Summer, sun, bathing fun: With rising temperatures, heat-stricken people are drawn to the water for a refreshing cool-down. But what about water quality? The European Environment Agency (EEA) published its annual investigation report in Copenhagen on Friday. The result: The majority of 2300 bathing waters examined in Germany (90.2 percent) had an "excellent" water quality last year. Among all the countries surveyed in Europe, the proportion with the highest of four classifications was 85.7 percent. And 95.9 percent of all water bodies examined met the minimum standards of the European Union.

The EU authority described only 14 German bathing sites as deficient – which does not mean any change compared to the previous year. For these waters with poor water quality, the EEA advocates bathing bans, warnings or other measures. The best water quality was achieved in Cyprus, Austria, Greece and Croatia. Germany ranked ninth out of 29 countries, placing it in the top third. Poland was in last place, followed by Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia and Albania. In these countries, less than 70 per cent of bathing waters met the requirements of the highest classification.

In total, the EU experts evaluated almost 22,000 bathing lakes, rivers and coastal waters in 27 countries of the European Union as well as Albania and Switzerland. A corresponding classification – from excellent, good to sufficient and poor – was only given after four consecutive bathing seasons. The focus was on whether the waters are contaminated with faecal bacteria that can lead to diseases in humans.

Health risk decreases

What stood out was that the quality of bathing water in coastal areas generally performed better than bathing water from inland rivers and lakes. While 88.9 per cent of all coastal waters examined were of excellent quality, this was only the case for 79.3 per cent of inland waters. According to the EEA, this is due, among other things, to the higher self-cleaning capabilities of open coastal waters. Domestic seaside resorts, on the other hand, are more affected by pollution from drought or rainfall.

Since the adaptation of the Bathing Water Directive in 2006, the proportion of waters with the highest classification, according to the EEA, has increased and stabilised. The experts conclude that the health risk posed by bathing water continues to decline in Europe. They also referred to the great importance of bathing water for urban areas. Of those examined, more than eight percent were located in 200 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.