The EU report on water quality published on Wednesday shows that heavily-indebted Greece and Cyprus boast of some of the most pristine  waters. The European Environment Agency that compiles the report found that six nations rated “excellent” in water quality. These were: Croatia, Cyprus, Germany, Luxembourg and Malta.

Across the EU only 2% of bathing sites failed to meet the Bathing Water Directive’s minimum standards for water quality and were ranked as ‘poor’.

Karmena Vella, the European Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said: “At some point we are all tourists, passing some time on the beach.  It is obvious that clean and safe bathing waters are important for us to stay healthy and the good news is that bathing waters continue to improve.  So next time you take a dip, remember that the EU played a part in keeping your bathing water safe and clean!”

Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director, said: “I am glad to see that the quality of Europe’s bathing waters is consistently very high and continues to improve. It shows that policies work and contribute to our quality of life when they are ambitious, well-defined and well-implemented.”

• While more than 95% of bathing sites met the minimum requirements, 83 % met the more stringent ‘excellent’ level. Only 409 bathing sites, corresponding to less than 2% of the total number, were assessed as having poor bathing water quality.
• The highest numbers of bathing sites with poor water quality were found in Italy (107 bathing sites, 2%), France (105 bathing sites, 3%) and Spain (67 bathing sites, 3%).
• In general, coastal beaches score high, with almost 97% of EU sites meeting the minimum standards and more than 85% rated as ‘excellent’. All coastal beaches in Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus were classified as having excellent bathing water quality.
• In comparison, 91% of inland bathing waters (lakes and rivers) score at least minimum standards and more than 78% have excellent quality. In Luxembourg and Bulgaria, all inland bathing sites were rated excellent followed by Denmark where 95% of bathing water lakes had excellent quality. Germany achieved excellent quality at 92% of almost 2 000 inland bathing sites.