Malta's bathing waters improve - EU

Malta's bathing waters last year made a major quality leap, according to a new report by the European Commission in Brussels yesterday analysing the quality of bathing water during the 'tourism' season in all its member states.

Last year, the Commission had harshly criticised the Maltese authorities over the state of Malta's bathing waters in 2005, saying that in most cases they did not reach EU cleanliness standards. However, in just a year Malta seems to have managed to pull up its socks, with the Commission reporting an 'impressive turnaround'.

The 2006 report states that "the improvement in (Malta's) bathing water quality is remarkable given the fact that Malta has only started with the inspections required by national legislation implementing Directive 76/160/EEC and the subsequent amendments thereto in 2005."

"It must be remembered that those member states which have been monitoring their bathing water quality for years did not achieve such good results until several years after inspections were introduced."

According to Brussels, Malta's coastal bathing areas' compliance with the EU mandatory values last year increased by 56.4 per cent to 96.6 per cent. Also, compliance with the more stringent guide values increased by 50.6 per cent to 83.9 per cent.

"Overall, this results in a much better bathing water quality for coastal bathing areas in Malta. The main reason for this large quality improvement is the reduction of insufficiently sampled bathing areas from 46 bathing sites to zero," the report states.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, a spokesman for the Commission said that Malta has left a very positive impression on the Commission.

"Although last year we were critical, we knew that Malta would eventually adopt stricter standards. We are truly impressed by the fact that the Maltese authorities have taken immediate note of our recommendations and made tremendous efforts to improve the situation. I think Malta's result for 2006 is one of the best obtained among all EU members."

According to EU rules, every year member states are in duty bound to report on the quality of coastal and freshwater bathing areas located within their territory. Bathing areas are zones where bathing is explicitly authorised or where bathing is traditionally practised by a large number of bathers.

To determine quality, bathing waters are tested against a number of physical, chemical and microbiological parameters for which the Bathing Water Directive sets out mandatory values. Member states must comply with these values but may adopt stricter standards or decide to follow the non-binding guide values also contained in the directive.

The Commission's report also states that last year, 44 bathing areas insufficiently sampled in the previous season now complied with the mandatory values, out of which 40 even complied with the more stringent guide values. At the same time, six non-compliant bathing areas complied with at least the mandatory values in 2006, whereas five even complied with the guide values. Only one bathing area differed. According to the report, bathing was not prohibited in any bathing area.

The Commission also envisaged further improvements in Malta's bathing water quality over the coming years.

"To further improve, Malta is to construct three new sewage treatment plants, one in Gozo, one in Malta's north and another one in the south, at a cost of €73 million, to comply with the Urban Waste Water Directive."

The Commission said that a National Plan is also in place by the relevant competent authority to relocate all fish farms to a site where they shouldn't pose any possible impact on bathing areas.

This responsibility is being undertaken by the Environmental Health Unit within the Department of Health, together with the Environment Protection Directorate within the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA).