Belgium lagging behind in bathing water quality, EEA study shows

20 June 2025

Bathing water quality in the EU remains excellent, with 96 per cent of sites meeting minimum standards, the European Environment Agency reports. In 85 per cent of cases, quality is classified as excellent. Belgium is among the worst performers, however.

In total, more than 22,000 sites were scrutinised across the EU, as well as in Albania and Switzerland. Cyprus came out best from the exercise with 99.2 per cent of its swimming areas rated excellent. Bulgaria, Greece, Austria and Croatia all rated above 95 per cent.

At the bottom of the rankings are Albania at16 per cent and Poland at 58.1 per cent. Belgium is also among the poorer performing countries, with 69.2 per cent of waters rated excellent and only four countries doing worse. In Flanders, 77.2 per cent of swimming areas were rated excellent.

How clean is the 🏊 bathing water in your country? | EU Environment and Climate

How clean is the 🏊 bathing water in your country? In 2024: 🌊 over 85% of EU’s bathing waters at almost 22,000 locations were rated excellent 🌊 96% of them met at least the minimum quality required by the Bathing Water Directive (BWD) 🌊 1.5% of the EU’s bathing waters were of poor quality The quality of coastal bathing waters is generally better than that of rivers and lakes. Europe's bathing water has improved, thanks to cutting down organic pollutants and pathogens from urban wastewater. ⚠️ However, there is still significant pollution of surface and groundwater, which is not captured by the assessment under the BWD. This pollution may be further exacerbated by climate change. Improving water resilience for people and for the environment is of paramount importance. Learn more in the latest European Environment Agency report on bathing water 👉 https://europa.eu/!YCtnq8 #WaterWiseEU

Coastal water quality is generally higher than that inland as lakes, rivers and streams are more sensitive to short-term pollution due to heavy rainfall or summer drought.

Meanwhile, with weekend temperatures set to reach 30 degrees and up to 300,000 tourists expected at Belgium's coast, lifeguards have warned people to only swim in supervised areas and to stay in shallow waters if they are not strong swimmers.

Earlier this week, two children were rescued after getting into trouble in the sea at Ostend while visiting with their school.

^{© PHOTO BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK}

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