Bathing Water Report 2001: High quality throughout Europe

Brussels, 29 May 2002

Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström today presented the annual report on bathing water quality for 2001. This report is published every year in time for the bathing season so that the public can have the latest information prior to taking their holidays. The data presented in the report confirms the trend observed in previous years with overall compliance levels for coastal sites being 97% - and freshwater sites 93%. Due to substantial investment in waste water treatment made by all Member States, there has been a consistent trend towards improved quality of bathing water across Europe since the adoption of the relevant Directive in 1976. Commissioner Wallström said: "It is important for the public to have good and timely information on the state of European bathing waters. I am pleased that this year's report confirms the consistent trend towards reducing the risks of infection in our coastal waters. We need to keep up the pressure for improvement especially in fresh water sites so that citizens can enjoy the highest bathing standards". On the basis of experience with implementing the present Directive and following extensive consultation, Commissioner Wallström intends to present a proposal for amending the Directive within the next few weeks. This proposal will aim to reduce the chances of possible infection related to bathing even further, and to make the management and implementation of the directive simpler for the Member States.

The 1976 Bathing Water Directive⁽¹⁾ has played a crucial role in improving the state of bathing waters in Europe. The latest Bathing Water report presented today covers 13,429 seaside beaches and 5,783 fresh water areas. In 2001, almost 97% of the coastal beaches respected the Directive's quality criteria. For inland bathing areas (i.e. lakes and rivers), the level of compliance was 93% in 2001. This shows that the difference in quality between coastal and freshwater beaches remains marked, although the gap is gradually closing year-by-year.

The linkage between human health and the environment is a priority issue for Commissioner Wallström. In the case of bathing water this linkage could not be clearer. Bacterial contamination resulting from inadequate treatment of waste waters or animal wastes entering directly into the water, can give rise to gastro-enteritis or even respiratory illnesses in persons bathing in contaminated waters. While these illnesses are rarely severe and almost never life threatening, the number of persons exposed to these potential risks is enormous and the impact on families during the holiday season can be significant. Implementation of EU legislation, and in particular water legislation, is a key priority for the Commission. This yearly report allows the Commission to follow closely Member States in the implementation of this key water Directive. Member States' efforts for improvement should produce effective and long-term results.

Overview of the results for individual Member States:

Belgium's coastal waters are in full compliance for the third consecutive year; Belgium is the only Member State to reach 100% compliance for its coastal waters. Unfortunately this good result is still not mirrored for the fresh water sites: it is the fourth consecutive year that the result has decreased, and now stands just at 90% compliance. Also, for the fourth consecutive year, the number of sites designated as fresh water bathing sites has decreased;
Denmark's bathing water quality deteriorated slightly during the 2001 bathing season. For both coastal and freshwater zones there has been a slight reduction in the rates of bathing area compliance with both the mandatory values and the guide values.
Germany continues the positive trend for its coastal waters (now standing at a 99.3% compliance rate). The quality of fresh bathing water rose to 93.6%, which is the best quality level reached since 1992. The number of insufficiently sampled bathing waters is close to nil (0% and 0.2%).
Greece has always had excellent bathing water quality and this continues to improve. The proportion of coastal bathing areas compliant with the mandatory values has exceeded the 99% threshold for the first time (99.4%). The proportion of coastal bathing areas compliant with the more stringent guide values rose from 95% to 97.1%.
Luxembourg shows stable results for its fresh waters, but these remain rather average with only a 85% compliance level. Also, the number of bathing areas where bathing remains prohibited (3 out of 20 areas) shows that matters have not improved since 1994.
Ireland shows consistent/stable records over the last four years, both for coastal and fresh waters. There were no bathing areas which were insufficiently sampled and, as in previous bathing seasons, no areas where bathing was prohibited.
Spain - the situation of Spanish bathing areas can be described as stable compared with the previous bathing season. The water quality in the coastal zones is very good. In the freshwater zones there has been a surge in the number of areas where bathing was prohibited.
France - the Commission is pleased as transmission of information on bathing water quality in France has resumed in 2001. The Commission finds the 2001 results difficult to interpret for both coastal and freshwater zones because a high number of bathing areas were not sufficiently sampled (over 8% of bathing waters) and because the 1999 and 2000 results are still absent. The Bathing Water report will be updated on the Bathing Water web site when France forwards the 1999 and 2000 results.
Italy's coastal water quality results are at an all time high (96.6%) but fresh water quality has decreased compared to 2000. This is related to the fact that no monitoring was done on a number of fresh water bathing areas.
The Netherlands' latest results stand in contrast to the positive trend recorded since the European Directive on bathing water quality was first applied. In coastal areas, the proportion of bathing areas complying with the mandatory values has fallen slightly but the percentage of freshwater bathing areas complying with the mandatory values dropped from 96.2% to 92.4%. Next year's results will indicate if this is a temporary fall in quality related to exceptional weather conditions.
Austria reverses last years' trend and faces a drop in compliance rate for its fresh waters (from 96.6% in 2000 down to 92.9% in 2001). Next year's results will indicate whether this is due to exceptional conditions or to a downward trend.
Portugal has experienced an improvement in bathing water quality for both the coastal (96.7%) and the freshwater zones (84.2%). Even though there is a significant increase in the number of freshwater bathing areas complying with the mandatory values (from 69% in 2000 to 84.2% in 2001), this figure remains far below the EU average.
Finland is facing a huge drop in compliance rate for coastal waters compared to last year (98.3% in 2000 vs. 88.3% in 2001) Fresh water quality has remained stable, but we note that more fresh bathing waters were insufficiently sampled (1.6% in 2001 vs 0.9% in 2000).
In Sweden, after several years of improvement, stability has been achieved in the bathing water quality of both coastal and freshwater zones. Sweden is near 96% compliance for both types of water.
The United Kingdom has further improved its compliance rate for its coastal waters, reaching 95.3% (coming from 94.4% in 2000). Also for fresh waters compliance has gone up, back to the 1998 figure of 100% compliance.

The Revision of the Bathing water Quality Directive

Following an extensive period of consultation, it is expected that before August the Commission will adopt a proposal for a revision of the bathing water directive. The revision will be based on a number of principles:

1) to improve the level of protection so that the chances of contracting gastric illnesses or other medical problems as a result of swimming are reduced still further as compared to the situation today.

2) to improve application of the Directive so that efforts are directed towards managing the risk rather than simply on monitoring and reporting. In this context, bathing waters with consistently high water quality will benefit from reduced monitoring requirements.

3) to simplify the Directive to focus more on the real threats to health which are essentially bacteriological rather than chemical.

4) to ensure that the requirements of the bathing water Directive complement as smoothly as possible with the obligations of the Water Framework Directive.

5) to make sure that new avenues for communication of information - such as the internet - are exploited to the maximum so that the public can get reliable information as quickly as possible.

Bathing Water internet site

The Commission's Bathing Water Internet site has been updated and further improved, in particular concerning the site's maps and graphical tools. The site provides the results from 1997 till 2000 for all 19,000 EU beaches. New diagrams provide a better picture of the long-term quality trend of the bathing areas. The Commission hopes that these further improvements will contribute to a more direct communication with citizens and the national and regional regulators.

Member States contribute to the Bathing Water report and web site by specifying which actions have been taken both in the field of urban wastewater treatment as well a s in mastering the effects of diffuse pollution.

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

http://www.europa.eu.int/water/water-bathing/report.html

Addresses for Member States having put information on the Internet are also found on the site.

Background

The 1976/160/EEC 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 guideline 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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