The majority of Greek coastlines attained very high scores in the strict testing of bathing water quality conducted by the European Commission.
More than two thousand beaches in Greece were monitored and 93.2% fulfilled the conditions which are classified as “excellent quality,” while 99.2% fulfill the minimum requirements.
The annual report for the bathing quality water of the European Environment Agency (EAA) monitors the quality of water in 22,000 bathing sites all over the EU, Switzerland and for the first time in Albania.
According to the report, all bathing sites in Luxemburg and Cyprus are “excellent.” Malta follows with 99% of excellent quality waters and Croatia with 95%.
The EU member-states with greatest proportion of “poor quality” sites were Estonia (6%), the Netherlands (5%), Belgium (4%), France, Spain and Ireland (3%).
Janez Potocnik, the European Commissioner for the Environment stated that “it is good news that the quality of bathing waters of Europe is still so high. We should not however, rest on our laurels concerning such an important resource as water. We should go on protecting the bathing and drinking water, as well as our aquatic ecosystems.”
The local authorities are collecting and monitoring the samples at the local beaches during the bathing season. Waters can be classified as “excellent,” “good,” “sufficient” and “poor quality.” These classifications are based on the levels of two types of bacteria which indicate pollution caused by wastewater or livestock waste. These bacteria can cause illnesses, such as vomiting or diarrhea, in the case of ingestion.
by: Konstantinos Kalachanis
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