Bathing water quality 'high'
An EU report based on information provided by Malta has found that 95.4% of the coastal bathing waters in Malta met the mandatory values required by the EU last year.
“This is a good result, but a small decrease compared to the previous season,” the report says.
The report adds that 89.7% of the bathing waters met the more stringent guide values, an improvement over the previous season.
Four bathing waters were not compliant with the mandatory values in 2007 (4.6%). As in 2006, there were no bathing waters where bathing was prohibited throughout the 2007 season.
“At the beginning of the monitoring in 2005 the number of coastal bathing waters that complied with the mandatory and guide values was rather low. This was due to the high number of insufficiently sampled bathing waters. This problem was solved from 2006 onwards,” the report says.
The EU said the generally, bathing water quality in the EU remains high.
“Some 95% of coastal bathing areas and 89% of bathing sites in rivers and lakes comply with the mandatory standards.”
In 2007 a total of 21,368 bathing areas were monitored, a slight increase from the previous year.
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nadine camilleri
Jun 3rd 2008, 07:06
so does this include pretty bay in birzebbuga? with the maltafreeport nicely hugging the bay with all it's monstrous cranes and container ships!!
A.Mifsud
Jun 2nd 2008, 23:30
Well - nothing to be too thrilled about. We are actually doing worse than Britain and a couple of our Meditterranean competitors have topped the list. Here's an extract from the BBC:
"Britain's beaches have received a 96.5% rating for cleanliness in an EU report....Beaches in Greece, Cyprus, Finland and the Netherlands got top marks."
For full info, check out BBC news report on:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7431643.stm
So I suppose the debris from coastal contruction projects together with illegal dumping into the sea and untreated sewage outflows have left theri mark on bathing water quality. When will we ever learn to treat our country right???
Maurice Caruana
Jun 2nd 2008, 19:47
Do these results include the testing of sea-water along Tower Road, Sliema, between "Fond Ghadir" and "The Exiles" where leaking sewage (and its attendant foul smell) flowing to the coastline (including the favourite swimming zones) is evident to anyone walking along this stretch of promenade at any time of the year?
Ronald Borg
Jun 2nd 2008, 16:49
Can I swim at Chadwick Lakes, then? Good to know.