Beaches in Europe are 'cleaner than ever'
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Your support makes all the difference.Holidaymakers can expect better standards of water purity on Europe's beaches this summer, according to an authoritative report.
The survey, released in time for the holiday season, found that 97 per cent of resorts matched minimum standards. It was hailed as evidence of improving environmental standards, although there were significant differences across the continent and only one EU nation – Belgium – met cleanliness standards on all its sampled beaches.
Welcoming the annual Quality of Bathing Water report, the European Commissioner for the Environment, Margot Wallstrom, said: "This year's report confirms the consistent trend toward reducing the risks of infection in our coastal waters." However, she cautioned that more effort was needed, in particular to clean up rivers and lakes.
The report, released by the European Commission, covers 13,429 beaches and 5,783 freshwater areas. The research was conducted in 2001.
As in previous years the level of compliance with minimum EU standards for lakes and rivers was lower than for coastal areas – at 93 per cent – although the gap was closing. The beaches at Knokke-Heist and Blankenberge in Belgium were among those meeting the higher standard of "good" water quality. That record was not mirrored among freshwater areas, where standards are slipping and only nine out of 10 sites met the minimum standards. German beach standards are almost as good, with 99.3 per cent compliance and 93.6 per cent of fresh bathing water meeting minimum requirements.
British seaside resorts had a 95.3 per cent compliance rate. Those which failed included Instow in north Devon, Plymouth Hoe east and Great Yarmouth south. France had just 87.9 per cent of beaches hitting the target. Among those which fail to attain even the minimum standards were beaches at Villers-sur-Mer in Normandy,Wimereux and Criel-sur-Mer on the Channel coast and two beaches at Antibes in the south. By contrast, all 27 beaches sampled at Nice passed. Spain had 98 per cent compliance with the minimum standards and 88.7 per cent of beaches attained the recommended level.
The full report can be found on the internet at: www.europa.eu.int/water/water-bathing/report.html.
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