Again Top Rating for Bathing Waters in Austria

Austria's bathing waters have slipped from second to fourth place in an EU-wide quality ranking. According to a report published by the European Environment Agency on Friday, 95.8 percent (previous year: 96.9 percent) of the examined domestic rivers and lakes are of "excellent quality." This places not only the leader Cyprus (99.2 percent) but also Bulgaria and Greece ahead of Austria.

Austria falls to fourth place in EU bathing water ranking

As in the previous year, 85.4 percent of all approximately 22,000 examined EU bathing waters and 85 percent of all bathing waters in European countries (including Switzerland and Albania) received the top rating of the EU Bathing Water Report 2024. At the lower end of the ranking are Hungary, Estonia, and Poland. The clear bottom is Albania, where only 16 percent of the 119 examined bathing waters received an "excellent" rating.

Only 1.5 percent with poor water quality

96 percent of the bathing sites met the minimum quality required by the Bathing Water Directive - the same percentage as the previous year, 1.5 percent had poor water quality. It has again been shown that the quality of coastal bathing waters is generally better than that of rivers and lakes. While around 89 percent of coastal bathing waters in the EU are classified as excellent, only 78 percent of inland bathing waters are. The experts of the European Environment Agency therefore suggest intensifying measures, "which, if necessary, are combined with conventional infrastructures for storing rainwater and untreated wastewater," to improve the quality of bathing waters in densely populated urban areas.

Under the Bathing Water Directive (BWD) adopted by the EU in 2006, the focus is on monitoring coliform bacteria and intestinal enterococci, important indicators of fecal contamination, which pose a risk to human health due to the potential presence of pathogens, it is stated. Chemical pollutants are not recorded in the monitoring of bathing waters.

Totschnig Very Satisfied with Ranking

"The quality of our bathing waters is very good," said Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig (ÖVP), responsible for water and environmental protection, viewing the report as "confirmation that our rehabilitation and conservation measures of the past decades are showing great effect," it was stated in a response. "We invest a lot of money in the rehabilitation and protection of our waters." Especially for the tourism country Austria, the ranking is "a great honor." Health Minister Korinna Schumann (SPÖ) pointed out the important contribution of "water sports, relaxation, and nature experiences at natural waters (...) to maintaining mental and physical health."

"We can all be glad that the vast majority of our bathing waters are clean enough to swim in. This is thanks to the systematic work under EU regulations, which has steadily improved the health of our waters," said Leena Ylä-Mononen, Director of the EU Environment Agency, expressing satisfaction with the overall result in a statement. "Of course, there is still more to be done to improve the cleanliness of our waters and their resilience to new challenges posed by climate change and overuse."

EU Commissioner: "Europeans Can Swim Without Worry"

For Jessika Roswall, the Swedish EU Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience, and Competitive Circular Economy, the results published today show "that Europeans can swim without worry in the vast majority of EU bathing areas that meet EU bathing quality standards." She will continue to "advocate for high water quality for people and the environment" as part of the EU strategy for water resilience, it was stated.

(APA/Red)

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