Greek bathing waters meet EU quality standards

The overwhelming majority of Greece’s bathing waters met European Union water quality standards in 2017, according to the European Environment Agency.

In its annual report, the agency said that 95.9 percent of all existing coastal bathing waters are of excellent quality, behind Luxembourg (100 percent), Malta (98.9 percent) and Cyprus (97.3 percent).

According to the report, 1,598 sites (three at rivers or lakes) were examined over a period of five months last year.

The number of sites examined in Greece was far higher than in Luxembourg (12 sites), Malta (87) and Cyprus (113).

Overall, the report monitored swimming sites across 28 EU states, as well as Albania and Austria.

Bulgaria had the lowest number of bathing sites meeting excellent quality standards.

Of the 21,801 swimming areas monitored across Europe, 85 percent met the EU’s “highest and most stringent excellent quality standards for waters mostly free from pollutants.”