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European Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potočnik said, ‘Over the
last thirty years, EU and national legislation has significantly improved the
quality of Europe’s bathing waters but our work does not end here. Despite our
decade-long track record of high quality, we need to keep up the effort
constantly to both improve and maintain what we have achieved.’
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the European Environment
Agency, added, ‘Further improvement to Europe’s bathing water quality requires
citizen involvement. This means, first and foremost, finding out and
understanding the current state of our environment and then demanding cleaner
water from relevant authorities. Our web-based tools provide citizens easy
access to environmental information as well as a platform to voice their
observations.’
Efforts to improve the quality of bathing waters should be seen in the
context of Europe’s efforts to achieve good ecological and environmental status
in accordance with the EU Water and Marine Framework Directives.
2009 results confirm a long-term upward trend
Of the 20,000 bathing areas monitored throughout the European Union in 2009,
two‑thirds were on the coast and the rest were at rivers and lakes. Compliance
with mandatory values (minimum quality requirements) at coastal sites increased
from 80 % in 1990 to 96 % in 2009. For inland waters, the increase was even
greater, rising from 52 % to 90 %.
Between 2008 and 2009 there was a slight deterioration in the number of
bathing waters meeting minimum standards, with reductions of less than 1
percentage point (pp) for coastal sites and 3 pps for inland bathing waters.
Compliance with the more stringent ‘guide values’ between 2008 and 2009
increased by slightly less than 1 pp for coastal sites to reach 89 % but
decreased by less than 3 pps for inland waters to 71 %. Such annual
fluctuations are not unusual by the standards of recent years.
Almost all the coastal bathing sites in Cyprus, France, Greece and Portugal
complied with the more stringent guide values (
[1]). Only 2 % of EU coastal bathing sites were banned in 2009,
mostly in Italy. Although inland bathing sites show greater variation in water
quality, a large majority of the inland sites in Finland, France, Germany and
Sweden also complied with guide values.
Fourteen Member States monitoring under the new Bathing Water Directive
To determine their quality, bathing waters are tested against a number of
physical, chemical and microbiological parameters. Member States must comply
with the mandatory values set out in the Bathing Water Directive
[1] but may choose instead to adhere to the stricter (non-binding) guide
values.
By 2015, EU Member States will have to comply with even stricter and more
ambitious requirements laid out in the New Bathing Water Directive (Directive
2006/7/EC). This Directive requires more effective monitoring and management of
bathing waters, greater public participation and improved information. More
information on the new Directive can be found on the bathing water quality
website and on
http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:064:0037:0051:EN:PDF.
Member States have until 2015 to implement the new Directive fully but
fourteen Member States (Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain and
Sweden) already monitored their bathing areas during the 2009 bathing season
according to the new Directive’s requirements.
Further Information:
2010 Report:
http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/status-and-monitoring/state-of-bathing-water-1/state-of-bathing-water
[1] Directive 76/160/EEC on the quality of bathing water
[2] Directive 2006/7/EC on the management of bathing water quality
([1])
Delays in
commissioning the monitoring programme in Greece meant that 830 bathing waters
monitored in 2008 were not adequately monitored in 2009 and are excluded from
the overall European results.
For more information, please contact the London press office on 020 7973
1971.
Please note: all amounts expressed in sterling are for information purposes
only.
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