The European Environment Agency (EEA) has announced in its recent report that the waters at beaches across Greece meet excellent bathing water quality standards, meaning they were free from pollutants harmful to human health and the environment.
According to the report which covers bathing water locations across the EU, Albania and Switzerland, Greece is fourth among the five countries where 95 percent or more bathing waters were assessed as being of “excellent” quality: Luxembourg (all 11 reported bathing sites), Cyprus (99 percent of all sites), Malta (99 percent of all sites), Greece (97 percent of all sites), and Austria (95 percent of all sites).
In Greece in 2017, a total of 1,598 sites were tested (only three of which concerned rivers or lakes, the remainder were coastal swimming spots) over a period of 5 months. According to the report 97% of the sites had excellent or good quality swimming waters; for many of the remaining 3% classification was not possible due to an insufficient data. No bathing site in Greece was found to have poor quality waters.
“The excellent quality of European bathing water sites is not by chance. It is the result of hard work by dedicated professionals. It shows the importance of nurturing EU policy that promotes green jobs. This year our European Green Week, May 29-June 2, will celebrate this investment. Water technicians, flood protectors, environmental chemists, waste water managers – all play an essential role in keeping bathing water quality high,” said Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.
