s Water Framework Directive. It obliges member states to regularly carry out a number of physical, chemical and microbiological tests and monitor whether the water quality corresponds to mandatory values imposed by the directive.

In 2006, the Commission launched infringement procedures against eleven countries – Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden – for having withdrawn a number of polluted bathing sites from those subject to the directive’s standards. 

The 2007 report reveals that member states still removed a total of 143 bathing sites from their national lists, but according to the Commission, this represents a 44% decrease in de-listed sites and is therefore considered “encouraging”. 

The bathing water report is published every year before the summer to inform citizens of EU beaches’ water quality. It is hoped that listing individual bathing sites will also encourage communities and member states to further improve the quality of their bathing water.

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