Polish bathing beaches have the worst quality of water from the European Union countries – according to the report of the European Environment Agency for 2024. Cyprus, Bulgaria and Greece were the highest in the ranking.
Of the 764 bathing areas located in Poland, 58.1 percent fulfilled the highest EU standards of “excellent” water quality. 13 percent were classified as “good” Bathings, “sufficient” – 6 percent, and 2.6 percent It was assessed as “bad” quality. For 20.3 percent The bathing areas are not assigned a category – most often due to the lack of sufficient data.
The best quality of bathing water was recorded in the Pomeranian and Greater Poland voivodships, where almost all swimming pools obtained a “perfect” grade. The Łódź Voivodeship was the worst – in 17 percent poor quality water was detected.
The worst and best bathing areas in the EU
Against the background of the entire European Union, Poland fell poorly. It was worse in the ranking Albaniawhich, although not a member of the EU, was also included in the report. The average EU bathing beach with “excellent” water quality was 85.4 percent.
The best results were achieved by: Cyprus (99.2 percent of excellent quality water bathing), Bulgaria (97.9 percent) and Greece (97 percent). The weakest – next to Poland – had Estonia (61.5 percent), Hungary (67 percent) i Belgium (69.2 percent).
The report pointed out that the quality of bathing water in Europe has significantly improved in recent decades thanks to the reduction of uncleaned municipal sewage discharges, investments in treatment plants and systematic monitoring under the EU Bathing Directive from 2006.
Water in bathing areas were analyzed in terms of the presence of two types of bacteria – colon and enterococci rods – which are indicators of municipal sewage and manure. The study does not take into account chemical impurities such as pesticides, heavy metals or microplastics.
Source of the main photo: Fotodax/Shutterstock