Seawater best in 20 years

Last summer, Malta posted the best bathing water quality results in the past 20 years, according to a new EU-wide quality report issued in Brussels yesterday.

Malta has come a long way in this area since its accession to the EU

The report also classified Malta as having the second best bathing water quality in the EU, ranking second to Cyprus, one of the island’s main competitors as a sun and sea holiday destination.

An EU official described Malta’s progress as “phenomenal” and said: “Malta has come a long way in this area since its accession to the EU.”

In the summer of 2004, when Malta joined the bloc, fewer than half of its 87 bathing sites qualified as fit for bathing under the EU’s Bathing Water Directive.

The main reason was that all of Malta’s sewage used to be released into the sea without being treated.

Since then, the island has built three sewage treatment plants, including one in Gozo, becoming the only EU member state to treat all its sewage.

The investment – mainly financed through EU funds – had a resounding effect on bathing water quality. According to the latest report, 85 out of Malta’s 87 bathing sites were classified as “excellent” and the other two have “good” or “sufficient” water quality. The report marks another first for Malta because during the entire 2011 bathing season, which lasted six months, Malta did not have to temporarily close any bathing sites due to unfit water conditions.

It was the first time the island kept all its bathing sites open since 1993.

On an EU-wide level, Cyprus was again ranked as having the best water quality, with 99.1 per cent of its bathing sites considered to have “excellent” conditions. Greece came third.

The Netherlands and Bulgaria had the poorest bathing water quality for 2011, but overall, 92.1 per cent of bathing water in the EU now meets the minimum quality standards set.

This includes the Serpentine Lake in London, which will host several Olympic events, including the Open Water Marathon Swim and the swimming section of the triathlon this summer.

According to the EU directive, samples of bathing water have to be taken from each bathing site every week during the season and analysed at laboratories for certain types of bacteria, including intestinal enterococci and E.coli bacteria, which may indicate the presence of pollution, mainly from sewage or livestock waste.