87 bathing water sites were monitored in Gozo and Malta during 2020, with a total of 1997 samples taken. According to the latest data from the European Environment Agency, 96.6% (84 sites) achieved excellent quality, while 3.4% (3 sites) were of good quality. The data for Malta is available for download here.

This result placed the Maltese Islands in fourth place within the EU, behind Cyprus, Austria and Greece, with Croatia in 5th place – all of which had 95% or more bathing waters of excellent quality.

The Agency said that the minimum “sufficient” water quality standards were met at 93% of the sites monitored in 2020

“Bathing water quality in Europe remains high and it’s a good news for Europeans, who will be heading to beaches and bathing sites this summer,” said Virginijus Sinkevicius, Commissioner for the Environment, Fisheries and Oceans.

The Commission added that, “this is the result of more than 40 years of Bathing Water Directive, hard work by dedicated professionals and cooperation. The Zero Pollution Action Plan adopted in May will help to keep the waters healthy and safe and our seas and rivers clean.”

As part of the Zero Pollution Action Plan and in line with the Biodiversity Strategy the Commission has recently launched a review of the Bathing Water Directive.

The Commission explained that the objective is to assess whether the current rules are still fit for purpose to protect public health and improve water quality or if there is a need to improve the existing framework, notably by addressing new parameters.

As a part of this process, the Commission said that it will soon engage with the stakeholder community via an online public consultation.

The findings of this year’s report will be presented today at a session during EU Green Week, focusing this year on zero pollution. Alongside this year’s Bathing Water Report, the EEA has also released an updated interactive map showing the performance of each bathing site.

The quality of Europe’s bathing water has greatly improved over the past 40 years, also thanks to the EU’s Bathing Water Directive.

All EU Member States, plus Albania and Switzerland, monitor their bathing sites according to the provisions of the EU’s Bathing Water Directive.

The legislation specifies if the bathing water quality can be classified as ‘excellent’, ‘good’, ‘sufficient’ or ‘poor’, depending on the levels of faecal bacteria detected. Where water is classified as ‘poor’, EU Member States should take certain measures, such as banning bathing or advising against it, providing information to the public, and taking suitable corrective actions.

Top photo by Alain Salvary

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