A report on the Bathing Water Directive (BWD) for the 2017 bathing season has found the water in the majority of Maltese bathing sites to be of ‘excellent’ quality.

The report, compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA), indicated that 98.9 per cent of water in Maltese bathing sites have a rating of ‘excellent’, putting Malta in second place among the 28 EU member states. The top spot went to Luxembourg, which despite being landlocked still boasts a number of lakes.

The report is part of a streamlined effort to “safeguard coastal and inland bathing water sites and ensure they are safe to use”, as indicated in the report’s foreword.

The annual report is published at the start of the bathing season and requires member states to test samples from all known bathing sites for pollution originating from sewage or livestock.

Speaking to the Times of Malta, Malta’s ocean ambassador to the UN, Alan Deidun, said the results are unsurprising and a mostly accurate reflection of the local bathing conditions. He added this can be partly contributed to the streamlined and harmonised methods used to carry out the testing, and that the authoritative bodies who implement the directive have established rote credibility.

The BWD tests for the presence of escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci, which are indicators of the presence of sewage in the area.

The ratings of ‘poor’, ‘sufficient’, ‘good’ and ‘excellent’ are awarded on the basis of the concentrated presence of escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci. Once an area receives its rating, guidelines in place detail for the proper management of sites as well as benchmarks for improvement, should they be required.

Provisions are also made for a site to keep its rating in the case of a short-term pollutant, provided the situation is contained and managed as set out in Annex III of the directive.

The annual report requires member states to test samples from all known bathing sites for pollution originating from sewage or livestock

Dr Deidun added that while the results of the BWD gave a relative picture of the health of Maltese waters, it is not quite a whole picture. This owes to the fact that the directive tests for pollutants relating to sewage, and not others such as nutrients, mercury and heavy metals.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD), which was introduced in 2000, is a similar initiative with the aim of long-term protection for available water resources and enhanced protection and improvement of aquatic environments.

As per resources available from ERA, the WFD defines an expanded list of 13 pollutants and the activities which they may result from. The list includes pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons and organic pollutants, which the BWD does not test for.

While the BWD works in conjunction with the aims of WFD, the results are not indicative of all conditions nor factor in the full scope of possible pollutants.

Xlendi Bay in Gozo. Photo: Shutterstock.com

Malta has consistently ranked high in the compilation of these reports, even occupying the top spot with a 100 per cent rating of ‘excellent’ at times.

The 2017 report shows Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus, Greece and Austria as having the highest quality bathing waters in the EU, while Estonia, Ireland and the UK had the highest percentage of bathing sites rated as ‘poor’.

In 2017, Malta identified 87 bathing sites, 86 of which were found to be of ‘excellent’ quality. The only site which did not meet the standard of ‘excellent’ was  an area on the right-hand side of Xlendi Bay, Gozo, which is currently rated as ‘good’ following a downgrade from the top ranking in 2015.

During the 2017 season, the Environmental Health Directorate in Malta issued two temporary closures and health warnings at five bathing sites as a temporary measure due to localised sewage overflows.

As part of the directive, health officials also affix signs and issue press releases indicating closed sites and pollution warnings that indicate that bathing may be averse to health.

Site inspections are also routinely carried out as part of the management programme, which allow for the regular analysis of samples as well as noting instances of visible pollutants in water.