The European Environment Agency annual report on clean water beaches, lakes and rivers for swimming, shows that 95.9 percent of Greek waters are considered excellent for swimming.

Greece comes fourth in European Union level – after Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus – although the number of beaches in those countries are so few in comparison, that Greece essentially is the country with the cleanest waters for swimming.

The report is based on tests of the 28 EU Member States, Switzerland and Albania that was conducted in 2017. The EEA took samples of 21,801 swimming locations across Europe; of which 85 percent were of excellent quality, and only 1.4 percent of poor quality. Swimming spots are monitored by Member States on the basis of EU legislation with successive sampling from the end of spring to mid-autumn.

In Greece, EEA tested 1,598 points over a five-month period. According to the report, 97 percent of the waters were found to be of good or excellent quality. The report also mentions the pollution in the Saronic Gulf, which resulted in 11 swimming spots being closed to the public for two months.

Bulgaria is at the bottom of the list for clean swimming waters, with only 44.2 percent of locations being of excellent quality. Romania with 50 percent and Albania with 54.9 percent, complete the bottom three.

Source: Philip Chrysopoulos/greekreporter