The European environment agency (EEA) has a new report on the quality of bathing waters in Europe, there is a front-runner, with a score of 100%, Belgium with an “excellent” water quality in more than 80% of the tested zones, and is therefore in the European middle class.
The report analysed samples from 22,276 bathing water sites across Europe in 2020. It concerns all EU member states plus Albania and Switzerland. Two thirds of bathing sites are located along the European coasts. The overall share of “excellent” bathing sites (the highest category of four) has remained stable at around 85 percent in recent years. Last year it was 82.8%.
Poor water quality has been measured in only 1.3% of the cases (296 sites), but the EU aims to bring this to zero in the long term through even stricter monitoring.
Cyprus, Austria, Greece, Malta and Croatia score the best. Cyprus even gets the highest score at all 112 sites tested (all by the sea). Austria is barely inferior with the highest score at 97.7 percent of the 261 sites surveyed.
Belgium also achieved a good score, as last year, with a label “excellent” for 81.4 percent of the 118 bathing areas tested. In 2019, this figure was slightly higher at 85.2 percent. The quality of the seawater receives the best score in 95.1 percent of cases. In no place does the water quality on our coast or inland score below par. At European level, Belgium is in the Middle.
