Clean and safe bathing waters: A European success story - Main contents

If you are planning a summer holiday, you are quite possibly thinking about going to the coast. You go there in the hope - or the knowledge - that the bathing water will be clean and safe, and that your swimming experience will be a pleasant one.

Every year, before the start of the bathing season, to help Europeans in their choices, the EU releases an assessment of bathing water quality in Europe. The report is a collaboration between the European Commission and the European Environment Agency. It pulls together information on over 21000 bathing waters in the 28 EU Member States, Albania and Switzerland.

The main message is that in 2014, bathing waters in Europe were of a high quality, with 95 % of the bathing water sites meeting minimum water quality standards set out in EU legislation.

More than 83 % of the sites met the more stringent 'excellent' bathing water standard, and less than 2 % of bathing waters were rated as having poor bathing water quality.

That is the outcome of dedicated EU actions that is improving citizens' daily lives. The great majority of urban waste water is now getting appropriate treatment, fewer nitrates are flowing into our seas, and our rivers are cleaner than they have been at any time in living memory.

The result is comforting for the economy, too, as the socio-economic value of clean bathing waters is very high, and it helps protect countless jobs around the continent. Clean and safe seas give oxygen to tourism. And it's also good news in that it shows that effective measures are in place to protect this valuable resource for today and the future.

Looking back to the early 1990s, only around 70 % of the bathing water sites met the minimum standards and only 60 % of the sites where citizens went swimming had excellent quality water.

And as of this year there is more good news on the horizon for beach lovers, as EU action has just been agreed by Member States on how to cut down the number of single-use plastic bags that all too often end up in our seas. We will be hearing more of this in the months to come, but one thing is for sure - big steps towards cleaner seas are being taken, and that means benefits for all.

So if you are going to the beach this summer, check the report, then lie back and relax. And don't forget the part the EU played in keeping your bathing water clean!

Please engage with me on @karmenuvella #EUbathing