June 9, 2020 - When planning your summer holiday after the corona crisis, cleanliness is certainly one of the factors topping the list. Good news for those of you choosing Croatia, which boasts some of the cleanest swimming waters in Europe.
Croatia is one of five European countries with the cleanest bathing waters, the European Environment Agency (EEA) announced on Monday, as borders begin to open after the corona crisis and tourists consider where to spend their summer holidays.
Namely, Dalmacija Danas reports that the cleanest swimming waters in Europe are in Cyprus, Austria, Malta, Greece and Croatia, according to a report by the European Commission and the EEA.
Those five countries received an excellent rating of at least 95 percent for their swimming areas. In Cyprus, 99.1 percent of bathing places received a rating of "excellent".
Tourists who fear being infected with the coronavirus while swimming should follow the guidelines of national or local authorities, the agency says. They should keep physical distances and wash their hands often enough.
Just under 85% of swimming sites across Europe monitored in 2019 met the European Union's highest and most stringent ‘excellent' quality standards. The agency tested bathing areas on about 22,300 sea, river and lake beaches in the EU, including Britain, Switzerland and Albania.
About two-thirds of the bathing areas are at sea and they are generally cleaner than the waters inland. Tests found that 294 sites, or 1.3 percent, have poor water quality and pose a risk for diseases such as diarrhea.
Commissioner in charge of the Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said, “Clean bathing water is usually taken as something that is gifted, but it's actually one of the European collective achievements. It's the result of hard work by many people over many years. This year's report once again confirms that European citizens can continue to enjoy very high-quality standards when bathing in European waters and all measures must be taken to continue along this path.”
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