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Press Release from The European Commission DG XI, Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection,

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Bathing Water Report 2000: continued improvement in fresh water bathing areas, marginal improvement in coastal waters

Brussels, 21 May 2001

Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström today presented the Commission's 2000 report on bathing water quality in Europe. Last year, almost 97% of coastal bathing areas in Europe respected the quality criteria set out in the EU's Bathing Water Directive. For inland bathing areas (lakes and rivers) almost 94% provided good quality bathing water, showing that the trend of improvement evident since the Commission began issuing annual reports continues. The Bathing Water Directive aims to secure clean bathing water across Europe by avoiding or reducing the discharge of sewage which carries micro-organisms that can cause illness. Presenting the report, Commissioner Wallström said: "The continuous improvement of bathing waters around Europe is very encouraging. Children, and adults alike, should be able to enjoy swimming without worrying about stomach infections from water contaminated by sewage. In the light of new scientific knowledge and management standards we have decided to revise the directive to ensure that the improvements in water quality continue".

Sustained improvement

The Bathing Water Directive(1) has undoubtedly contributed to improving the state of bathing waters in Europe. The 18th Bathing Water report presented today covers 11,502 seaside beaches and 4,338 fresh water areas. In 1992, around 85% of 11,000 coastal waters had good quality bathing water. In 2000, almost 97% met the Directive's quality criteria. Of the 4,200 inland bathing areas (lakes and rivers) monitored, in 1992 not even 50% had good water quality. In 2000 this figure had increased to almost 94%. The difference in quality between coastal and freshwater beaches remains marked, although the gap is gradually closing year by year.

The Directive brings together three key issues at the core of Commissioner Wallström's policy platform: proper implementation of EU environmental legislation, the link between human health and the quality of the environment and ensuring a high quality European water. Also, the Sixth Environmental Action Programme the strategic programme for the Environment for the next 10 years emphasises Health & the Environment as a key priority.

Implementation of EU legislation, and in particular water legislation, is a priority for the Commission. This annual report allows the Commission to monitor Member States in the implementation of this key water Directive, ensuring that they do not only put in efforts for improvement but that these efforts produce effective long-term results.

Overview of the results for individual Member States:

  • Belgium's coastal waters are in full compliance for the second consecutive year; Belgium is the only Member State to reach 100% compliance for its coastal waters. Unfortunately this good result is not mirrored for the fresh waters: it's the third consecutive year that standards have worsened and now stand just above 90% compliance;

  • Denmark has managed to break the negative slide for its coastal waters and shows, after three consecutive years of decreased quality (97,2% in1996, 95,4% in 1997, 94,3% in 1998 and 92,7% in 1999) a better result (95,8% in 2000), but has not yet reached its best compliance rate of 1996;

  • Germany continues the positive trend for its coastal waters (with a further increase of about 3%, standing at 96,8%), but the quality of fresh waters remains about 92% compliance rate for the second consecutive year.

  • Greece, Luxembourg and Ireland show the most consistent records for the last three years, both for their coastal and fresh waters;

  • Spain follows the EU trend with marginal improvement for its coastal waters (reading at 98,1% compliance), but continues to have considerable problems to improve the quality of its fresh waters (only 79,2% compliance);

  • France: the Commission is disappointed that France has not communicated any results for the second consecutive year due to industrial action by staff responsible for providing the information to the central government. Nevertheless, measures to monitor bathing water quality and to protect bathers' health were taken throughout the 2000 bathing season;

  • Italy's coastal water results are slightly poorer than last year, but it is one of the few Member States with an equally high compliance rate for fresh and coastal waters (95,6% for coastal and 95,8% for fresh waters);

  • The Netherlands has a very consistent record for its coastal waters keeping a 98,7% compliance rate and has considerably improved the quality of its freshwater bathing areas (90.7% in 1999 and 96,2% in 2000);

  • Austria is doing well and has compliance rate of 96,6% for its waters;

  • Portugal could not repeat its appreciable improvements of last year and presents slightly worse results for its coastal waters (92,2% in 2000 compared with 93,9% in 1999), and a considerable deterioration in its fresh waters (69% in 2000 compared with 78,4% in 1999);

  • Finland and Sweden are on the right track to correct implementation of the Directive and present considerable improvements in their compliance rates, both for fresh and coastal waters. Finland reaches a high 98,8% compliance for fresh and coastal waters. Sweden reaches 96% compliance for both types of water;

  • The United Kingdom has further improved its compliance rate for its coastal waters, reaching 94,4% (coming from 91,5% in 1999). For fresh waters, on the other hand, compliance has dropped for the second consecutive year (100% compliance in 1998 and 90,9% in 1999) to only 81,8%.

Revision of the Directive

Parallel to the continued emphasis on the implementation of the 25 year old Bathing Water Directive, Commissioner Wallström has launched a broad consultation exercise on the revision of the Directive as part of the ongoing streamlining of the European environmental water legislation. Based on the experience of implementing existing legislation, Community environment policy has evolved towards an emphasis on the role of science and informed participation in meeting environmental goals. The revision will reflect the fast developments in science and technology to incorporate more sophisticated tools, and make use of the knowledge and involvement of the stakeholders via an open process for the development and the implementation of legislation.

The revision process started with the adoption of a Communication to the European Parliament and the Council entitled "Developing a New Bathing Water Policy". The Communication indicated clearly the Commission's view on which direction the revision should go - a combination of water quality assessment and management actions, complimented by greater provision of information to the public. The Commission closed the consultation on its Communication with a bathing water conference during Green Week (24-28 April). Some 125 participants, representing Member States, water industry, regional and local authorities and non-governmental organisations, discussed during 2 days issues related to monitoring, management actions, information provisions and the socio-economic context of bathing water management. The outcome of these discussions will be given due weight during the drafting of a revised Directive, which will be tabled towards the end of this year.

The Bathing Water internet site

The Commission's Bathing Water Internet site has been updated and further improved, in particular concerning the site's maps. The site provides the results from 1992 till 2000 for all 15,840 EU beaches. This multi-annual presentation provides a better picture of the long-term quality trend of the individual bathing areas. The Commission hopes that these further improvements will contribute to a more direct communication with citizens and the national and regional regulators.

The Bathing Water Quality site with the most recent results is located at:

http://europa.eu.int/water/water-bathing/index_en.html

Addresses for Member States having put information on the Internet are also given in the bathing water report (page 18)

Background

The Directive on Bathing Water Quality is the basis on which the European Commission assesses the quality of Bathing Water in Member States. The assessment is made on the basis of two microbiological parameters, which are indicators of faecal pollution, and on the basis of three physico-chemical parameters, which are so-called aesthetic parameters i.e. does the water look attractive to take a swim in. Member States must respect these minimum imperative values that ensure good water quality. In addition, the Directive establishes some higher guidelines values, which Member States should endeavour to respect.

As a basic rule sampling should be made every fortnight, plus one additional sample 14 days before the start of the locally defined bathing season. The frequency can be reduced if the bathing water has shown good quality during the previous two years.

The Directive does not set a common EU bathing season. The bathing season is defined as the period during which large numbers of bathers are expected in the light of local custom.

(1) Directive 76/160/EEC on the quality of bathing water

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