In EU countries, water quality is safe for swimming in 96% of cases

Friday, Aug 15, 2025

Il Sole 24 Ore

Italian coastal bathing waters show high quality; monitoring involves microbiological tests and various agencies.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

Italian coastal bathing waters generally maintain a very high quality, with over 90% of the coastline rated as “excellent” or “good,” though Puglia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and Sardinia show the highest percentages for “excellent.” Overall, Italian coastal bathing water quality remains satisfactory, with 95.7% rated excellent in 2024 and only 0.7% rated poor. Monitoring is conducted by environmental agencies using microbiological parameters like E. coli and intestinal enterococci, involving over 24,000 samples taken during the 2024 bathing season, supplemented by volunteer groups. In Austria, 95.8% of monitored lakes and rivers achieved “excellent” quality in 2024 under uniform European criteria. Spain reported that 87.6% of monitored areas were rated “excellent” during the 2025 bathing season, but an environmental report noted 48 beaches facing issues related to coastal urbanization, discharges, waste, and poor coordination among authorities.

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