BRUSSELS, Belgium — The quality of water in
Europe's rivers and lakes used for swimming and water sports has worsened over
the past year, with one in 10 not up to standards, the European Union head
office said Thursday.
Coastal areas have fared better, with 96.7 percent of swimming sites complying
with EU standards, the European Commission said in a report.
Greece has the cleanest coastal waters, followed by Spain and Germany, while
Lithuania and Estonia have the dirtiest, according to the report.
Slovakia showed the lowest compliance with EU guidelines for freshwater areas,
with only 22.4 percent of bathing sites up to the standards.
Belgium, Luxembourg and the six new EU member states that provided data also
scored low on the quality of bathing waters.
The Commission said some member states delete dirty bathing sites from the list
of designated bathing areas rather than clean them up, making them no longer
subject to monitoring.
Also, bathing is banned indefinitely at some noncompliant sites with no action
being taken to bring the areas up to the standards.
The Commission's annual report follows a call by the European Parliament for
cleaner beaches, lakes and rivers and stricter rules to control water pollution.
EU lawmakers are pressing for a directive that would tighten water-pollution
regulations and provide for simpler testing methods, allowing governments to
better inform their citizens about pollution levels in lakes and rivers and the
waters off beaches.
The new EU directive that lawmakers want would update a 1976 EU law, forcing
governments to come up with surveillance and emergency response plans in case of
pollution crises.
Source: Associated Press