Let's dive into Europe's clean bathing waters! - Main contents

Forty years ago we adopted the European Bathing Water Directive. It became a real European success story, helping to gradually tackle water pollution and ensure clean and safe bathing water thus improving citizen's daily lives.

Four decades of investments have definitely paid off. The latest report on the quality of European bathing water proves this: in 2015, 96% of the more than 21,000 coastal and inland bathing waters fulfilled the minimum quality requirements as set out in the EU Bathing Water Directive. Even more so, about 18,000 EU sites, or 84%, managed to meet the more stringent 'excellent' bathing water quality standards!

The progress made over recent years proves the value of continuous water quality monitoring and assessment. It demonstrates also how important it is to invest in sewage systems and wastewater infrastructure to clean up our waters and make them safe for bathing. In the early 1990s, only around 75% of the bathing water sites met the minimum standards and only 56% of the sites where citizens went swimming had excellent quality water.

Zoom in on the interactive map to check out the bathing water quality at your favourite bathing site or read the country reports on bathing water quality. Thanks to the European Environment Agency website you can view how good the bathing water is at all coastal beaches and inland sites across Europe.

Last, but not least: if you have not yet plans for Sunday, 10th July, and would like to show how important the good status of the European bathing waters is to you - feel invited to participate in one of the Big Jump events taking place all over Europe to celebrate safe and healthy bathing waters!