The majority of bathing water areas in Europe met the European Union’s strictest “excellent” water quality standards in 2022, according to the latest annual bathing water report.

The assessment, carried out by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in collaboration with the Commission, highlights where swimmers can find the cleanest swimming locations in Europe this summer.

The assessment for the report published today is based on monitoring 21,973 bathing areas across Europe reported to the European Economic Area for the period 2022. This includes locations in all EU member states, Albania and Switzerland.

These must be tracked for four consecutive swim sessions before being considered either ‘excellent’, ‘good’, ‘adequate’ or ‘poor’.

Which countries get “excellent”

95% of swimming waters generally in Hellasthe Cyprusthe Austria and Croatian met the “Excellent» quality standard in 2022.

In addition, in Maltathe Bulgariathe Romaniathe Slovenia and Luxembourg all evaluated bathing waters met at least the minimum standard of adequate quality in 2022.

Water quality in coastal locations, which make up two-thirds of all swimming spots, is generally better than that of inland rivers and lakes.

In 2022, 88.9% of EU coastal bathing areas were rated as excellent compared to 79.3% of inland areas.

Since the adoption of the Bathing Waters Directive in 2006, the share of ‘outstanding’ sites has increased and stabilized in recent years, between 85-89% for coastal and 77-81% for inland bathing waters. In 2022 it represented 85.7% of all bathing waters in the EU.

Overall, minimum water quality standards were met in 95.9% of all bathing waters in the EU.

More than 1,800 points-European bathing waters or 8% are located in cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants, mainly in Greece, France, Italy and Spain.

More and more clean seas

In 2022 it represented 85.7% of all bathing waters in the EU.

The share of bathing waters with poor water quality has decreased over the last decade and has been stable since 2015. In 2022, bathing waters with poor water quality constituted only 1.5% of all bathing waters in the EU. This shows that the risk for health from swimming in bathing waters is slowly declining in Europe.

Bathing water quality in coastal waters is generally better compared to inland waters, due to the more frequent renewal and higher self-purification capacity of open coastal waters.

In addition, many inland swimming waters of central Europe are located in relatively small lakes, as well as in low-flowing rivers. Compared to coastal areas, these inland waters are more susceptible to short-term pollution caused by heavy summer rains or droughts, especially in summer.

The Bathing Water Directive is one of several pieces of EU legislation protecting water. It is complemented by the Water Framework Directive, the Environmental Quality Standards Directive, the Groundwater Directive, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive.